How's the diving at Bonneville and Homestead?

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I dove the Bonneville Seabase last Friday. The vis was 12', no kidding. The water was cold, about 55.
 
I thought that it was fed by a warm spring -- has all of the weather you guys have had cooled the water down that much?
 
Linda told me that the new filtration system they were using cooled the pools down.. if you just dive in the white rocks bay area, its not that cold. and thats were all the marine life is anyways.
 
I just got certified there a week ago and it was as described previously.

One word of caution, there were many classes scheduled on the weekend when I went and it looked like a public pool on the 4th of July so I don't know how fun that would be for most people on vaca.

There was a scuba class of 25 students (! gotta feel sorry for the teacher) right after us on Sat.

Our scheduled time on Sunday was 6AM which was painful, but the next class began pouring in at (slightly before) 8AM it was probably the best time to go for our class of 5 + 3 instructors.

It was fun & unique and I'd probably never do it again esp. after the painfully boring drive across WY.

Cheers,
-Jim M.
 
Bear with me on this one.....

If you ski in the mid-west, you will find yourself on a small hill with one or two lifts, and a couple of choices of terrain and trails. Yet, the ski areas are popular, and the skiers are excited. The culture of skiing and snowsports is evident around the fireplace in the chalet at the bottom of the hill. People compare equipment, talk about technique, discuss the conditions, etc. Its really a good time.

I grew up in Vail, moved to Crested Butte at age 22, had a career in the ski industry which allowed me to ski all over the world. IMO the best ski areas in the world are Whistler/Blackcomb, BC....Cortina, Italy.....Valle Nevado/La Parva, Chile.....Verbier, Switzerland......and St. Anton, Austria. There are plenty of other greats, and on given days some of them may be better than the afor-mentioned list. The skiing in New Zealand is also fantastic, and the skiing in Australia is descent.
With that said, some of the most fun I have had skiing has been in the mid-west. There is a small ski area in northern Wisconsin called Mt. Ashwabay. Its about 300 verticle feet. But it has a beautiful view of Lake Superior, a great bunch of enthusiastic skiers, good food in the chalet, and simply an outstanding atmosphere.

The Blue Hole in New Mexico, or the Crater in Utah are analogous.

Most of the dives that people do in the RMO region are training dives... An opportunity to work on skills in an otherwise un-remarkable atmosphere. I haven't logged all of my Crater dives, but I would bet that the number is somewhere around 60. I'm certifying a class there again in a couple of weeks.

It is always a pleasure to see friends there, compare stories, and best of all, to improve skills so that when we are able to take trips to The Keys, Cozumel, Vancouver Island, Bonaire or Palau, we are prepared to be better and safer divers while on those trips.

So, combining a ski vacation at Park City with some dives at Homestead Crater sounds like a blast to me!
 
I just dove the Crater this weekend. The vis on Saturday was 20' max, it was later in the afternoon. On Sunday morning the vis was great, 40'.
 
SeaBase is a one-timer as another had posted. Fun in the sense to get wet and see (as long as they're within five feet of you) wildlife but sort of horrifying in the 'petting zoo' feeling.
Not recommended for those not comfortable/no experience in low-viz conditions. Apparently the operators of SeaBase installed a new filtering system and viz is getting better (anyone?).
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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