dive park

The Dive Park is the main attraction for scuba divers at Tenkiller State Park. It features many sunken vessels, artifacts, monuments, treasures, and plenty of fish, making it one of the best dive sites in Lake Tenkiller. Divers can explore boats, a bus, a plane, and even a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter, providing a wreck diving experience. Established in 2005, Tim Knight of Nautical Adventures collaborated with the Army Corps of Engineers and Tenkiller State Park to create this unique scuba diving attraction.

bluff view

South of the Dive Park is an area accessible via the Bluff View picnic and camping areas. This site has become a popular training ground for Open Water students from the tristate area. Divers can follow rocky slopes connecting training platforms before reaching impressive bluffs near Crappie Point. The bluffs span over 50 feet wide, with overhangs reaching 20 feet deep. Be sure to find the famous "Buddy Phone," and don’t forget to ring the bell before you leave!

hickory flats

Located across the channel from Fisherman's Point, Hickory Flats provides a dive experience quite different from the other locations. Here, divers can discover a gradual slope and patches of white sand among the rocky floor. The main attraction at Hickory Flats is the large boulders that form small canyons, offering perfect hiding spots for flathead catfish, making it a unique diving site for enthusiasts.

An  honorable  monument  to  the uscg.

The Tenkiller Dive Park is home to a monumental aircraft with a lot of history!  Pictured in its hay day, helicopter number 1469 began her career at the USCG station in Brooklyn NY where all of the USCG helicopters spent their first two years in service.  The original picture was sent to Tim Knight by Mr. Bill Baswell who was a crew chief on the aircraft for over a year and was kind enough to share a few fascinating stories of rescue missions performed with the aircraft. 

1469 spent most of her career in Sitka, Alaska followed up with time in San Diego where she was later decommissioned.  In 2007, with the help of Mr. Ron Pomeroy, Nautical Adventures was able to rescue the rescue craft from a wheat field in Kansas where several avionics schools had already salvaged most of the electronics, engine and transmission. ​

Photo provided by Mr. Bill Baswell, crew chief of the HH-3F USCG helicopter number 1469 at the USCG station in Brooklyn NY 1970.

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Pictured is the 2010 arrival of United States Coast Guard helicopter number 1469 to her "Final Resting Place" at an approximate depth of 50 ft, making her a main attraction in the Lake Tenkiller Dive Park.

It took over two years to acquire a permit from the Corps of Engineers to sink the craft in what has been deemed by the men that served on 1469 as her "final resting place".   Thanks to the help from several avid scuba divers, the Nautical Adventures team pulled nearly two miles of wiring out of the aircraft along with a couple of the fuel bladders and all of the hydraulics to make the aircraft environmentally safe for Lake Tenkiller and safe for divers of all levels to explore.  

our own piece of history.

An excerpt from a book titled United States Coast Guard Ships Planes and Stations, printed by the U.S Government Printing Office in 1972, found in the University of Minnesota library, dated September 28, 1972, showing HH-3F number 1469 in action.  Source/Credit:  https://books.googleusercontent.com

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