Sand Hollow Scuba Dive 2024

00:00 - Sand Hollow State Park Overview
00:55 - Heading Out to the Buoy
01:58 - Descending at the Buoy
03:47 - Arriving at the Hoops and Pipes
05:18 - Getting Lost AKA Exploring
06:38 - Safety Stop
07:48 - Starting Over from the Dock
09:18 - The Missile
10:36 - The Bus
12:39 - The Pipe and Boat
14:36 - The Plane
16:16 - Lost My Dive Buddy
17:10 - First Dive Completed!
I'm recently certified for open water scuba diving. Scuba diving has been a dream of mine for 25 years. Around five years ago I started vicariously diving through watching other people's diving videos and I told myself that I was going to be a person who made a video. Not just watched them. I made the video that I wish existed when I watched videos of Sand Hollow.
These wrecks were put there intentionally for entertainment as well as dive training purposes. Sand Hollow is a man-made reservoir. No need for a dive flag. The scuba diving area is sectioned off from boaters. There's a dive shop right next to the dock. They have reasonable rental prices. As of August 2024 it's a $20 entrance fee to the park.
So you hopefully don't get lost like we did if you ever visit, you go straight out from the the dock to a buoy that's marked for diving. There's a colored rope that leads you from the buoy anchor all the way to the plane. We didn't initially realize we missed the rope because there's some pipes and hoops beyond the rope. We felt like we were going in the right direction because of that.
The max depth we reached that day was 40ft (12m). Visibility was around 35ft(10.6m) but good visibility was really just 15ft(4.5m). Water temperature was around 75°F (24°C) at depth. It was my first time wearing a wetsuit and I get cold easily but I felt comfortable with a 3mm neoprene suit. Watching the footage there was a few times I chattered my teeth a little and didn't realize. I normally don't need any weights without a suit. I added 4lbs and I still struggled to descend. Learned a lot about diving that I didn't experience when I was getting certified. I forgot a lot of my training but it came back to me. I'm sure the internet will correct me on not having my regulator positioned correctly or some such. I welcome feedback.

[@BettyAnnElliott-m2n]

So awesome. Felt like I went with you. Wonder how much you can see just snorkeling.

[@johnelliottart]

Almost nothing unless you are free diving below the surface.