Diving at the crater - Utah

[scubajb]

Spent the New Year's weekend diving and skiing the mountains of Utah. First time diving the Homestead crater. Water was 98 degrees and clear. Dove at 6:00 pm (after sunset) so it was a very dark dive (had some lights down below but not very illuminating). So my son (J.O.W.) had his first unintentional night dive! He did great, probably better than me.

Neutral Bouyancy in the dark sure is a different ball game isn't it?

Here are a couple of shots. Hope you all had a great holiday season!

Jim

 

[DiverBizz]

I enjoyed being in the Crater in Feb. It was extremely cold outside -4 and the water was so inviting. The Crater just fogged up off and on and it was so clear in the water. Nice to ski and dive in the same trip.

 

[rollerboi]

Ahh, the Crater. My wife and I completed our OW checkout dives there. You've got to stay under or your mask will fog! Did you take advantage of the hose by the dock? It's so refreshing to let the ice cold water slide down your back while you're floating in 98-degree water.

Hope to have you guys back to Utah sometime soon. There's not enough SB folks out here! I don't think there's even a regional group here for us. *wry smile*.

To my understanding there's a few other warmwater dives around here (geothermals), which I have yet to check out. Hopefully within the next two months, I need to get wet.

 

[Choyster]

Got a "ski" trip to Park City planned this winter and was considering diving the Crater instead. Any advice for an out-of-towner? Do you need reservations or can you just show up with your dive gear and go? Is it a guided/escorted dive? Any issues for my UW camera in the heat? Is there even anything to take a photo of?!?!

 

[scubajb]

Ya gotta ski, a bad day skiing is better than a ... (well you know how that goes). Pretty decent terrain and the snow is worth it. ya gotta dive, a bad day diving, well you know that too! (not sure if that is always the truth anyways)

I'm not a local but it seemed pretty straight forward. Need to pre-book well ahead of time especially if it's on a weekend (call Homestead Resort - website info). It costs like $25 for an hour. Weekdays are reportedly easier to get slots. Not a guided trip but I think you can pay an additional $5 or $10 for a dm to dive with you. Not a huge place but pretty good diving, clear and warm. Didn't have any problems with my uw camera, turned out ok except those on the surface - really steamed up in there. The walls of the cavern are pretty cool but not a huge amount of stuff to shoot at.

Hope this helps.
Jim

 

[rollerboi]

Got a "ski" trip to Park City planned this winter and was considering diving the Crater instead. Any advice for an out-of-towner? Do you need reservations or can you just show up with your dive gear and go? Is it a guided/escorted dive? Any issues for my UW camera in the heat? Is there even anything to take a photo of?!?!

Midway's around the corner from Park City, relatively speaking - 15 minutes away. Do both.

It's a 65-foot deep swimming pool, you don't need a guide. They prefer people to stay above 45ft so you don't kick up the silt. My instructor took us down to the bottom to give us a taste. Don't tell.

There's a big wagon wheel at 35'. There's several underwater training platforms, and a few miscellaneous things hidden here and there. Not much to photograph at all, though. Leave the camera in the car and enjoy the dive.

 

[Eileentk]

I dove the crater mid week while on a ski trip to Park City. It was a great break from the cold and snow. I had not brought along any dive gear (skiing is already a gear intensive sport) but there was no problem renting all the dive gear. We did call ahead just to make sure that gear was available but didn't need to make a reservation (it was mid week though). They have a dive table posted on the wall near the changing areas that shows the altitude adjustment. So we didn't even need to bring our dive computers; just used the dive watch and stayed a bit conservative since the altitude is ~6,000 ft. The water was warm enough to call it a 'hot tub' dive. There's not much to see down there other than the training structures but last time that I was there, someone had put a plastic aligator and a toy turtle around 30 ft on a ledge. We shared the pool with a local group who were doing rescue training; in dry suits no less. I talked to one of them and found out that they were planning to dive the near by dam (under the ice) later that day (seems that they do training and dam inspection at the same time, brrrr!).

 

[dschulte]

I just checked out Homestead Crater, now that looks like a pretty cool (well warm) dive! I will have to check it out next time I go out there to ski.
:monkeydan

 

[DiverBizz]

I made reservations just the day before and had no problems. It was mid week in Feb. Valentine week. It is a dive where you take the camera and explore for hours. The crater is small and you are limited to 45ft. You can practice moves through the obstacles and get an altitude dive in.

 

[Blackwood]

98° ?!?

Wow.

Does it smell like sulfur?