Review...Blue Lake, UT

[Pinkpadigal]

I went to Boise to complete my IDC Staff training with our course director. She was offering an IDC out of Dive Magic in Boise. Great group of people and had an incredible week. We finished up our training at Blue Lake, UT, about 30 minutes south of Wendover.

If you haven't been to that part of the country, it is beautiful. Wendover is on I-80 and is on the Nevada/Utah border, about 5 hour drive southeast of Boise. It is in the high desert and 3 hours west of Salt Lake City. It warms up to about 35 degrees during the day in Feb. So...what is special about Blue Lake? It is a warm springs and the water is 70 degrees.

The lake is more of a marsh, and sits in the middle of a bombing range. There are no facilities and there is a gravel road that leads to the lake. It sits in the middle of the desert. There is a very fine silt that is mud when it is wet around the lake. There is a boardwalk that diver built that you walk on to the lake.

I brought my drysuit because it was so cold outside. However, no gloves and not hood. You jump off the dock and it is like being in a hottub in the winter.

Diving in the lake was very cool. Divers have constructed platforms for teaching on and there is a navigation course underwater. There are little Blue Gill fish swimming around, and they are very pretty. The coolest part is diving down to the bottom and watching the hot springs bubble up from the earth. You can put your hand in the bubbles and the water is about 80-85 degrees. It is freshwater, but the mud and silt gets into your gear worse than sand. Vis is about 10-15 feet. The deepest part of the lake is about 55 feet.

The lake is at 4600 feet so I got in some cool altitude diving as well!

I asked about diving the lake in the summer. Kelly (my course director) told me that the mosquitos, flies, bugs, etc are horrible between late April and September. She said October and March are good, and when the wind blows, it is miserable. She also said that it is common for temperatures to reach 120 degrees in the summer.

So, if you are driving I-80 and looking to do some diving, this is an interesting place to try out.

[LCF]

Thanks for a review of a rather unusual diving location! (Water that warm sounds really good right now . . .)

[dwashbur]

We did our basic scuba open water dives at Blue Lake a couple of years ago. Other attractions include several big metal sculptures, a couple of sunken boats (basic outboards), a bomb - yes, a bomb! - a complete living room setup with TV and the whole bit, a mannekin with a lawn mower, I forget what else. Basically, anything to make it interesting. People fish a lot out there as well, so entanglement is always something to watch out for.

I had a small incident on our second dive, and pretty well lost my nerve for a day, cutting my own third dive short and sitting out the fourth dive. My daughter wasn't feeling well and skipped those as well. Hence, while everybody else was doing a fifth dive purely for fun, she and I were finishing skills with Eric, our instructor. One of the three funniest things I've ever seen on a dive happened on that one. We descended at the small platform and followed a rope over to the larger one. Just as we got to the larger platform, Eric found a fish hook embedded in the rope. It was one of those little ones that has a small rubber worm molded to it. Those little fish were hanging around, hoping one of us had some Cheese Whiz to offer them; Eric took the hook by the inch or so of line left on it and waved it at them. The fish went nuts! At least a dozen of them hit it, and one nearly took it out of his hand. All of my apprehension disappeared, and so did my daughter's, because it's hard to be nervous or scared when you're laughing so hard. We finished our skills and took a tour past one of the boats and the mud pots where the water bubbles up from the bottom. That one little fish hook pretty well saved my diving career, so I have a soft spot in my heart for Blue Lake.

Good report!

[airsix]

Amy, thanks for the report. I also did my OW and AOW dives in Blue Lake (back in 84-85). Your report brings back memories.
-Ben