Diving around dams?

[crab]

One dive I enjoyed was outside Salem, Or. It was a dive between dams, and was best done at peak power need times. I can't remember the names but it was a liittle NE of Salem ( maybe 30 mi ), You got in just below one dam and rode the outflow current down through a 100ft deep trough ( maybe 50 ft wide) to the lake in front of the next dam. A wild ride! not a bad dive a "slack" either.

Used to do a 'crawdad' dive at a resevore in Or. too - headwaters of the clackamas river. An earthen damn across a valley. The dive was to 110 ft and colder than .... if you went to the bottom. You didn't want to get too close to the outlet, it feed into a pipe about 18 inches in diameter.

The reservior/dam you are thinking of is Big Cliff. I did two tanks in it this week. When the water is moving you can cover about a 1/4 mile in 30 minutes.

 

[CIBDiving]

The reservior/dam you are thinking of is Big Cliff. I did two tanks in it this week. When the water is moving you can cover about a 1/4 mile in 30 minutes.

Sounds right. They still have that "piramid" of stones marking the end so you don't get out into the lake?

 

[TwoBitTxn]

Thanks all, interesting stuff. I am amazed that you can dive in the lower side of the dam in such strong current. I will have to research the locals and see what we got here.

Only one person mentioned diving the down river side of a dam. Most dives around dams are done up river of the dam in the resulting lake. I have never seen a dam that didn't have an exclusion zone down stream. The water coming through the dam is frequenly fast and turbulent.

As has been stated, do your research and good diving.

TwoBit