I saw people were looking for reports on local stuff, so- here you go.
2 of us dove Lake Holiday, outside Winchester VA on Monday morning. To get in, you need to know someone that has property in there, there is a gaurdhouse you have to check in with. We went in by the dam/spillway area. Surface temp was 68 or so. Vis above the thermocline 10ft. 1st thermocline was at 20ft, dropped into the 50s. At 30 ft, the silt and other issues turn the dive into a night dive. We followed the grade pegs down, hit the next thermocline at 45 ft, lovely 43 degree water. Thats up from the 38 we had in March. Though the vis is not bad- 15ft or so, it is absolutely black, like a deep quarry. You can only see each others lights, nothing else. No ambient light. I am stressing all this so no one gets the idea to do a dive there without redundant lights. Seriously. We dropped down to 84ft, screwed around for a bit, there are leaves, old trees, a couple boat anchors, and junk. Not much to see, but its wet. Turned the dive at the point of boredom, came back up same way we came in, finished the dive by noon. I just heard today there was a drowning there at about 3pm, non scuba related.
To those that can get in, honestly, I've been there a couple times, and unless I am absolutely desperate to dive, and you need to have very good navigation skills, I never would even think about going. There is nothing to see, the fish are all in the shallow area, you might as well snorkel. Mt Storm is more interesting. I know I did not actually say that....
2 of us dove Lake Holiday, outside Winchester VA on Monday morning. To get in, you need to know someone that has property in there, there is a gaurdhouse you have to check in with. We went in by the dam/spillway area. Surface temp was 68 or so. Vis above the thermocline 10ft. 1st thermocline was at 20ft, dropped into the 50s. At 30 ft, the silt and other issues turn the dive into a night dive. We followed the grade pegs down, hit the next thermocline at 45 ft, lovely 43 degree water. Thats up from the 38 we had in March. Though the vis is not bad- 15ft or so, it is absolutely black, like a deep quarry. You can only see each others lights, nothing else. No ambient light. I am stressing all this so no one gets the idea to do a dive there without redundant lights. Seriously. We dropped down to 84ft, screwed around for a bit, there are leaves, old trees, a couple boat anchors, and junk. Not much to see, but its wet. Turned the dive at the point of boredom, came back up same way we came in, finished the dive by noon. I just heard today there was a drowning there at about 3pm, non scuba related.
To those that can get in, honestly, I've been there a couple times, and unless I am absolutely desperate to dive, and you need to have very good navigation skills, I never would even think about going. There is nothing to see, the fish are all in the shallow area, you might as well snorkel. Mt Storm is more interesting. I know I did not actually say that....
Alright Eric, when do you sleep? I saw you at Storm today, a long day for you!!
