I am finally here in Estes Park, CO.

[Dutchman]

We moved from Dallas, TX to EP in late October. Our condo in Galveston had damage from hurricane Ike. So North we came We were expecting with worst. Cold and snow. Well after 6 months it has been hotter here than in Texas. Go figure I guess mother nature is giving us a break to get acclimated to 7800"from 600". :cool2:

Anyway looking for local dive sites. Carter Lake seems to be the closes. What's up with traveling to NM and UT to dive. That seems to be a long way to go to get wet. Aurora reservoir looks interesting. What about Grand Lake? That really seems like a nice dive site. Horsetooth reservoir looks like fun. Anyway keep me in the loop. I was thinking about joining the Estes Park Lammer county dive team but that looks like a lot of work and being retired not wanting to work that hard. Oh you all most likely know this but Colorado has a larger dive community than Texas. We have the Gulf of Mexico and lots of dark holes to get wet in all over the State. Look forward to meeting some of you.
Later,

 

[Divedoggie]

Hi Dutchman,
Welcome! This would be a great weekend to go to Blue Hole in New Mexico and meet a bunch of local divers. Yes it takes 6 hours or so to get there, but there aren't any other local choices right now.
Estes Park is a beautiful place! You won't be hammered by any hurricanes! Maybe trampled by an elk herd.
So there may be a few lakes in Estes that are worth diving. I'd like to give it a try when the snow melts.
Auroura Res is decent from early May thru mid June. After that viz goes to zero.
Carter, Horsetooth, and most of the other larger reservoirs around Larimer county are never very good, mostly due to sediment getting stirred up by wind, runoff, and weather. You may occasionally luck out and have some ok dives. Nothing to see though. Just a muddy bottom. There are some mountain lakes with potential, but they are high altitude dives and only accessible seasonally.
I don't know about Grand Lake. Some others may pipe up who have been diving there.

So, we commit to driving to clear water locations, accepting bad viz locally, or taking Caribbean trips more frequently!

Stay tuned to the RMO section here this spring and summer. We may yet find some good local diving...maybe even in Estes Park!

 

[robint]

Come join us at our big RMO shindig this weekend!
Santa Rosa, NM..... Blue Hole

robin

 

[RonFrank]

Welcome to the RMO's!

I have been diving in CO the past five summers, and diving here in a word... hmmm.. sucks! Actually, it can be quite fun, but is rather hit and miss, even at some of the lakes where vis is generally good (20~30'). Most lakes have vis of less than 10'. Water temps in the lakes where diving/vis is better tend to be chilly at best (40~65f). I think I hit 38F at Jefferson.

Hence, we make the trip down to Blue Hole. It's a six hour drive from Denver with stops. I've done it from Conifer in under Six, so.... We just suck it up, and go. The vis there is often in excess of 100', and the water is a balmy 62~64F (62F on this trip).

There are several clubs in the area, and a lot of divers here, but not all that many that seem to want to DIVER HERE!

Stay tuned. We will put together a get together in Spring/Early summer at Aurora for the RMO. We dive together locally and at the BH. Some go to Crater as well. This weekend at BH we had five from CO (not a great showing) but maybe 18 from TX/CO/NM combined, so not bad.

 

[Dutchman]

Sorry I could not make the trip to BH last weekend. I had eye surgery on Friday. On going Glaucoma related issues. Anyway keep me in the loop. I will try and meet up when I can. Meanwhile I will be hiking and mountain biking.