Lake Dives around Portland/Vancouver

[FlyinV]

What lakes nearish to Portland have people dove in or do dive in?

I was just up at Merwin Lake for my rescue diver class (Yes I know thats in Washington but humor me)
We went in at Speelyai Bay Rec Area. Visibility was pretty good in places and we actually saw some fish
How warm the water was this last Sunday was weird -- no gloves needed and my 7mm wetsuit was more then enough.

I look forward to going back there again just with a buddy to avoid the class silt out problems we encountered.
It would be a nice place to practice skills -- play with the camera and get in the water without 5 hours of driving.

I do think during the warm summer months -- you would want to arrive early -- Plan on getting out of the park around Noon. Crowds move in and boats move in.

If you go up -- I highly suggest a dive flag and go to the far side of the park away from the boat ramp.
There is a nice concrete stairway to get to the water. The last step in sucks but if we get some divers using the park on a regular basis perhaps we can get an improvement to it figured out. The park staff seemed to really enjoy talking to us and be supportive of divers using the park.

Besides some fish under water there is a lot of stumps, logs and branches that make the dive interesting.

$3 a car to get into the park
If anyone around Portland/Vancouver ever wants to go up there -- give me a yell

I just wonder where else can I get my local dive hunger filled if I only have 3 or 4 hours free on a weekend and can't devote a whole day to going up to the sound.

[spatman]

hey jeff

i might be interested in checking that out sometime.

how deep does the lake get? and do you have a water temp from your computer, by any chance?

[WylerBear]

I'd be up for doing a couple of dives there also. I've only been there once taking an OW student to do her dives but she had so many issues on the first dive by the time we hit bottom that I called the dive. She decided diving was not for her and never came back.
Anyway, I never got to explore the lake at all.
Let me know when you want to go up there again.
As for other lakes, there's Battle Ground & Kline Line. Neither is too much fun but at least you can get wet. In the 7 years I've been diving, I've never been that desperate for a dive but you never know...

[FlyinV]

I believe it gets deep but since it was a class we stayed pretty shallow and right by our dive flag.
Just working on our rescue skills and falling for the tricks the instructors and dive masters set up to test us on

You might need to go outside the bay area into the big part of Lake Merwin for some real depth -- I think my instructor was talking to a dive master at some point about some deep training dives they did over in that area in the past.
She didn't think the lake was fun at all -- but I am intrigued about the place.

I will grab some data from my computer when I get a chance to post up some depth and temp info tomorrow.

More scouting trips are needed :smt038

Edit -- If Georgia hasn't heard of people going deep in Lake Merwin ... I must have heard Nicolle wrong as I know Georgia and Nicholle know each other very well As they are both at 7C

[spatman]

just found this page which says the lake gets as deep as 190, and has mean depth of 104'.

what was the viz like before you and the class dropped the silt bombs?

[WylerBear]

Nicolle was telling me about diving there. It seems like there can be a good dive there I think she was talking about doing tech training there so it must get pretty deep. Not that we need to go deep to have a good dive.

[FlyinV]

I am terrible at vis estimation -- but I would guess 8 feet to even 12 feet before a silt out.
Carefully buoyancy on a sunny day you should be able to float around and at least see like a bad day in the sound.
To be honest with our class going on it sometimes was 1 inch of vis

I have been thinking about bring some sort of tape measure underwater and stretch it out with a buddy to see exactly what 10 feet, 15 feet and so forth of vis looks like underwater. Then I wouldn't feel like it such a guess.

[Diver Doug]

Go next door to Yale lake. I wasn't diving at the time but it is a beautiful lake with about half the people. If I remember right, on the south side of the lake the vis was probably close to 40 foot. The lake has a sandy rock bottom. I bet it is a great dive.
Doug

[renoun]

I have been sailing on Yale Lake, the next reservoir up the hill many times. The surface gets quite warm by late summer. I have been there when it appeared to be fairly clear. My main concern would be avoiding the power boats.

[selkie]

The Salem shops dive at Big Cliff Reservoir bellow Detroit Reservoir. You guys pick a lake to dive and I will show up if I can. I would like to dive with a group of Oregon divers without driving to the Sound.

[Leithius]

Let me know the next tinme you guys go to Merwin. I wouldn't mind checking it out. I'm also trying to line up a Clear Lake dive/camping trip this summer for folks interested in doing a day of diving and camping/drinking beer

[ORDiver]

The closest lake to Portland that I've dove is Detroit Lake. Vis was OK, probably 15 ft. Saw some little green fish and some crawdads. Lots of fishing lures to recover. I'd love to find somewhere closer than that just for practicing skills / trying out new equipment. How far out is Merwin and Yale?

[Gooch]

I would also be interested in some lake dives closer to Portland/Vancouver. I've read about folks diving timothy lake but it sounded pretty tame. I will probably dive lost lake if we camp there this year but I imagine its the same (it does also get deep I have heard). It would be nice to find some spots more local than the south sound to dive occasionally. Georgia, if you or others from the shop decide to make a trip to one sometime, let me or Dea know; we might be interested in going.

I know I've asked folks this before but has anyone dove in the river at all? The general answers I get are; its too much current, its poor viz, there's nothing to see, boats, etc... I'm just interested in finding that lost sternwheeler (i'm just making that up but there are probably more than a few out there).

[spatman]

if any of you are early risers like me, i'm be down for doing an exploratory dive at either lake merwin or yale lake next sunday, the 14th. if we left pdx at 7:30 we could be there by 9, splash at 10, out at 11, and back in pdx by 1pm.

i'd need to clear this with my better half, but i could probably make it work.

[Gooch]

Geez, it seems like the "permission to launch" should have been sought first

[spatman]

Geez, it seems like the "permission to launch" should have been sought first

lol, i don't need permission, but i do want to make sure i'm not forgetting about some other commitment i had previously agreed to... i've been known to do that.

[FlyinV]

I am an early riser but I will have to miss the exploration dive :(
Up at hood canal on the 13th and not sure I can get my tanks filled in time for a dive on the 14th.

Please post up what you discover - I was talking to one of my regular buddies sometime about exploring up there sometime soon

[WylerBear]

I don't have any trouble getting up early (to dive anyway) but I will be in New England next week-hopefully, getting some dives in somewhere on the east coast.
Let me know when the next time will be.

[spatman]

if no one's available the 14th, i could go on the 28th instead...

georgia, where in new england will you be? i miss northeast summers...

[WylerBear]

We are taking off tomorrow and the goal is to go to Maine, NH, & Vermont because those are the only states I've never been to. We also want to go to New Brunswick to go to the Bay of Fundy. Will spend a day or two with Carrie's mom on Cape Cod. Can you recommend any dive shops/clubs/sites? I've checked out a few places online but always good to get a real live recommendation. I'll have dive gear with me although pretty scaled down. And I'm taking my wetsuit! We're pretty excited to be on the road again.
Can't do the 28th either-have to work.

[Dusty2]

You can get nice solid brass grommets from Harbor freight with the hole punch and instillation tools

[ORDiver]

if any of you are early risers like me, i'm be down for doing an exploratory dive at either lake merwin or yale lake next sunday, the 14th. if we left pdx at 7:30 we could be there by 9, splash at 10, out at 11, and back in pdx by 1pm.

i'd need to clear this with my better half, but i could probably make it work.

I can probably make it. Just need to get my on call covered for a few hours.

[spatman]

We are taking off tomorrow and the goal is to go to Maine, NH, & Vermont because those are the only states I've never been to. We also want to go to New Brunswick to go to the Bay of Fundy. Will spend a day or two with Carrie's mom on Cape Cod. Can you recommend any dive shops/clubs/sites? I've checked out a few places online but always good to get a real live recommendation. I'll have dive gear with me although pretty scaled down. And I'm taking my wetsuit! We're pretty excited to be on the road again.

i wish i had a recommendation for you, but it's been ages since i've been there and i didn't learn to dive until much later...

but if you pass a restaurant on cape cod called "the yum yum tree", please stop in and let me know if the fried dough is as awesome as i remember.

[spatman]

I can probably make it. Just need to get my on call covered for a few hours.

cool. let me know if we're on.

[ORDiver]

I'll know after I talk to the guys at work tomorrow.