I'll say hello from South Dakota

[1setter]

Haven't taken my PADI Open water dive test yet? It was a bit cold a couple of weeks ago when finished with the written and pool stuff. The water in the Black Hills lake that is used was mostly snow melt. I am spending my time here until then learning all I can about equipment. My 20 yr. old daughter and I took the classes together and I think she gets her final dives in next week. I have to wait a bit longer. We are located in Pierre but are taking classes in Rapid City. 2 1/2 hours away.

 

[dlndavid]

Hi 1setter, and welcome to SB. Good place for beginners to gather up all the information they desire when first starting out with diving.
Great to have you aboard and good luck on your checkout dives.
David

 

[DeepBlueResort]

Hi

Welcome to Scubaboard and good luck with the dives, we have a dive site here called Black Hills!

 

[DandyDon]

Boy, and people complain becuase they have to dive 30 minuts to classes and certify in 60 degree water. Good for you too! :voskl1:

Do check out our :newbie: forum, and tell your daughter about us too...!

:zorros: don

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Haven't taken my PADI Open water dive test yet? It was a bit cold a couple of weeks ago when finished with the written and pool stuff. The water in the Black Hills lake that is used was mostly snow melt. I am spending my time here until then learning all I can about equipment. My 20 yr. old daughter and I took the classes together and I think she gets her final dives in next week. I have to wait a bit longer. We are located in Pierre but are taking classes in Rapid City. 2 1/2 hours away.

If you are getting PADI certified, I assume you are taking lessons from Dennis L.?

The current water temp in Pactola is 57 at the surface with a gradual drop to a thermocline at 40-45 ft. so OW checkouts in a wet suit are pretty bearable. Visibility has been very good (relatively speaking for fresh water) below the first thermocline with 25-30 ft visibility. It is a bit less above the first thermocline but still pretty good at 15-20 ft. We are starting to get a lot of pine pollen in the lake which will create a fairly thin layer of significantly lesser visibility that will settle down through the lake over the course of the summer.

Coldbrook near Hot Springs is popular for checkouts early in the year and given that it is shallow (35 ft max) it tends to warm up much faster. It should be in the mid 60's by now. Visibility s normally in the 15-20 ft range but can be better at times. Either way the weather is supposed to finally be nice next weekend with 80-90 degree temps so it would be a good weekend for checkouts.

We keep our boat in a slip at Pactola and stay on the boat almost every weekend, so if you are going to be in the area, drop me a PM and maybe we can arrange to go diving.

 

[tx.lakerats]

welcome to the boards!!