Sacramento Area Lake diving?

[Rev. Blade]

My brother and I had a great time diving Lake Natomas. We'd gone to Sac to grab crawdads at a site listed in this thread... http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=32929&highlight=lake+natomas The parking lot we were trying to find was closed, so we parked a mile west, but still along the water. Fortunately the mudbugs had not read the other post, so they didn't realize the section of water we dove was not the "magic" patch where they were suppose to wait for us. I was using a ridiculously huge game bag, the size of my pillow case. By the end of my dive, that sucker was full. It's the most fun I've had on a fresh water dive.

FYI- I think you'll find vis in Monterey to only be about twice as far as the lake... and Santa Cruz Bay can be a darn sight worse. I did my advanced Open Water in Santa Cruz. For the deep dive (at 93 feet) I could not make out my own hand when outstretched. That's just crazy poor vis.

 

[darkpup]

My brother and I had a great time diving Lake Natomas. We'd gone to Sac to grab crawdads at a site listed in this thread... http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=32929&highlight=lake+natomas The parking lot we were trying to find was closed, so we parked a mile west, but still along the water. Fortunately the mudbugs had not read the other post, so they didn't realize the section of water we dove was not the "magic" patch where they were suppose to wait for us. I was using a ridiculously huge game bag, the size of my pillow case. By the end of my dive, that sucker was full. It's the most fun I've had on a fresh water dive.

FYI- I think you'll find vis in Monterey to only be about twice as far as the lake... and Santa Cruz Bay can be a darn sight worse. I did my advanced Open Water in Santa Cruz. For the deep dive (at 93 feet) I could not make out my own hand when outstretched. That's just crazy poor vis.

If you're looking for crawdads, then the higher altitude lakes are a bit better for that sort of thing. Stumpy Meadows and the lakes in that area are teaming with them. Tahoe is also a great place for crawdads, especially at night when they're hunting fish. Good stuff.

If you're interested in those sites, let me know. We dive them a lot, and have local knowledge of the sites.

~ Jason

 

[Rev. Blade]

If you're looking for crawdads, then the higher altitude lakes are a bit better for that sort of thing. Stumpy Meadows and the lakes in that area are teaming with them. Tahoe is also a great place for crawdads, especially at night when they're hunting fish. Good stuff.

If you're interested in those sites, let me know. We dive them a lot, and have local knowledge of the sites.

~ Jason

MMy brother keeps yacking about a Tahoe dive. Perhaps we'll actually do it this year. His wife is preggers, and due to calf in June. That actually may cut into my access to a dive buddy. (...and to think, they were the ones who talked me into getting certified, so they would have a spare dive buddy.) I supposes there are worse things to have been talked into.

 

[JustinW]

I will be in Folsom all summer long, I will be able to dive just about any day of the week if I have advance notice. Last weekend I dove out of Redding, a bit far north but Monterey was blown out. Whiskeytown lake, and boy was it chilly. Trucks driving past us while we suited up in the rain had snow on them.

 

[darkpup]

I will be in Folsom all summer long, I will be able to dive just about any day of the week if I have advance notice. Last weekend I dove out of Redding, a bit far north but Monterey was blown out. Whiskeytown lake, and boy was it chilly. Trucks driving past us while we suited up in the rain had snow on them.

These are some pics taken topside on a dive two of my buddies did. The water temp was 39 degrees in February.

Stumpy Meadows

That's cold.

~ Jason

 

[JustinW]

Thats not cold, thats crazy!!!!
I'm still battling something in the back of my throat that gets tingly, and a swollen gland after the dives i did in "them there hills"

I'm very happy to hear that this fall the city will be reopening Folsom Dam road, although i don't expect them to open up the overlook, 9-11 claimed a nice divesite.

 

[boomx5]

These are some pics taken topside on a dive two of my buddies did. The water temp was 39 degrees in February.

Stumpy Meadows

That's cold.

~ Jason

Lol...that trip was definately an adventure.

 

[darkpup]

Thats not cold, thats crazy!!!!
I'm still battling something in the back of my throat that gets tingly, and a swollen gland after the dives i did in "them there hills"

I'm very happy to hear that this fall the city will be reopening Folsom Dam road, although i don't expect them to open up the overlook, 9-11 claimed a nice divesite.

I did my first open water experience before the Monterey sign off dives at the Dam Overlook site. For Folsom diving, it was a great 25' + vis day, the water was 52 degrees, and there were several bass in the area checking us out. Since then, I've never experienced those same conditions at Folsom.

I prefer heading to the hills where the vis is 30' to 70' (or more). For us to get from Roseville to Brown's Ravine, it takes 30 to 45 minutes depending on traffic. It takes us 75 minutes to get to Tahoe, and 60 minutes to get to Stumpy Meadows or Lake Spaulding. With any luck, we'll have several trips to other high Sierra lakes this year, and find several new dive sites. Should be fun.

~ Jason

 

[Straight Up]

I am officially an idiot. I didn't realize this had a second page, so I am missing all this talk.

Anyway... we decided to go to Folsom. I had my Scuba buddy talked into Rattlesnake Bar, but then we went to the dive shop, and Jeff convinced us that the sights at Rattlesnake Bar were just as good (or bad) as 5%, except that 5%, you can park next to the water, and Rattlesnake, you have to walk a ways. That convinced us to hit up 5%... (I'm not in the best of shape.... unless the shape in question is round... in which case, I fit that shape pretty good. ) Anyway... I'm not familiar with Folsom Lake... I live pretty close to it, but I've only been there 3 or 4 times, and I never knew the names of the different spots. So my DB said that he knew where it was. He drove me out to Folsom Point. We get there, and decide that it didn't look that good. (It looked fine... there were almost no boats... the water looked pretty clean, etc.) So we drove over to "a beachy area"... Beale's Point. We made it to the guard shack, and they said no diving. They suggested we go to 5% to dive. She told us that it's the main entrance off of Douglas, so we headed up there. We park the truck, and see that there are roughly 500 Jetski's on the lake or waiting to get in the lake. By now, it's almost 1:00. We started our Journey at 11:00. Long story short (shorter than it already isn't) we ended up walking to the south side of point at 5%... over hills and down steep grades... through sand (with a rolling dive bag full with weights and an anchor). It took us 10 minutes to walk 200 yards. We pretty much worked on skills for the whole time. Main emphasis: Compass Navigation. Other than that, there was not much to see, but we did get to play with some bass. That was fun. Good times, though...

Thank you all for your help.

 

[boomx5]

I am officially an idiot. I didn't realize this had a second page, so I am missing all this talk.

Anyway... we decided to go to Folsom. I had my Scuba buddy talked into Rattlesnake Bar, but then we went to the dive shop, and Jeff convinced us that the sights at Rattlesnake Bar were just as good (or bad) as 5%, except that 5%, you can park next to the water, and Rattlesnake, you have to walk a ways. That convinced us to hit up 5%... (I'm not in the best of shape.... unless the shape in question is round... in which case, I fit that shape pretty good. ) Anyway... I'm not familiar with Folsom Lake... I live pretty close to it, but I've only been there 3 or 4 times, and I never knew the names of the different spots. So my DB said that he knew where it was. He drove me out to Folsom Point. We get there, and decide that it didn't look that good. (It looked fine... there were almost no boats... the water looked pretty clean, etc.) So we drove over to "a beachy area"... Beale's Point. We made it to the guard shack, and they said no diving. They suggested we go to 5% to dive. She told us that it's the main entrance off of Douglas, so we headed up there. We park the truck, and see that there are roughly 500 Jetski's on the lake or waiting to get in the lake. By now, it's almost 1:00. We started our Journey at 11:00. Long story short (shorter than it already isn't) we ended up walking to the south side of point at 5%... over hills and down steep grades... through sand (with a rolling dive bag full with weights and an anchor). It took us 10 minutes to walk 200 yards. We pretty much worked on skills for the whole time. Main emphasis: Compass Navigation. Other than that, there was not much to see, but we did get to play with some bass. That was fun. Good times, though...

Thank you all for your help.

No diving? There's no way that's an official policy. As long as you're not entering on the boat ramps there are no issues. I've talked with them about 100 times regarding this issue. Also, at Rattlesnake Bar you can park right next to the water and walk right in. The one thing I would be careful of though at Folsom is that the Jetskis try and use you dive flag as a slalom course...just be careful out there.