swimjim
Master Diver
Posts: 1694
Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:28 am
First Name: Jim
Location: Belgium WI

Fortune Pond May 6 - 7th

Sun Apr 24, 2016 7:47 am

The Minnesotans and the Wisconsin divers will be meeting at Fortune Pond May 6 - 7th. There will be diving of course and more then likely grilling to be done. I dove Fortune yesterday. The water temp was around 40 top to bottom. The viz is down a little as the lake is probably turning some. It was only 80 to 100 feet or so. It starts getting cloudy around 125 and is totally socked in around 150. See you there!
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swimjim
Master Diver
Posts: 1694
Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:28 am
First Name: Jim
Location: Belgium WI

Re: Fortune Pond May 6 - 7th

Sun May 01, 2016 4:23 pm

Next weekend! All the cool kids will be there! :lol: :lol:

kworkman
Master Diver
Posts: 344
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2013 4:17 pm
First Name: Keith
Location: Columbus, OH

Re: Fortune Pond May 6 - 7th

Sun May 01, 2016 8:52 pm

Well shoot! I'm in Minnetonka right now visiting family.

SeaHuntJerry
Master Diver
Posts: 420
Joined: Sat Jul 02, 2005 12:45 am
Location: Minneapolis

Re: Fortune Pond May 6 - 7th

Tue May 03, 2016 2:25 pm

anyone have K's phone number,wish to have him stop bye if he's in Minnesota and is 20 minuted from me.
Thanks,Cow

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SurfLung
Master Diver
Posts: 1763
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 2:03 pm
First Name: Eben
Location: Alexandria, MN
Contact: Website

Re: Fortune Pond May 6 - 7th

Sun May 08, 2016 11:23 am

Absolutely Fabulous... Again
Sunny Sky, 100+ ft Visibility, And Magnificent Terrain.
- We made 5 dives in Fortune Pond May 6-7. Had a great group of divers there: Rich Merten and Me, Sea Hunt Jerry and Chuck, Swimjim and Eric, and even Diver Don drove over from Marquette. Rich and I arrived first around 11:00 AM Friday and knew we were in for some great visibility when we could see the bottom 70 feet below at the end of the pier. Holy Cow it was clear.
- SwimJim dove his Divair and it performed beautifully. I dove my yellow hosed Royal Master Cyclone HPR (Jim calls these "Hot Daams") w/ my pretty yellow Twin 38s. My buddy Rich dove the DA-AquaMaster we rebuilt over the winter with the vintage yellow USD 72 and J-Valve he bought from Jerry... And it worked GREAT. DiverDon dove his DAAM with a vintage Stars and Stripes red white and blue 72 tank.
- We did dives from 30-60ft deep and some dives in the over 100 ft depths. With the brilliant sunlight, you could see a long ways even when you were down deep... Visibility was in the 100+ feet range. Eric and SwimJim did some tech dives with all of the redundant hook-ups and extra tanks slung... I think Eric may have had on 4-5 tanks on at least one of these dives! Rich and I were coming back from a dive, swimming along a ledge about 60 feet deep and we spotted SwimJim and Eric way down at the bottom of the ledge with their big double tanks and silvery bubbles. I think the word for such a site is "Surreal".
- The diving in Fortune Pond is really magnificent. Everytime I go I feel like I've flown (swam) over different underwater mountainous terrain and I can't wait to go back. We sit in the sun between dives, cook brats on the grill... And at night we go to Alice's Restaurant for nice meal. Hopefully we'll schedule another trip for June.
SurfLung
The Freedom and Simplicity of Vintage Equipment and
Vintage Diving Technique are Why I Got Back Into Diving.

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ScubaLawyer
Master Diver
Posts: 1649
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2010 11:25 am
First Name: Mark
Location: Laguna Beach, CA

Re: Fortune Pond May 6 - 7th

Sun May 08, 2016 12:33 pm

Eben, thanks for the update. Looks like everyone had a blast. Love to see some pics. Mark
"The diver who collects specimens of underwater life has fun and becomes a keen underwater observer. .. seek slow-moving or attached organisms such as corals, starfish, or shelled creatures." (Golden Guide to Scuba Diving, 1968) :D

swimjim
Master Diver
Posts: 1694
Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:28 am
First Name: Jim
Location: Belgium WI

Re: Fortune Pond May 6 - 7th

Sun May 08, 2016 4:19 pm

Had a blast at Fortune Pond. I brought the camera, but I was having too much fun and it never got out of the van. I dove half vintage and sorta tech. With my DivAir I used a pony tank to run my drysuit and serve as a bail out. No bail out required though. I took the DivAir down 125 feet and swam along a ledge for about five minutes before working my way back up. Although the WOB is a little higher then some reg's, my Aluminum bodied DivAir was silky smooth breathing all the way. I'm impressed enough with it that I plan to do some Lake Michigan wreck diving with it this summer. I also dove my Kraken with an eclectically rigged 72 twin set. That's almost cheating though. LOL. My "modern" dives I used twin 72's with double isolated manifolds and HOG regs all around. That is what I use for dive deep (for me) wrecks in the great lakes. For instance, the Christmas tree ship "ROUSE SIMMONS" and the "Walter B Allen". Both close to about 170 feet to the bottom.
The weather this weekend was awesome. 80+ degrees and sunny Friday and mid 60's on Saturday. Those interested in diving Fortune Pond should check out this thread, viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8598. August 19th - 21st we will do a "Sand Dog" up there. There has been zero response to the thread, so it may be just me and a few fellow divers. That's okay though. I can do some great diving, stay at a cheap but very nice motel and do the Lasagna at Alice's Restaurant...... Yes, that's right, Alice's Restaurant. Alice's is an Italian supper club up there and is a nice little place. Your hostess "Jill" will always greet you with a big smile and make you feel at home. Great place!

Jim

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SurfLung
Master Diver
Posts: 1763
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 2:03 pm
First Name: Eben
Location: Alexandria, MN
Contact: Website

Re: Fortune Pond May 6 - 7th

Tue May 10, 2016 9:12 am

ScubaLawyer wrote:Eben, thanks for the update. Looks like everyone had a blast. Love to see some pics. Mark
Hi Mark, I didn't bring the camera this trip. I've already done a bunch of Fortune Pond videos and figured this time to just enjoy the diving. Most of the videos are posted on this forum. Do a search for Fortune Pond and they should come up. :)
SurfLung
The Freedom and Simplicity of Vintage Equipment and
Vintage Diving Technique are Why I Got Back Into Diving.

swimjim
Master Diver
Posts: 1694
Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:28 am
First Name: Jim
Location: Belgium WI

Re: Fortune Pond May 6 - 7th

Tue May 10, 2016 6:14 pm

Here's a Vintage Fortune Pond video....

https://vimeo.com/30378348

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