Diving Lake Crescent....VIZ????

[decodiver25]

Hey guys...my dive buddy and I are heading out to Lake Crescent on Sunday for two dives. I have heard that the viz does not stay good all year around. I was wondering if anyone on this board has been there recently? I was just wondering if the viz was good or has been good? I would hate to drive all the way over there to do a couple of dives to find out the viz is 20ft. Anyway if anyone can give me some info i would appreciate it!
thanks again...

[Joshua Smith]

I dove the Warren car last summer and had 40-45' of vis- no idea what it's like, now, though. Tell us how the vis was, if you go, and have a great dive- did I hear you were going to dive sledgehammer point?

[decodiver25]

hey there buddy!!!
yeah we are going to dive sledgehammer point. John tells me that this dive site is pretty fun! I guess once you reach the end of the platform it drops off a great deal!!! Like i said earlier i am just worried about spending all of this money of trimix fills and deco gasses and we get over there and the viz is like 15-20ft....but we will give it a shot! ill keep ya posted! Have you done this site personally?

[John Rawlings]

Like i said earlier i am just worried about spending all of this money of trimix fills and deco gasses and we get over there and the viz is like 15-20ft.

This from a man that enjoys diving in Lake Washington!

[Joshua Smith]

hey there buddy!!!
yeah we are going to dive sledgehammer point. John tells me that this dive site is pretty fun! I guess once you reach the end of the platform it drops off a great deal!!! Like i said earlier i am just worried about spending all of this money of trimix fills and deco gasses and we get over there and the viz is like 15-20ft....but we will give it a shot! ill keep ya posted! Have you done this site personally?

I never have, but I was thinking about heading over there for a camping/ dive trip this summer, after I do my CCR hypoxic trimix class- seems like a nice, calm spot to try some deeper dives. Let us know how you like it!

[gcbryan]

Hey guys...my dive buddy and I are heading out to Lake Crescent on Sunday for two dives. I have heard that the viz does not stay good all year around. I was wondering if anyone on this board has been there recently? I was just wondering if the viz was good or has been good? I would hate to drive all the way over there to do a couple of dives to find out the viz is 20ft. Anyway if anyone can give me some info i would appreciate it!
thanks again...

I've never been there when the viz wasn't good and I've been over there several times including this time of year. Obviously if someone mucks up the bottom it's like just after Mt. St. Helens went off for quite a while. I'm sure you will have good viz. Be sure to write up a trip report when you get back!

[CaptnJack]

Isn't the warren car a closed site per the NPS?

[gcbryan]

Isn't the warren car a closed site per the NPS?

I think it's diveable with prior permission.

[John Rawlings]

The area around the Warren vehicle is closed to divers UNLESS they have a permit from the NPS. A permit isn't that hard to get.....the NPS just want to keep track of who's diving there, especially since some rotten %&*#@'s have vandalized the car.

- John

[BDub]

The area around the Warren vehicle is closed to divers UNLESS they have a permit from the NPS. A permit isn't that hard to get.....the NPS just want to keep track of who's diving there, especially since some rotten %&*#@'s have vandalized the car.

- John

When we dove there in September, just as we started our descent, a Park Ranger slowed down on the highway next to where we were. He looked over the rail, saw us, and took off to the turnout. Luckily we had surface support who had the permit.

It was good to see they're being vigilant.

[decodiver25]

hey again...
yes you do need a permit to dive the Warren car like John said. However my dive buddy and I are going to dive Sledgehammer point! This dive site is open to anyone!!!

[lostnbrownsmead]

Sparky and I dove Lake Crescent last weekend and the vis was pretty good. we dove down to 75 feet and we could see ripples on the surface and I saw a duck paddling along. It was kind of neat to dive in clear water. Have a great dive

Jay

[John Rawlings]

OK, decodiver25....for crying out loud....you've kept us in suspense long enough....how were the dives?????

[decodiver25]

ok guys....here we go I am not as good of writer as mr. rawlings so expect gramatical errors...ha ha..
Anyway we arrived at Sledgehammer point at about 10am both of us tired as hell from the drive. Both of us are excited but have mixed feelings becuase we had heard so many different opinions about the viz. The second we got there both chris and I (my dive buddy) jumped out of the truck and to our relief the viz looked great!!!! We really lucked out because the weather was great. It was cold out with lots of clouds but we would get 10-20minute breaks where the sun would poke out and shine on the lake really allowing us to see the contour of the lake bottom. So we began suiting up with other visitors that were enjoying the scenery calling us nuts for going into that cold cold water!!!! ONce into the water and our stage bottles cliped on we swam on the surface just to get an idea of what we were in for. Well Sledghammer point is no joke....if you like walls this is the place for you. All is takes is ten feet from shore and your looking down a steep and deep embankment. I would have to admit that we were a little intimidated by this drop. The water was clear enought that we could probably see about 60-70ft down the cliff. Since this was my first time there i thought the viz was great but i guess in the summer its even better! So we descend down the cliff. I would have to admit it felf great just to open my arms and float down the wall, viz good enough that i felt as i was in a huge aquarium! It only took but a few minutes for us to hit our bottom depth at 215ft. I didn't have to turn on my HID untill i hit 170ft!!! that was coolest part. The ambient light was penetrating to that depth, definatly something that i have never seen in the sound!...We were diving trimix which was great so i was clear headed enough to enjoy the dive and remember it...At this depth i remember looking down and still not being able to see the bottom, it just keept on going down and down! This would be a great place for those doing advanced trimix classes! After 22 minutes of bottom time we began our ascent. We just put hand over hand climbing up the wall meanwhile looking into little crevases finding what we could that was interesting. On our deco stops we both took time to enjoy the vizability. At our seventy foot stop i could see the surface which was absolutly amazing! This by far the coolest dive I have done since starting my technical dive training!!! I will admit there is not much to be said about life in the lake so if your going to dive lake Crescent it wouldn't be to check out sea life thats for sure ha ha.

Our second dive was at La Poel, this site was not as fun. The countour of this site is like Mukilteo but the slope goes down alot faster. There was not much to look at here but a giant tree that was at a depth of about 130ft or so. We only spent about 30 minutes at this site because the water temp being 41 degrees we were pretty cold by this point.

Again Sledgehammer point by far the best dive there!

[edm81363]

Thanks for the greta report - sounds like a very fun dive!

-Ed in Mill Creek

[John Rawlings]

I told you so!