Kootenay Lake vis conditions

[nadwidny]

Since we have ongoing threads about Vancouver and Victoria I thought I would start one about another great BC dive area, one that doesn't get a lot of attention.

Did some dives in Kootenay Lake on the Anscomb wreck near Ainsworth. As expected the vis in the upper layers was not good (inches) but below 20' it opened up a lot and we could see the wreck (which starts at 100') from the 70' level. Water is warming up a lot since we were there in February and March. Bottom temps were low 40s with our shallow stops (30'+) in the low 50s. Unfortunately there are some items starting to disappear from the Anscomb. Hopefully this practice ends very soon before the really good stuff starts to go.

We didn't get to do any of the other sites this trip but I suspect that things would be much the same, although I heard that the creek running into the lake near Kaslo was pretty tannic so that may cut the vis in the Kaslo Beach dive site down somewhat.

 

[yukoncherry]

Im down in Creston for work and would like to get in the water on my next day off.../ the 13th. do you know any sites on that end of the lake worth checking out? and do you know anywhere that would have tanks for rent in this area? thanks

 

[nadwidny]

Im down in Creston for work and would like to get in the water on my next day off.../ the 13th. do you know any sites on that end of the lake worth checking out?

I'm not overly familiar with the south end of the lake as I've only been down that way once and that was on a liveaboard. I know there are some boxcars near Gray creek that are interesting. Quite shallow as well.

and do you know anywhere that would have tanks for rent in this area? thanks

Can't help you with that. I haven't heard of anybody that does. My buddy from Elko says there used to be a guy in Proctor but he has apparently shut down.

 

[nadwidny]

Just finished 4 days in the Kaslo area. Vis was really bad. They had some big winds a few days before we got there so things were stirred up pretty good. Then it rained so that didn't help. We did the Ainsworth wall and the Anscomb on Thursday and it was pretty murky. We did Kaslo beach on Friday and vis was like 10'. There were 3 of us and the plan was for us to scooter to cover more room but we could only manage to stay together for about 10 seconds so we abandoned the scootering and spent about 45 minutes digging and fanning in the shallows. It was raining and we were getting uncomfortably damp so after a great lunch at the Kaslo hotel we spent the afternoon scoping out new sites.

Saturday we did Shutty Bench, just north of Kaslo as there is the remants of an old pier there. Not much to see but one of the group did find a mostly intact CPR coffee cup. It was really windy and there were pretty big waves on the shore so we took the afternoon off rather than get beat up trying to do a second dive.

Sunday we did a 200' dive on Ainsworth wall in the morning. Viz had improved a lot. This is becoming one of our favourite dives in the area. Then we did the Anscomb in the afternoon and the viz was much better than a few days before. It also seems that the ship has taken on more of a list to port. Could be our imaginations but it sure seemed to have taken more of a lean to it over the past year.

Water temps were quite warm. Mid 50's above the thermocline which was found around 80' and mid 40s below.

 

[DaleC]

Thanks for the report Brian. Now, to be a true lake dive report you need to draw a stick figure picture of yourself diving the Anscomb with little dots showing your route.

You say it starts at 100'. What's its bottom depth? I wanted to make it to Kootenay lake this summer but got pooped out from driving. Next summer I plan to do it.

 

[nadwidny]

You say it starts at 100'. What's its bottom depth?

Bottom is 170ish. Superstructure (Bridge, passenger lounge) is 100-130'. The marker was tied in at the back of the superstructure so that people would have to drop to 125 but we moved it to the starboard wing off the bridge so that it is tied in at a more recreational friendly 100'.

 

[nadwidny]

Dove the Anscomb today. Viz has opened up some from the 15' reported last week. We had 20-25' on the wreck although for some reason it got a bit worse as we got closer to the dock that serves as the entry point. Water temps are up from last month at 47F.