Two problems: there are no roads or even official trails into the lake, and the plane was resting nose-down in mud at around 200 FFW.
Utterly determined, the owner and his friends have hauled and flown literally tons of gear and equipment into the lake, from folding boats and outboard motors to lift bags and tools. They had all the stuff....amazing amounts of stuff, actually.....now they needed a diver capable of reaching and working at those depths.
Enter NWDC member Curt McNamee.
Curt called me last week and asked me to come with him on this adventure. I'm dealing with some viscious bronchitis right now, so diving was out of the question....what he needed from me was surface command and control, which I gladly offered.
I'll probably tell the tale in a future issue of ADM, but for now suffice it to say that after two dives and the use of three 3000 pound lift bags, the aircraft was raised! It is now sitting in shallow water at the other end of the lake awaiting repair work by the owner and his crew....all of whom are overjoyed. Kudos to Curt for some outstanding deep recovery work!
Here are some pics:
This is the TINY-ASS little seaplane that I was flown into the lake with. Curt got to fly in a larger plane with all of the dive gear. My knees were almost touching my chin! HA!
![Image](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1049/773613022_5d4092b2a7_o.jpg)
Here's the final approach down into the lake itself:
![Image](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1431/773613098_0d050c6365_o.jpg)
Here's "headquarters" at the Eastern end of the lake. The plane on shore is the one that Curt arrived in while the one on the right in the water is the one that I was in.
![Image](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1052/773613258_dfb154bd3a_o.jpg)
Here's a shot of Curt right after I clipped his bail-out bottles to his harness and he is pre-breathing his CCR. We were out in the middle of the lake on a small but stable raft on pontoons, located almost directly over the sunken seaplane.
![Image](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1117/773613320_bf97ed8d82_o.jpg)
Weighted down....but ready to go!
![Image](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1347/773613324_495ea195d5_o.jpg)
The descent begins:
![Image](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1193/773613336_f988112a0f_o.jpg)
Other photos will have to follow later....neither of us was there when the lift bags finally pulled the aircraft free from the muddy bottom as we had to fly out before darkness arrived.
They called us the following morning from the trailhead to shout success over the phone!
A long, tiring day.....but really, REALLY worth it!
- John