Bull Shoals - Midwest Live Aboard Oct 2011

It’s been a tough season of diving in the Midwest with all the early floods of spring and the extreme heat of the summer. As fall arrives we are cherishing the calmer weather before it’s time to tune-up the snow plows and get the shovels ready. This October, the MWMD crew headed down to Arkansas to visit our good friends at Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock Marina to spend a long weekend on a houseboat…Midwest Live Aboard style.

I guess the Scuba Gods took pity on us and blessed us with a great weekend of diving with ambient temps in the mid-80’s and water temps hovering in the upper 60’s to low 70’s. A little chilly in the water, but nothing a good drysuit or layers of neoprene couldn’t handle. Most of the lakes this year have been terrible for diving with viz ranging less than 10’, but this weekend we found areas at least 15’ and a debatable 20’; although, there were still areas with considerable suspended particles. You take what you can and just simply enjoy being weightless. Interestingly, the thermo cline had dropped to about 60 foot. We found the typical marine life made up of very inquisitive blue gill and timid bass swimming with us with the occasional catfish wishing we would just go away. We were able to find two more boat anchors to add to our collection. Not sure what we are going to do with all these anchors we have been accumulating.

The houseboat was a lot of fun and the crew at Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock Marina took great care of us as usual. The boat had 4 bedrooms; two baths with showers, a nice kitchen area, and a great upper deck to hang out on to enjoy the company of others or simply relax and watch the world go by. We did have a little trouble with the generator on Saturday night. Apparently, the water pump decided it had enough. As it was getting dark, we really didn’t want to spend the night without electricity; so, we called the marina. Shortly after that a rescue crew arrived and in no time had us up and running. Now, that is great service and much appreciated. We didn’t know what to expect with regards to the weather; so, we were prepared for chilly nights, but in the end most of the warm weather clothes stayed packed. If you haven’t woke up on a boat parked in a cove and enjoyed morning coffee while watching the sun come up you are missing out. A total relaxing experience and one I look forward to yearly. As always, the weekend went by very quickly and we are left with another dive trip in the books and memories to fill a lifetime.