Diving in lake Camanche

[master00sniper]

I talked to the rangers about it before hand. They didn't seem concerned or have any kind of warning about any of that. They just said not to remove anything and to use a flag. I'll keep my eye open for sure, but to me it just makes it more fun.

 

[keithk]

The rangers are probably not divers so lack of concern on their part doesn't mean you shouldn't be concerned with the warnings you are receiving on this post. You haven't mentioned your dive buddies level of experience only your own. This should not be attempted without very careful consideration and an experienced buddy. Your weight will need to be adjusted for fresh water. Lake bottoms are thick with silt that will result in blackout conditions if you get anywhere close to the bottom. Zero vis and a relatively inexperienced diver at sixty feet could result in an uncontrolled ascent which as you know could potentially be hazardous to your health.

 

[keithk]

By the way I'm not trying to rain on your parade. I think it sounds like a very interesting dive too. I just think you may need a little more experience first. To that end why don't you head over to Lake Berryessa on Sept. 25th and join the coastal cleanup efforts being arranged by the North Coast Divers. You will be surrounded by more experienced divers and get a chance to set your weight for lake diving and some experience with lake bottoms.

 

[Peter_C]

Keith above is speaking from experience. We have dove together in Berryessa in zero vis (Deeper you go the worse the vis can get). We wound up going to touch contact. One wrong flick of a fin and vis will go to nothing even if vis is ten feet a few seconds before. The frog kick is the best kick to use.

Everything I know about fishing says fish like structures. Which means fisherman like fishing around structures. That would lead to me thinking there is probably a ton of fishing line in the area. Have you practiced and performed drills of cutting line? How about cutting line in zero vis? Do you carry a back up cutting device?

The dive does sound really cool, but my caution is one I would go over before choosing to do the dive. Plus I would run my sonar unit over the area and map it out before diving.

 

[master00sniper]

Okay, I actually talked to someone at my local dive shop about Camanche. He said there shouldn't be a problem. Weights are going to be set right for fresh water before descending. At this point I never ascend/descend without my hand on the control to adjust buoyancy on my BC, so uncontrolled descents/ascents aren't a problem. I'm a little smarter than that. I have a good idea of how much weight I should have going from salt to fresh water using the same gear. It should actually be shallower than 60 feet, according to my dads boat last weekend.

I appreciate the advise, however I want to know what stuff to look out for, not why I shouldn't go. When I get into something I love, I go for it. I've done my research, have the equipment, and confident in my skills and common sense to make it a safe dive.

 

[pacificgal]

master00sniper, it's not what you can "look out for" it's what you can't see. We dive to see stuff, right? If you're diving in 0-3' visibility, what fun is that? I did a dive at Lover's point, had about 100 dives, know the place very well, and it was white-out conditions. Couldn't see my hand when I held it out in front of me as I was kicking to make sure I didn't get head first into a rock. That wasn't fun, if you can't see anything, you may as well be sitting in a dark room without all the added stress of not being able to see your depth gauge or compass.
Is your buddy more experienced? Is he a good buddy and will stay in touch contact with you in case you get hung up on something unseen? The website I looked at said that you could find thousands of dollars worth of fishing lures out there, all those lures are going to be attached to some sort of line, and those lures are stuck for a reason, there's a really good chance you're going to get hung up on something in that lake, a tree, filament line, a cable left from days gone by, and none of this has blinking lights on it that say "danger here".
So, stuff to watch out for:
Fishing line, cables, trees, sharp objects from metal and debris left over when they flooded the place. Were you able to find the town on sonar and mark it with GPS to get back to it? I'm, thinking with 10' viz, you're going to have to do quite a few sweeps in an unknown area to find anything in 60 ffw. If you do find it, please be careful, please also keep your buddy close cuz there's a lot of entrapment hazards out there, and emergency help could be hard to get to.
I appreciate loving diving, I'm passionate about it and out every weekend, I also know from experience how dangerous it can be, and how important it is to stay with your buddies and within the level of your training. I was a great swimmer, I nearly drowned because I hit my head on my tank. ANYTHING can happen, and it's not worth losing a life over.

 

[master00sniper]

I would rather not answer the buddy question until after the dive, in fear of a verbal thrashing lol. If I feel uncomfortable, I'm going to go back up to the surface and dive someplace else. I've walked out onto portions of the lake when the water was extremely low a few years back and I know the bottom well of a few areas in more shallow water. Of course that was dry, and now its wet, but that's the point.

I do not know of the websites your talking about, making the lake sound like a deathtrap. If anyone has dived there in person and can personally tell me how the lake almost took his/her life in a way that was unavoidable even by thinking smart, controlling your buoyancy (which I can do quite well, well enough to make my instructor question me being a new diver), and not panicking if a situation did occur, please let me know.

and, to answer all the other questions I may have missed... 1. I would love to go to Barryessa if I wasn't going to a wedding that day 2. I will be carrying two knives, one attached to the inside of my right leg one inside my left BC pocket 3. I can't afford any advanced piece of sonar, the depth gauge pretty much does only that 4. To be honest I don't really care if I see nothing. I just like being under the water. Ever since I was a little kid it's been a life dream to scuba dive. I was totally happy putting around the bottom of Monterey not seeing anything except the sand directly under my mask and I had a blast. Out of 10 students I was the only one itching to get back out in the water after the long certification process. I finally got someone to go back out with me (not my original buddy, he was too 'uncomfortable'), we swam out way further on the edge of some random kelp forest, submerged, and swam through the damn thing. I got tangled a couple times. I freed myself. I experienced literally 'can't see hand in front of mask viz' to 15' feet viz. In the end, my only regret was that I went out WITH a buddy because I had at least another 10 minutes of air left in my tank before running it down to a few hundred pounds and his tank was completely drained. Also I found that I was the one making sure he didn't swim away without thinking and get lost. Its rather annoying bolting ahead at full speed to keep your buddy who isn't paying attention from getting lost in low viz water. Good waste of oxygen. I'd rather go out alone than with a bad buddy. Its probably more safe. This way I don't feel bad when he swims off gets stuck and kills himself because I can't find him.

 

[master00sniper]

I apologize for the rant. I really do appreciate all the concerns that have been brought to me. It has forced me to think about situations I might encounter, what I would do if I did encounter them, as well as talk to people who have dived the lake before. And I will continue to do those things, until my dive next weekend. I still know a couple people who have dived the like before that I would like to talk to.

 

[pacificgal]

Outdoors: As lakes empty, sunken treasures emerge - SFGate
Next time you're in Monterey let me know. I dive with newish divers all the time, and my SAC rate is pretty decent, I'm usually cold before I'm out of air.
If you're going diving without a buddy there are precautions solo divers take, carrying spare air for one, independent of your back gas. When are you planning on going? Will you have someone who knows where you are, where you're going, and when you're supposed to be back?
At least do that, as any good hiker would. Come back and let us know you completed it OK and tell us what you found.

 

[master00sniper]

Outdoors: As lakes empty, sunken treasures emerge - SFGate
Next time you're in Monterey let me know. I dive with newish divers all the time, and my SAC rate is pretty decent, I'm usually cold before I'm out of air.
If you're going diving without a buddy there are precautions solo divers take, carrying spare air for one, independent of your back gas. When are you planning on going? Will you have someone who knows where you are, where you're going, and when you're supposed to be back?
At least do that, as any good hiker would. Come back and let us know you completed it OK and tell us what you found.

I have no idea what mine is to be honest. I know I do my best to control my breathing, deep and slow. Still, I could be awful. All I know is compared to that one guy I'm a oxygen conserving God lol.

Spare air is something I am looking into. Not sure what to get exactly, but I'm doing my research. And of course, family (at the lake) will know exactly where I will be, and when I'm supposed to be back.

Also, I would absolutely love to go diving again in Monterey, with just about anyone here. I see a lot of experienced people who I would no doubt learn from if given the chance to dive with.