Lake Washington diving

[Rockfish]

I am going to be planning some dives in Lake Washington this year. I know that the visibility varies with the season and that there are many factors affecting visibility in the lake. Would some of the experienced Lake Washington divers on the board please let me know what time of year has the better visibility.

Thanks,

Mike

[mattwave]

I am going to be planning some dives in Lake Washington this year. I know that the visibility varies with the season and that there are many factors affecting visibility in the lake. Would some of the experienced Lake Washington divers on the board please let me know what time of year has the better visibility.

Thanks,

Mike

I have heard many different claims, best I can say from any time of the year - terrible one day, worse the next.

Like Nike says my worse is worse than your worse - just do it.

Warm deco temps is the one thing to look forward to. :hello2:

[decodiver25]

hey there, I do at least one dive a week in the lake and its really hard to answer that question becuase it is different day to day. The last couple dives have been about 10ft viz but the lake right now is really cold. I went diving today in the lake and the temp was 42. This time of year the temp stay about the same no matter what depth you are at. However in the summer the bottom temp is about that but when you come up to do your deco stops it is significantly warmer....diving the lake in the summer is nice for that reason. But on average Id say the viz stays about 10ft. However my dive buddy and I notice that the viz get worse the deeper you go. From about 0-175ft the viz is about that however deeper than 175 i notice that it gets worse, it gets siltier or something....I am diving trimix so i know its not just me being narced ha ha....anyway have fun....

[CaptnJack]

The south end is 45F with about 3-4ft viz right now. Summer makes for nicer/warmer deco, the water/jet skiiers give me the willys though. Sept-Oct still has the reasonable surface temps but lower numbers of other boaters so that's the better time of year for me.

[H20doctor]

I would love to do the underwater forest in lake washington with another diver who has dove it before.. I believe its off of Kirkland / juanita beach.. The trees are at 80 to 90 feet, very cool, but also very Creepy... Done this dive capt jack or Matt wave or Deco ?

[sheahanmcculla]

If the vis is so bad why do you guys dive the lake? What is the motive?

[boydski]

If the vis is so bad why do you guys dive the lake? What is the motive?

VERY well preserved wrecks with a lot of very interesting history.

[CaptnJack]

I would love to do the underwater forest in lake washington with another diver who has dove it before.. I believe its off of Kirkland / juanita beach.. The trees are at 80 to 90 feet, very cool, but also very Creepy... Done this dive capt jack or Matt wave or Deco ?

Nope, never dove the forest. Can't help you on that one.

[mattwave]

Tried to do the forest once, didn't work out, I have a hunch it's off houghton, drove by the divers just getting in the water, not sure on the depth.

sheahanmc - most people don't like diving the lake, for some it's exactly what they were looking for.

[H20doctor]

Lake diving is cool because you find stuff all the time in lake Wash. Esp if you dive Boat docks and ramps, or swimming areas. I will find out the exact location of the tree's in Kirkland and put it up here as a dive. Also back in the day they used to run boats in the Kenmore area with gambling slots machines on them.. Nickle slots. Some of those slot machines and the money in them are still in the lake. I used to live on the Slew in kenmore. They also bootlegged alcohol up the slew back in prohabition in the 20's. And when they were being busted they would also throw overboard the Bottles of alcohol. So there is treasure in the lake...

[boydski]

I would love to do the underwater forest in lake washington with another diver who has dove it before.. I believe its off of Kirkland / juanita beach.. The trees are at 80 to 90 feet, very cool, but also very Creepy... ?

I have not done the forest yet either (too many wrecks to do first :smt038 ), however, NOAA lists three sets of "Submerged Forests" in Lake Washington (Noaa Chart # 18477).

One is just east of the South Point of Mercer Island.
The second is off the West side of Mercer Island, just South of Mercer Heights.
The third is at the North end of the Lake, just off of Manitou.

There are other areas of logs and trees as well that are not charted.

[sheahanmcculla]

Well im all for finding the nickel slots! I need more money for some dive gear. Where do I find the underwater Casino?

[Nwbrewer]

I used to live on the Slew in kenmore. They also bootlegged alcohol up the slew back in prohabition in the 20's. And when they were being busted they would also throw overboard the Bottles of alcohol. So there is treasure in the lake...

I don't care what's in there, there is NO WAY I'm diving in the slough.....

Jake