Personally, I don't think the entry or exit is all that difficult. There may be a more substantial trail there now then when you dove last. However, when there was snow on the ground that was a different story. Anyway, I'd prefer climbing down the trail then walking out on a rocky shoreline.
Maceday Lake beyond the ski boat?
- Thread starter Bnscherm
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wolves64t
Contributor
The worst part of the entry is getting past the traffic. Playing frogger while carrying a hundred pounds of scuba gear isn't all that fun.
E.B.
E.B.
detroit diver
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while it's snowing.....!!
diver_paula
Contributor
Well, maybe I am remembering being a bit of a wuss. (Ouch! Did I just type that?) I do recall it was a bit drizzly and as such the trail down the hill would have been muddy. I must also say I'm not all that good at Frogger!
Scotty w. & I just dived Maceday on Sunday...and viz was so remarkably gorgeous that we're heading back tonight w/Scotty Lang. I've been frequenting Maceday for some 10 years plus and I have never seen viz as nice as I did on Sunday. We're entering the lake at the DNR boat launch and scootering to the sppedboat. Our last dive was a 90 minutes and it was still as cold as I remember at depth.
Anyway, the lake is at peak condition right now w/viz in many areas in the 60-80' range....give or take a foot. I know folks are accessing the lake in fornt of the speedboat...parking across the road and walking down the hill into the water...not so bad of an entry in singles, but getting back up the hill w/twins and a wet trail is a bit of a trick.
Good luck & dive safe!--brando
Anyway, the lake is at peak condition right now w/viz in many areas in the 60-80' range....give or take a foot. I know folks are accessing the lake in fornt of the speedboat...parking across the road and walking down the hill into the water...not so bad of an entry in singles, but getting back up the hill w/twins and a wet trail is a bit of a trick.
Good luck & dive safe!--brando
BCS:
I'm surprised we didn't see you there. Wolves64t and I were there around noon on the same day. If you used the boat launch though it could have been easier to miss each other. Although, I have to admit you would have definetly startled me if you came flying in out of no where on your scooter, lol. Ditto on the awesome viz.
Scotty and I didn't hit the water 'till 5:30pm on Sunday, so I think we we're a few hours apart there....but you're right, you wouldn't have missed us. We spent about :35 following the lines and exploring around the speedboat. We had put that upline from the speedboat a few years ago. Used an old water bottle from a water cooler as a float to the surface and rigged it so it floats at 20'. I was pleasantly surprised to see it competely intact and still there at 20' on Sunday.Bnscherm:
Last night's dive went well. Boat traffic is increasing though, so our days are numbered for heading out from the DNR boat launch. Viz seems to have decreased substantially from Sunday though. Still nice, but didn't seem to be as nice as Sunday.
As to the locked parking area, that is still there. You need to speak to the DNR folks. They control that land there where everyone parks. There is a gate that you can open up and drive inside to park and the DNR folks would sign out keys to park there. We used to do that but lately I think most folks have just been taking their chances w/getting a parking ticket and just parking next to the road .
I think someone asked about max depth....somewhere in the 113' range if I recalll correctly. We had laid a line that went from the speedboat completely across the lake. It was a 1/8" thick line and it seems that some of it is still there but it trails off into the muddy bottom after a few hundred yards. I figured it would have been snagged by a fisherman. There's some other lines placed there now. Looks like regular cave line. It runs for a few hundred feet and doesn't really go anywhere but gives ya something to follow. There's a sunken rowboat, a 10 speed, a few realty signs, an old trailer (small one) frame.
On our scooter ride from the DNR dock we found a small motor that someone lost and saw a small school of good sized fish. Probably just carp, but they were good sized carp.
dive safe!---brando
Tiny Bubbles
Contributor
Me & Dirk (Dilldapp) dove Maceday lake from my boat this afternoon. We hit 100 ft before turning around and it continued getting deeper past there. The water was 40'F down there, but it was much much warmer at the surface (I think it was in the 60's but not sure). I think we hit 2 thermoclines on the way down - the bottom one was at 87 feet and the visibility wasn't as good below it. The vis was pretty great above the 87 ft thermo, much better than the other inland lakes I've seen. The shallower thermocline wasn't as well defined as the deeper one. Then we found the bowrider at 77 ft & the rowboat at ~16 ft on the ascent, with lines on them. There's an interesting apparatus down there, too.
There was another group of divers leaving just as we arrived by boat, that had parked in the 'no parking' zone and walked down the hill. That is also one big steep trail to enter/exit the water from there. Parking at the boat launch is no picnic, either. That parking lot is very small, and we took the last 2 spaces. If we had gotten there any later, we would have been S.O.L. But then it was a short and easy boat ride to the dive spot, and the shoreline is made up of sand and pea gravel, so we were able to beach the boat there without the need to anchor offshore.
Ted, this would be the ideal place to try diving off your jetskis. It's a short ride from the launch and it avoids the problems that come with parking up on the hill.
-Ray
There was another group of divers leaving just as we arrived by boat, that had parked in the 'no parking' zone and walked down the hill. That is also one big steep trail to enter/exit the water from there. Parking at the boat launch is no picnic, either. That parking lot is very small, and we took the last 2 spaces. If we had gotten there any later, we would have been S.O.L. But then it was a short and easy boat ride to the dive spot, and the shoreline is made up of sand and pea gravel, so we were able to beach the boat there without the need to anchor offshore.
Ted, this would be the ideal place to try diving off your jetskis. It's a short ride from the launch and it avoids the problems that come with parking up on the hill.
-Ray
Tiny Bubbles:
lol, I'm surprised to see pictures of that "aparatus" so soon as I was trying to get rid of it. Wolves64T and I must have been the ones you saw leaving as you showed up. You're visibility would have been much better had you shown up before us since we were taking out a fresh open water diver on her first out of class dive, and there were a few bouyancy control issues
Anyway the aparatus is a vintage Korean war anisthetic machine from my father's vet hospital. It had probably been in the water for 20 minutes when you took those pictures. Someone also put up a badmitton net for underwater play at about 30 ft. near the rowboat but closer to that house.
diver_paula
Contributor
Bnscherm:
Whoa! I am sooooo glad you explained what the "aparatus" is. I'm sure it will make for some interesting discussions and conjectures over time. & now anyone that reads this will have the "head's up"
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