Sunday, July 06, 2014

lost in the depths

So the buddy who owns the lake had very recently acquired two kayaks that came with three paddles. On Friday, the kids were out and one of them dropped one of the paddles which then promptly sank to the bottom. I attempted to go down to retrieve it, however, there were two things working against me:
1. Even with goggles the water was extremely murky so going down to look for it I couldn't see anything, and
2. The water was very deep; I tried going feet first like a pencil going straight down and I went down at least as tall as I am below the surface, if not a bit further, and I didn't touch the bottom.
So given these two things, I was unable to retrieve the sunken paddle.

There was such a contrast in the water in this lake compared to the water I swam in while snorkeling on Nevis. I wonder why lake water is so murky. I just now read a bit about turbidity and haven't the energy or inclination to read more about it.

3 comments:

Zhoen said...

Living creatures, silt, tannins.

Aren't those paddles supposed to float?

Debstar said...

I agree with Zhoen, aren't paddles supposed to float.
I do not like to swim in water where one cannot see the bottom.

Phil Plasma said...

Yes, they are supposed to float, but these ones didn't. He got these kayaks at a deep discount from a store that sells inexpensive things, so I'm not too surprised about the quality.

It doesn't bother me to swim in murky water; normally the top X feet are clear, it is just as you get lower that the turbidity increases.