Blue Hole July 17-19

[RonFrank]

It's two hours + out of my life to get fills at A1, which is a heck of a lot MORE expensive then the fills themselves! :shocked2:

Normally I would have them full, but I've just been too busy to get to A1, and I figured we could get Stella out on a Friday night (and we very likely will).

It's not actually out of my way too much

Like ONE block... maybe!

I need to look at Phantaseas West as I go by there on the way to work, but I bus.... Anyone know what they charge for a fill?

 

[BigBubbaJ]

Its actually on a right turn into a parking lot and then a right turn back onto the street, so probably only 200 feet max

 

[Tjack]

I'm planning on geting to the Hole around 4:30 to do an afternoon dive, see y'all there.

 

[mintaka]

I was hoping to meet some of you last weekend at BH, but it turned out that we were at Rock Lake all day Friday and Saturday am. I went to BH Sat pm with my dive buddy and we had time to do only one dive before the thunderstorm came. I had never been to BH hole before and was kind of unprepared for the level of activity that was happening on Sat pm. Are weekdays less crazy during the summer ?

DanB

 

[robint]

I was hoping to meet some of you last weekend at BH, but it turned out that we were at Rock Lake all day Friday and Saturday am. I went to BH Sat pm with my dive buddy and we had time to do only one dive before the thunderstorm came. I had never been to BH hole before and was kind of unprepared for the level of activity that was happening on Sat pm. Are weekdays less crazy during the summer ?

DanB

weekdays are usually dead there.... but that means Stellla won't be there to fill tanks either. so if you go mid-week you need to take enough tanks for all your dives. Friday and Sunday afternoons are usually the best times to dive there as many people don't arrive until late Friday and then leave going home noonish on Sunday.

 

[Waterskier1]

I was hoping to meet some of you last weekend at BH, but it turned out that we were at Rock Lake all day Friday and Saturday am. I went to BH Sat pm with my dive buddy and we had time to do only one dive before the thunderstorm came. I had never been to BH hole before and was kind of unprepared for the level of activity that was happening on Sat pm. Are weekdays less crazy during the summer ?

DanB

We were there through most of the thunderstorm Sat. Ron and Tom then went to Perch Lake afterward. We were at the picnic tables...4 car loads of us.

weekdays are usually dead there.... but that means Stellla won't be there to fill tanks either. so if you go mid-week you need to take enough tanks for all your dives. Friday and Sunday afternoons are usually the best times to dive there as many people don't arrive until late Friday and then leave going home noonish on Sunday.

I would recommend against Sunday afternoon. There were so many people stirring up the water that the visibility was way down all Sunday morning (we dove until about noon). I doubt it cleared up much even if there were fewer divers in the afternoon. There are also tons of locals and visitors who jump and swim there, kicking stuff down the sides to the bottom. It was the most crowded in the water last weekend that any other time I have been there, even though many were not divers.

 

[BigBubbaJ]

Had a great time. Thought that the hole was the busiest that I have EVER seen with non divers.

The vis was fantastic on Friday....top to bottom for an evening an an night dive.

Here is a pic of Tom(TJack), Me, and Rick (Waterskier1)

 

[mintaka]

How does Perch Lake compare with BH, (activity, vis ,depth,fish,etc) ? I really hope that I can meet with some of you guys soon !

 

[robint]

yeah, weekends in the summer are always busy with non-divers. It is so hot and not many places to go to cool off. But once school starts back, like mid-Sept until May, the Hole is not as busy with those people. Most Sunday afternoons there are only a few divers, like us from ABQ since it is only 2 hour drive home. That is what I was meaning by Sunday afternoons being a good time to dive there. You would be surprised how fast the vis clears up on Sundays, too. By 2pm it looks really good again, like first thing on Saturday mornings!

We will be there this weekend with a dozen OW students.

 

[RonFrank]

I would like to thank everyone who joined in the fun at the hole this weekend! We had divers from Taos (Tom), ABQ, TX, and CO.

Blue Hole - Vis was awesome on Friday evening. We did one night dive getting in at full dark (maybe 9:15pm). From about 40' one could see the entire bottom end to end, so awesome. The crawdads are mostly dead. I did see a few smaller ones alive nearer the surface, but everything at the bottom was toast.

It appears that some rocks may have slid since I was there last. Also the sandy bottom is now covered with a red/brown growth/algae. I poked my finger into this, and it is a thin layer with Grey silt underneath. There were a few Goldfish about, but I did not see any Carp.

Vis deteriorated as the weekend progressed, but I highly doubt it had much to do with the swimmers. I saw plenty of divers walking across the bottom, or just kicking the crap out of it.. that is a big vis killer. There were far more swimmers vs. divers, but that is to be expected on a hot Summer weekend.

Stella is doing well, and we made sure she had a good weekend in the sales department with all of us using her for fills and a few Vis inspections as well. I came with empty tanks, and left full, so she got 4 extra fills from me beyond the air I used while diving. I also purchased a hat!

Perch - We jumped in just after a huge rain on Saturday (maybe 5:30pm). Initial vis was horrible. The first 15' was so mucked up, it was all I could do to keep Tom in sight. Once we got below 15' things cleared up a bit, but vis was never much more than 10' if that.

We saw a lot of fish, mostly small (juvenile), but they included Trout (Rainbow I think), Bass, and of course Perch! Water temps were highly variable with a thermocline at about 32'~35', but even that varied quite a bit. It was in the 70's at the surface with temps in the low 60's below 35'. As we moved along, we would hit warm pockets, and then cold. I enjoyed the dive quite a bit despite the lowish vis.

We did Dinner at the Santa Fe grill next to Adobe on Friday, and Tom and I did Pizza and wings at Josephs on Saturday. Josephs pizza is surprisingly good. I did not eat at Lake City Dinner this go around, but the rest of our group did (minus Tom), and they reported not so good results. Sad that, but Lake City Diner is for sale.. so...

I had a great time, and I think others did as well. The swimmers are a bit much, but honestly, I'll take them over more divers!