Lake Fontana diving?

[Greeneyedtigerlilly]

Hello, just curious to see if anyone has or knows anyone who has been diving in Lake Fontana in western NC by the TN border. I'm really interested in that location as a possible trip for the shop I work for but I need to get more information first. Thanks for your help.

 

[NCMtnDiver]

Hello. I live near Fontana, I haven't dove Fontana before but I plan to this summer. My wife's cousin has a houseboat on the lake, and he and his wife are also certified divers. I'll probably go with them. A coworker of mine has been, and she said she couldn't see her hand in front of her face. I think she caught it at a bad time, I don't think the vis would be that bad all the time. That being said though, it is not as clean a lake as some others in the area such as Nantahala and Santeetlah which are exceptionally clean and clear (around 20ft vis). I would estimate the vis in Fontana to be 5-10ft on average. I might be wrong, it might be better. If it's any worse than 5ft it wouldn't be worth diving imo unless it was technical in nature. There are also lots of structures that were flooded when the lake was created, but I have no idea on the depths at full pond or exact locations. It's an extremely deep lake; the dam is the tallest dam in the eastern US at 480ft. I will let you know what it's like after I dive there, or let me know if you're interested in trying it out together sometime.

 

[Greeneyedtigerlilly]

5-10 is perfectly divable so long as your used to that sorta thing, the check out dives we do with our shop have about the same vis in some parts of the year. I saw that Nantahala was close by to Fontana, so I may have to check that out since you said that's alot more clear. How far is the Santeetlah from Fontana? The instructor here was interested in doing some technical diving in Fontana, which is another reason I asked. Thanks for the great info.

 

[NCMtnDiver]

Actually, Santeetlah is closer to Fontana than Nantahala is (although they're all fairly close). Santeetlah is actually located in the town of Lake Santeetlah, but it's really just a small community just outside of Robbinsville. If you're coming towards Fontana from east of Fontana, you will take highway 28 North and then take highway 143 towards Robbinsville. This will put you in Robbinsville, so then take a right at the light to get on highway 129. After only a few miles you will see the lake, crossing it a few times. Where I usually dive at is the Cheoah Point rec. area - you will see a sign for a left turn to it and Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest.

Nantahala Lake is located on highway 1310/Wayah Rd between Franklin and the Nantahala River Gorge. I dove nantahala once last summer and experienced almost complete loss of light around 40ft. Turns out my gauges were dragging the bottom as a descended, stirring up muck which I think blocked out all the light. I could be wrong though. Nantahala is a beautiful lake, but a couple of things about it. First, it is a boaters or homeowners lake. There is no recreation area, only three boat ramps. There is a sheer rock wall near the dam though, which might make an interesting dive (although it's so close to the restricted area I would only do it with a guide rope, if at all). Where I have dove is off the highway where the Bartram trail intersects. There's access to the lake that's usually not too heavily frequented. Also, the lake's elevation is around 3000ft (Santeetlah is around 1600ft). When I dove there last summer, the water temp was 80 at the surface and stayed around 80 until it dropped to 65 around 40ft.

I dove Santeetlah May 28th and the surface temp was 80 and around 30ft is was a chilly 55. I might be going back this weekend, and with several days in the 90s I'm hoping it has warmed up a bit. I'll let you know.

My LDS is in Asheville, so if this is your shop let me know and the next time I'm by we can discuss it more in person. Otherwise, I'm glad I can give you some helpful info which I will be more than happy to continue to help you out with in any way I can.

 

[NCMtnDiver]

Correction - surface temp at Santeetlah on May 28th was 70 degrees, not 80. Wishful thinking on my part I guess!

 

[danvolker]

Hello, just curious to see if anyone has or knows anyone who has been diving in Lake Fontana in western NC by the TN border. I'm really interested in that location as a possible trip for the shop I work for but I need to get more information first. Thanks for your help.

I mountain bike at Tsali frequently, and the lake does not look that appealing..on the other hand, you could freedive the nantahala river, where the kayaking and rafting takes place, and that could be cool.

Regards,
Dan

 

[mike_s]

Fontana and Nantahala are such beautiful areas....


I look forward to your dive reports. I believe that a lot of the construction gear from when they made the dam was abandoned at the site when complete, according to my father telling me many years ago. My grandfather was one of the foremen of construction when they built the dam, so I've heard many interesting stories about it when I was a young kid...

i wonder if you can find any of that on the dives. I assume it would be closer to the dam and in deeper water. (it's a deep dam). there was also a construction village I think that was submerged some... or maybe it was just worksite buildings...

 

[BMR]

I'm still trying to figure out how to mount a tank and scuba gear on my Ducati so I can hit the dragon and the skyway and then go dive!

 

[mike_s]

I'm still trying to figure out how to mount a tank and scuba gear on my Ducati so I can hit the dragon and the skyway and then go dive!

like this...

 

[NCMtnDiver]

Hey mike_s, I'm sure there's plenty of stuff leftover from the dam construction at Fontana but you're right it's a very deep lake (the dam is 480ft tall). There are lots of buildings in the lake, and with the drought last year the lake level was so low that you could see some of them. You're right though, they are very beautiful areas. I'll post any and all dive reports of the lakes in the area.