Wednesday, November 24,2021
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 3A
Some heroes
wear tanks
Navigating threats lurking
at bottom of Lake Lanier
Ashlyn Yule DCN Regional Staff
Ronin Molina-Salas and Richard Pickering dive under Lake Lanier to find a lost bracelet. Pickering has
since said that they found the bracelet "easily."
Ashlyn Yule
DCN Regional Staff
Editor’s note: This is the
second part of a series
about Lake Lanier
Recovery Divers. To read
the first part and meet the
guys on the team, refer to
last week’s print edition or
visit dawsomews.com
Before the Lake Lanier
Recovery Divers hit the
water, Richard Pickering,
Mark Lanford, and Ronin
Molina-Salas, take a few
moments to breathe.
“When you hit that
water, it’s go-time every
single time,” Pickering
said.
While the dive team
prides itself on finding 98%
of the items they are
searching for, Pickering
said that “it’s not as easy as
just going down and pick
ing something off the bot
tom [of Lake Lanier].”
Dangers in the form of
underwater forests, debris,
cold temperatures, and the
bends are all “very real”
and affect the way the div
ers approach each search.
“If your knees aren’t
shaking before you jump
into [Lake Lanier], there’s
something wrong with
you,” Lanford said.
Freezing at 45 feet
Pickering said Lake
Lanier Recovery Divers
hunts for items year-round
in Lake Lanier because
“it’s just as cold in the win
ter as it is in the summer.”
According to Pickering,
the lake has two separate
thermoclines, which are
transition layers between
cold deep water and warm
er surface water. Pickering
said that the first thermo-
cline is around 20-25 feet
deep with temperatures in
the mid-50s. The second
thermocline is at 45 feet
deep, and the temperature
is 42 degrees.
“It’s bone-chilling cold
down there all year round,”
he said.
Pickering said that the
divers he’s tried to “bring
onto the team” have all
backed out after getting a
taste of chilly Lake Lanier.
“It’s unnerving and it’s
dangerous on Lake Lanier
... it’s not easy,” he said.
“So, we really pride our
selves on our resources to
be able to remain calm and
to get ourselves out of
hairy situations which all
three of us have been in
before multiple times.”
Because of the danger,
Pickering said he and his
team members typically
dive alone. Sometimes,
they dive in pairs depend
ing on the object they’re
retrieving.
“People [go mountain
climbing] alone because
they don’t want to be
responsible for somebody
else’s life. Same with us,”
Pickering said. “When
we’re down there, we can’t
even see each other from
six feet apart. So, if we get
in trouble, we have no
idea.”
Not only is the lake star
tlingly cold, but Pickering
also said it’s covered with
trees, trash, furniture and
other objects that make div
ing difficult and even life-
threatening.
Underwater
junkyard
Lake Lanier is surround
ed by dense trees, brush
and other vegetation, but
there’s a forest just as thick
under the waves, too.
Pickering said when the
lake was originally flooded,
they stopped at 30 feet
below full pool, which is
1,071 feet above sea level,
and went around cutting
down any of the trees that
were sticking above the
waterline. The tops were all
lopped off, but because
oxygen is necessary for
trees to rot, the hunks and
bigger branches are still sit
ting on the bottom of the
lake.
“If you’re in 95 feet of
water, there’s full-grown
trees going 60-65 feet
straight up,” Pickering said.
“They don’t rot, the only
thing that happens is that
they lose their leaves and
small branches. But the big
branches are still there
because they have to have
air in order to rot.”
When Lake Lanier
Recovery Divers go search
ing for lost items, they dive
inverted with their heads
facing the bottom of the
lake and fins pointing
upwards.
Molina-Salas said that
because you can “only see
about 12 inches in front of
your face” in Lake Lanier,
it can be tricky to maneu
ver around a lake that’s
“thick with trees.”
Pickering said the visibil
ity is so low that when peo
ple lose items in open
water, it’s like “taking a
phone and throwing it in
the middle of the woods”
and trying to “find it with a
flashlight in the middle of
the night while it’s raining.”
Not only are the trees
hard to navigate, but ropes
and fishing lines are tan
gled underneath a good
part of the lake. Lanford
said he recently had an
experience where he got
caught in debris at the bot
tom of the lake and “could
have died.”
Thankfully, due to his
quick thinking and ability
to remain calm under pres
sure, he escaped the lake
without repercussions.
Lanford s close call
Because there’s limited
visibility on the bottom of
the lake, spatial orientation
is also decreased.
When Lake Lanier
Recovery Divers begin a
search, they set up a grid
underwater with ropes and
lines to help pattern out the
bottom of the lake into sec
tions. They will then drop
down a line from the top
and hold onto it with a teth
er, letting them go up and
down from the same loca
tion and helping the divers
to not get lost.
On one dive, Lanford got
caught up in some of the
other lines and strings at
the bottom of the lake that
had tangled with his.
He said the lines were
twisted around his tank and
when he went to cut him
self free, he dropped his
knife. It was immediately
swallowed up by the mud.
“It was apparent to me
that I wasn’t going to be
able to free myself,”
Lanford said. “And I was
like 35 feet down.”
With a limited air supply,
Lanford said he knew he
had to get to the water’s
surface, so with one final
inhale of oxygen, he took
off his tank and began to
ascend.
“I knew I needed to get
to the top, so I just took a
breath of air out of the tank,
let everything go, and for
tunately, I wasn’t tied up
with anything else,”
Lanford said. “And then I
went to the top as slowly as
possible as I was breathing
out. Fast ascents will liter
ally kill you.”
Lanford had to time his
ascent so that the was letting
out air bubbles “twice as
fast” as he was ascending.
He made it to the top,
and while all his equipment
was still sitting on the bot
tom of the lake, he was
safe.
During the interview
with Lake Lanier Recovery
Divers, Pickering said that
Lanford was “wildly
understating” his experi
ence. “If you were to hold
your breath as you come
up, as the nitrogen inside
your blood expands — just
like a balloon — if you
don’t let air out, your lungs
are going to literally
explode.”
The bends
According to eMedicine-
Health, the bends, also
called decompression sick
ness or Caisson disease, is
a potentially deadly medi
cal condition caused by
rapid changes in pressure
during diving. It can affect
almost any area in the body
including the lungs, heart,
brain, joints and skin.
Pickering explained that
like the sky, water also has
separate atmospheric pres
sures. The further down
into the lake you go, the
more you must compensate
on your way back up.
The team must constant
ly think about the amount
of nitrogen going into their
lungs compressed air from
the tanks.
According to eMedicine-
Health, decompression
sickness is caused from
nitrogen in a diver’s tank
increasing as they descend
underwater. For every 33
feet in water, pressure goes
up 11.6 pounds per square
inch.
As the nitrogen increas
es, more of the gas dis
solves into the body’s tis
sues and bloodstream.
Pickering explained the
concept of the bends by
comparing a person’s
bloodstream to a can of
soda.
“When you’re underwa
ter, your body is taking in
compressed air filled with
nitrogen,” he said. “It’s like
[soda]. Think of all those
little air bubbles inside of
[a can of soda]; that’s
what’s inside your blood.”
“If you come up too fast,
those nitrogen bubbles in
your blood will literally
explode in your brain, in
your heart, in your lungs,
and you’re going to die,” he
said. “Just like shaking up a
can of soda makes it
explode after you open it.
That pressure has to
release.”
Several years ago, one of
Pickering’s teammates was
cutting an anchor from a
log with a saw in Lake
Lanier. He said since he
was exerting physical ener
gy, he was increasing his
nitrogen intake through his
tank.
“He forgot to account for
that extra nitrogen and
didn’t do enough [decom
pression stops],” Pickering
said. “He almost died. He
had to be taken to the hos
pital, and he was in the
hyperbaric chamber for
eight hours.”
According to the FDA, a
hyperbaric chamber is a
medical device that raises
air pressure to a higher
amount than normal to arti
ficially reproduce pressures
underwater, allowing the
lungs to collect more oxy
gen. Generally, hyperbaric
chambers are tubes “large
enough to hold one person”
or a “room that can accom
modate more than one per
son.”
“It’s not fun being in a
hyperbaric chamber,”
Molina-Salas said. “That’s
why I always tell
[Pickering and Lanford],
‘Slow down, do a [decom
pression] stop if you can.’
It’s better to be super safe
than to get helicoptered to
the nearest hyperbaric
chamber.”
Lake Laniers
ghoulish side
“Everyone says that the
lake is haunted and there
are monsters down there,”
Molina-Salas said. “But
there’s not.”
Pickering said the closest
thing Lake Lanier has to
monsters are catfish, “and
not those giant catfish you
hear eating chickens.”
“There are no catfish the
size of Volkswagens in the
lake,” Pickering said. “The
largest found I think was
67 pounds.”
He said he’s seen schools
of catfish while diving in
coves.
“Catfish can be very ter
ritorial, though,” Pickering
said. “So sometimes when
we’re diving, they’ll see
their reflections in our
masks and charge.”
“Every time it happens to
me, I swear I think,
‘Shark,’” he said. “It hap
pens so fast, and they just
come out of nowhere and
ram right into your mask.”
While the divers have
seen interesting, scary
things at the bottom of the
lake, Pickering said that,
from personal experience,
he had never seen any
ghosts.
“The only thing this lake
is haunted by is stupidity,”
Pickering said. “People
come out here and they
don’t wear their lifejack
ets.”
Pickering said that while
there are “some drown-
ings” that happen in Lake
Lanier every year, he
believed drugs and alcohol
played a large part in boat
ing accidents.
According to the Army
Corps of Engineers, which
governs the lake, Lanier
averages about 11.8 million
visitors a year, most com
ing in the summer months
between Memorial Day
and Labor Day.
“Most people don’t real
ly get just how many peo
ple come to [Lake Lanier],”
Pickering said.
Lanford said that in most
drownings, victims aren’t
wearing lifejackets, which
could “have saved their
lives.”
The lake is also cold in
deep water, he said, which
can lead to leg cramps and
exhaustion. The depth per
ception from the middle of
the lake is also “pretty
skewed.”
“[Depth perception] can
kill even the strongest
swimmer,” Pickering said.
“I mean, you look out at
the shore, and it looks ... a
lot closer than it is.”
“We always try to stress
that you should wear your
lifejacket in any situation,”
Molina-Salas said. “You
might think it looks dumb
or silly, but we’d rather you
look dumb or silly than get
hurt.”
What's next?
As the only dive team on
Lake Lanier certified by the
Army Corps of Engineers,
Pickering said he will
“continue to dive until I
can’t anymore.”
“As long as there’s a
need for it, we want to pro
vide the service,” Lanford
agreed. “So, for now, we’ll
keep jumping into the lake,
finding peoples’ stuff and
doing dock clears.”
Some of the other servic-
es that Lake Lanier
Recovery Divers offers are
dock inspections and
clears, boat inspections,
anchor removals and in
water prop setup or remov
al.
To contact Lake Lanier
Recovery Divers or to learn
more about the dive team,
find them on Lacebook at
www.facebook.com/lakela-
nierdivers or call 678-469-
5600.
EARLY DEADLINES FOR
THANKSGIVING DAY
Because of the upcoming Thanksgiving Day holiday the Dawson County News
wiii alter its advertising and legals deadline as follows:
Retail Display Ads
Publication Date Deadline
Dawson County News
Midweek Edition 12/01 Wednesday, 11/24,3:00pm
Classified Line Ads
Publication Date Deadline
Dawson County News
Midweek Edition 12/01 Wednesday, 11/24, Noon
Legal Ads
Publication Date Deadline
Dawson County News
Midweek Edition 12/01 Wednesday, 11/24, Noon
Obituaries
Publication Date Deadline
Dawson County News
Midweek Edition 12/01 Wednesday, 11/24, Noon
DawsonCountyNews
DawsonNews corn
Will be CLOSED Thursday, Nov. 25 in observance of Thanksgiving.
Fresh Cut Fraser Firs
Cut your own Cypress or Pine, &
fresh cut Fraser Firs! Handmade wreaths!
276 Woodland Lane, Dahlonega
(4 miles North of the traffic light at Walmart)
Hours: Tues-Fri: 3pm - Dark Sat: 10am - Dark
Sun: 1pm - Dark Closed Monday
CASH OR CHECK PREFERRED
706-864-8222
i
