Diving in lake Camanche

[master00sniper]

I just posted a greetings topic in the introductions area of the forum. I wanted to get some info/advice from some people here who may have possibly dived in lake Camanche. I'm planning a dive there in a couple weekends, which will be my second dive (not counting the training ones I had to do in Monterey). I called up the rangers and found the location of the old ghost town submerged under the lake. They said its about 60 feet under water, which will be pretty dark if I'm not mistaken. I'm also expecting water temperatures in the low 50's, so I'll have the appropriate equipment to deal with those 2 aspects. Anything else I should know about? Anybody have any experiences at Camanche?

 

[ChadK]

sounds kind of interesting. What is the viz like?

 

[master00sniper]

Probably bad. From what I've read of other peoples experiences this time of year at Camanche, probably 10 to 15 feet. I don't know what is left of the town either. If I see anything noteworthy I'll be sure to share.

Edit: I just looked at an old thread and they says there is a bridge but not much left than that. Either way, the main reason I'm doing this is for experience and I love being under the water.

 

[pacificgal]

Mastersniper, I can think of a couple issues. If there's boat traffic, you may need to tow a dive float and flag, make sure you also have a buddy as there can be considerable entanglement hazards, submerged trees and such. From what I understand, lakes can be quite mucky, make sure you're prepared to find your way in zero viz. Ghost town sounds neat, but it sounds pretty unsafe to try to find it. Look into towing a flag, I know you have to in tahoe, last thing you want is to navigate yourself to the middle if the lake, have to surface, and deal with dodging jet skiers and power boats.

 

[master00sniper]

Thank you, actually I thought about that after the first post. I'll pick up flag when I go down to rent the gear that I don't already own. As for entanglement and visibility, I'm fairly confident both won't be much of a problem. So far all I'm used to is only being able to see clearly a few feet in front of my mask, and i had plenty of practice untangling (and preventing tangling in the first place) in some of the kelp at monterey.

Edit: actually the location is nice. It's located in a 20mph no ski zone, and it's back a ways. Should be nice and quiet. I'll still have a flag tho

 

[FishDiver]

I haven't dived Camanche but I have fished there hundreds of times. It would not make my top ten list of California diving lakes. It is expensive to visit and the vis will be terrible. The sierra lakes have much less boat traffic and clearer water.

 

[dannobee]

While the Nevada side of Tahoe requires that a dive float/flag be displayed, I don't know if that is such a good idea.

Jet Skiers and Water skiers sometimes use dive floats as buoys, ignorant of what they actually are.

A safer idea would be maintain your depth until you know you're very close to shore.

Plan on bringing your cold water gear. And a bright light. And a few cutting tools.

 

[pacificgal]

"Lake Camanche, Amador County: At 35 percent full, Camanche has a ways to go before its underwater town is revealed, as it was in 1992, when the lake was drained to near empty. But history galore is being revealed up the Mokelumne River Canyon arm of the lake. Along the exposed lakebed, you can see cables, brackets and tailings that date back to the gold miners. In some cases, now high above the water line, you can spot the foundations on the canyon walls for historic bridges."

So Dan, what exactly would you be carrying to cut cables?

 

[Peter_C]

Entanglement is a serious issue with any lake that has anglers. One must remember to stay within their training and not get over confident. I would think a town underwater would be one of the worst entanglement hazards around.

 

[pacificgal]

I wouldn't do it. Kelp is one thing, you can chew through that if you have to. I would be more worried about submerged trees and cables. With poor viz, there is no telling what you could get yourself hung up on.