Lake Wazee Trash or Treasure

[Omicron]

*sigh*

I was a witness to something yesterday at Wazee that kind of ticked me off.

Granted, ticked me off is not quite my first choice of words but this is a family oriented forum.

I came up from our second dive of the day - Great dives by the way, 70+ minute bottom times - to the sight of two people loading the artificial seaweed into the back of their truck and hauling it away!!!

I couldn't believe it. Everyone that i've talked to has really enjoyed seeing that thing in the lake. I've seen tons of fish in that thing...it was pretty unique and really funny. It was fun to play with....and it makes me pretty bummed to see it having been taken out.

Ya know...if someone wants natural underwater scenery...get out of Wazee. It's a man made lake for crying out loud. If you go to any of the other popular large quarries, you'll find a LOT larger objects than just some artificial seaweed and a few statues. If you really want to bring things back to their natural state then lets get some dump trucks and just fill the lake up back to the way it was before they started mining iron. Then it will be nice and natural again.

It's a hopeless battle - the fun things that are hidden in the lake will probably be always taken out by those that find they ruin the "natural" lake. I've always enjoyed finding these things - it's kind of like a treasure hunt....someone tells you about a gargoyle sitting on a ledge and you spend a dive or two looking for it until you finally find him sitting, watching over...it's neat, I enjoy going back and visiting these spots.

If you look at another thread on this board there are a bunch of people joining in the discussion of the cool things to be found and how they want to know where they are.

Some say that we should leave certain items in, such as the gazing ball and the statues (my personal favorites). But...that becomes a hypocritical argument. They are essentially saying "I don't want your trash in the lake, but the stuff I like looking at can stay". Sorry people it's all or nothing. Once you decree that the trash has to go, it ALL has to go - no matter if you think it scenic or not. Either that or you have to look at other things that you may not enjoy.

And then you can get into the arguments of intentional sinking of shipwrecks.....

So there, my true opinion on this subject comes out. Leave the stuff there...we can't be conceited enough to say "lets leave the ball and statue and take the rest out - we only want OUR trash!!". We like looking at the ball...so why shouldn't the new students at 30 feet be able to enjoy something?

And Tim - keep me (us) informed of the Friends of Wazee. While lacking in lots of spare cash I do have the time to help