Lake Martha and Lake Ki yesterday

kirbycook · Post by **kirbycook** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 9:40 am

Seth T and I dove Lakes Martha and Ki (Snohomish Co.) yesterday morning. It's always interesting to drop down to the bottom to find it hard to tell where the "bottom" begins... best described as a brown Coolwhip like substance. Overall visibility was about 5-10 ft in Lake Martha and 3-20ft in Lake Ki. Saw lots of golf balls and big crayfish. Oh and we did find an old electric trolling motor and an old anchor in Lake Ki. All in all an interesting day.

As always good dive Seth!

Kirby-

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 3:37 pm

Many moons ago Bassman and I dove a small lake near his house. It was short and uneventful, and it was at night, which added to the creepy surrealness (word?) of dropping toward the bottom, thinking you see it, then reaching out to touch it and your hand arm and light dissappear into it, yet you feel nothing. Pitch black, and no point of reference. The weird bottom is just creepy. Needless to say there wasn't much to see and we didn't stay long.

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 4:54 pm

I've found that same thing with the creepy bottom at lakes near my place too. One time, a weight belt that was anchoring a dive buoy slipped off the end of the line, and sunk into the gelatinous brown goo. I tried to find it, but no luck.

A week or so later, went back to the same place armed with garden rakes. (It was near a fixed point of reference so it was easy to find again). We raked through the goo - stirred up the vis to ZERO, that's for sure! No weight belt.

We took off our fins and stepped into the goo, hoping to find it with our feet. We sunk in past our KNEES!

VERY GROSS stuff.

Bet the Sea Cucumbers would love to eat that stuff if they were adapted to fresh water!

- Janna

Fishstiq · Post by **Fishstiq** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 5:18 pm

Tried diving Lake Ki a couple years ago. Thought about trying Martha, since i have an uncle who lives on the lake with a nice dock to dive off of, but haven't done it yet. After reading these posts, I'm thinking there's not much point in trying it now. Good to know.

kirbycook · Post by **kirbycook** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 5:40 pm

We decided that Lake Ki was worth doing again... I think we've chalked Martha up to "been there done that..."

There was more life in Lake Ki... small fish and lots of crayfish. Martha was pretty dead... no fish and only a few crayfish. The thermocline, especially in Lake Martha was impressive. Surface temps were around 55... at 49 ft it was 42. I think between the slightly shimmying goo bottom, the dark and cold conditions and the absolute lack of life, Lake Martha was pretty creepy.

Seth did try to "stand" up in the goo at Lake Ki... I think he sunk well below his knee without hitting anything solid.

Neither was anywhere near a great dive... but it was an interesting day.

Seth T. · Post by **Seth T.** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 6:48 pm

I really enjoyed these dives. Thanks Kirby!

Not that they were off the charts outstanding (as Kirby mentioned), but it was great fun to try something totally new and just explore. $\:D/$

As Kirby said, Lake Martha was pretty much a filthy, dead lake. We saw a dead fish, dead frog and lots of dead tadpole looking things. Crawfish were the only thing alive. It was quite deep; we hit 51' FFW out of the alleged 70' FFW. The thermocline was simply remarkable. It dropped a whopping 13 degrees at 24' FFW. Brrr! Viz was awful, with a eerie yellow glow due to the sun penetrating the algae. Yuck.

Lake Ki was a MUCH better dive. In fact, Kirby and I would be happy to dive that lake again (unlike Martha!). Viz from 30' FFW up was a very impressive 20' with a pool-like blue color. The sun easily shone through the water casting our shadows on the bottom. We could even see the shadow of our bubbles headed to the surface. Very cool!

There are two "holes" in Lake Ki that drop down to 70' FFW, but the viz was less than 3' at 44 FFW and getting worse, so we aborted our quest to find the bottom of the hole. There's not a terribly lot to see, though, so if you are the type of diver who wants to be wowed by every dive, don't bother. I found a Coke can from 1986 ("Official Sponsor of the 1988 Olympics") and a Pepsi can with "Pepsi" in Japanese. And of course, Kirby's coveted trolling motor. :rr:

We wrapped up our diving adventures by grabbing a bite to eat at Country Burger (located between the two lakes on Lakewood Rd.). Outsanding greasy ASS burgers! Highly recommended! :occasion5:

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:28 am

Tom Nic wrote:Many moons ago Bassman and I dove a small lake near his house. It was short and uneventful, and it was at night, which added to the creepy surrealness (word?) of dropping toward the bottom, thinking you see it, then reaching out to touch it and your hand arm and light dissappear into it, yet you feel nothing. Pitch black, and no point of reference. The weird bottom is just creepy. Needless to say there wasn't much to see and we didn't stay long.

Haha.. Bassman told me about that when we were at Lake Louise for the 4th of July bash.. crazy.

Seth T. · Post by **Seth T.** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:34 am

Chris wrote: Haha.. Bassman told me about that when we were at Lake Louise for the 4th of July bash.. crazy.

Lake Louise? As in the one in Sudden Valley, Bellingham?

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 2:14 pm

Seth T. wrote:
Chris wrote: Haha.. Bassman told me about that when we were at Lake Louise for the 4th of July bash.. crazy.
Lake Louise? As in the one in Sudden Valley, Bellingham?

Nope. Down here in the Southland. Louise must get around!

BASSMAN · Post by **BASSMAN** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 8:47 am

Yep, that was one short dive!

"Is that the bottom?...Nope...Hey, where is my hand?....Then, Where is Tom's light? , lets get out of here!"

Seth T. · Post by **Seth T.** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:38 am

Tom Nic wrote: Louise must get around!

Evidentally! However, she's a dirty, shallow sucker.