Bonneville seabase Utah

Tell us your tale of coming nose-to-nose with a 6 gill [--this big--], or about your vacation to turquoise warm waters. Share your adventures here!
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JJHACK
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Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2017 12:04 pm

Bonneville seabase Utah

Post by JJHACK »

Hi again folks,

I'm in salt lake right now typing this on my phone. A more detailed update coming. I'll be home this week and can type more in my lap top.

This is a geothermal series of ponds that are natural 3% salt water similiar to the oceans. The owners also own a scuba shop in SLC and bought this with the intent to stock it with reef fish. It's been several decades now and the fish population is pretty good. We were swarmed by pork fish and several species of angel fish. The angels were quite large too, probably 24" long!

There were puffers and nurse sharks too. Sadly the nurse sharks died of old age. At 10' long. The layout is very nice. A heated Greenhouse style building is over hanging the main entry pond so year round use is easy and warm. The water was 82 deg even at depth. The deepest spot I found was 23-24 feet.

There is a sunken boat out in one pond and some platforms to stand or kneel on when they are doing certification classes.

With family in Utah I now have another reason to visit! I'll certainly dive here again. For about 10 bucks they give you a mesh bag with small chunks or shrimp and salmon. The pork fish will swarm you when they realize you have this food. They will pick the pieces right from your finger tips.

The clarity of the water was poor, maybe 4-6 feet. Algae bloom this time of year. Winter water is 65-75 and clearer conditions. The murkey water advantage is that you feel like it's a much bigger area.

The ponds are connected by 6' diameter 30' long culverts. Navigation is complicated because there are a lot of metal objects in the water. My compass freaked out more than once! Neverthelesss you can swim through the culverts to get between the ponds.

They rent everything and will refill tanks on the spot. If you ever have the need to go South through SLC this might be a worth while adventure. Tropical diving in Utah!
The best things in life are not things
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JJHACK
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Posts: 144
Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2017 12:04 pm

Re: Bonneville seabase Utah

Post by JJHACK »

I'm not 100% on this photo attachment using Google's photo storage. Hope this works

https://goo.gl/photos/EhPbp6HmfpqALfCMA

Nope, guess not. I'll have to try another way.

Well a link is better than nothing I suppose? How do you post a Photo from Google photo storage?
The best things in life are not things
Steiger
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Posts: 53
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2015 4:50 pm

Re: Bonneville seabase Utah

Post by Steiger »

So murky. Gotta hit that during the colder times.
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