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Wow, What a Trip on Lake Wateree!
by Lt Bob Arneson, P
 Saturday,
20 June 2009 — the day before Father’s Day, projected temperatures of 100-101° —
and we STILL had boaters wanting to
get on the lake! I guess you just can’t keep LMPS folks off the water.
We had eight folks using five PWCs and one jet boat to enjoy this trip.
We met at the public landing adjacent to the Shaw AFB Recreation
Center and had all vessels in the water and ready to go at 1000. As
usual the large parking lot was already full of bass fishermen
participating in a tournament, so we parked along the road or squeezed
into spaces too small for bass boat trailers.
We headed downstream toward the lower dam and progressed clockwise around the
lake. The areas close to the dam have houses up on high bluffs with what must
have been hundreds of steps leading down to the water and their boat docks. The
walk up and down must be a killer but the views from their houses have to be
fantastic.
This area of the lake also has gobs of Spanish moss hanging from all the trees.
You’d expect Spanish moss around low country and swampy areas, but this area of
Lake Wateree is almost mountainous; but full of Spanish moss.
After crossing the dam, we continued up the lake and visited many coves to view
houses and yards. I heard several comments that Lake Wateree has different
styles of houses and yards from what we normally see around Lake Murray. New
construction was evident all around the lake, with all styles and sizes of homes
under construction. I think a couple of our lady members had their eyes on a
couple of these new places.
Right before we stopped for lunch, our member with his new jet boat demonstrated
how quickly it could turn. Turning and stopping on a dime doesn’t really
adequately describe it! After he and his lovely bride got untangled from each
other, he managed to get his VHF radio back in the boat. Lucky for him it
floats!
We stopped for lunch at Dutchman Creek Marina and really enjoyed the food and
air conditioning. Their ice cream appeared to be a hit also. A guest who has
gone on several PWC trips with our squadron this last year met us there and we
enjoyed having her along to point out various features of Lake Wateree.
When we reached the upper dam, it gave us a good idea of what the other side of
the lower dam looks like. Lots of tall concrete! We then continued our trip
around the lake and headed back to our launch point. We ended the trip around
1530 and had all vessels loaded by 1545.
We had our timing down just right. As we approached the landing, the last one of
87 bass boats participating in the tournament was being loaded and pulled up the
ramp. If we had reached the landing earlier and had to idle around the lake
waiting for all those bass boats to get out of our way, we would have cooked
under that hot sun.
And just to set the record straight, we planned it that way; it wasn’t just dumb
luck. Well maybe luck played some small part of it, but we’ll claim credit for
it anyway!
We covered 75 miles on our overall trip! That’s about the distance from
Charleston to Beaufort! We sure can cover a lot of ground on our PWCs!! The next
trip we take with PWCs will be in cooler weather and hopefully not on a special
day weekend.
Keep those PWCs ready to ride; we’ll do another trip one of these days.
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