Lake Natoma Inland Lobster Feed & Potluck
Lake Natoma Inland Lobster Feed & Potluck
Sunday, July 18
Bring your family, bring your friends, bring your in-laws and outlaws, and join us at Lake Natoma for our “Inland Lobster Feed” dive and potluck on Sunday, July 18 at the brand new Negro Bar picnic area. Look for us at the far end of the picnic area, past the restrooms. A couple of us will get there early to snag one of the covered pavilions. Just in case there aren’t enough tables or chairs you might want to bring a chair with you. There are more parking spaces than before and the access to the picnic area has been improved.
A few of us will put out crawdad traps Saturday evening to recover for the event in the morning. Sunday morning all of the divers will meet at the Negro Bar State Park by 9:00 to boat up past the Rainbow Bridge for a fun “drift” dive. The last time we did this there was no current so it was more of a swim dive.
You should plan on arriving at the Negro Bar picnic area early because we want to be in our boats and ready to dive by 9:00! There are a lot of big crayfish hiding under the rocks so bring a “Goody Bag” to grab the biggest and fastest ones you see. There are also a lot of lost “treasures” that fishermen and swimmers have dropped in the lake so we can also do a lake cleanup and scavenger hunt while we dive. I have found several working watches and a gold ring on previous dives so be sure to keep your eyes open. The deepest you can get is only about 40 feet, and there may be a current to help us drift while we dive. Visibility is typically about 6 to 10 feet and the water temperature has been in the low sixties on previous dives. I’ll give all the divers an update during the dive orientation Sunday morning.
After we have made our dives, about noon, we’ll gather in the picnic area for the rest of the fun. We will have prizes for a crawdad race for the adults and also for the kids, so be sure to save your biggest and your fastest crawdad. Not a diver, no problem. You can pick your favorite steed (crawdad) from the ones we catch. (Those lucky crawdads will be spared the pot and returned to the lake.) We will also have a “Liars Contest” where we will spin yarns about the “treasures” that we find. While we are diving and holding our contests a few volunteers will fire up the barbecues and cook up the crawdads, hamburgers, hot dogs and corn-on-the-cob. Please bring $5.00 per adult (kids are free) to contribute toward the soft drinks, hamburgers, hot dogs, condiments, and corn on the cob. Please also bring a potluck dish, and don’t forget your dive gear, hats, beach chairs and sunscreen.
If you are joining us please reply to me (not “reply all”) with an estimate of how many guests you will bring with you, I want to make sure we have enough food for everyone. I also appreciate any helpers who can bring a boat to ferry divers, or who can help cook.
I’ll see you there!!
Jack
