SoCal dude (yours truly) invades New Mexico Blue Hole

[fnfalman]

As a part-time New Mexican resident, I felt that I've been remiss in my duties as a diver for not hitting the Blue Hole in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. So, I went and remedied said situation today. The pond is fed from an artesian spring and is used by both New Mexicans, Coloradans and even some West Texicans for open water cert dives.

The water is murky with a lot of "sediment" (for lack of better scientific words) ala California water, so it's not crystal clear but the viz is still very good at 60-ft plus. It's also warm as heck, supposedly staying between 60-64F year round. Today was 61-F and I dove without hood & gloves. The locals were complaining how cold the water is and I told them that this is the equivalence of summer bathwater to SoCal people. Some of these people actually dove with dry suit?!!

Anyway, there wasn't much to see: 1-ea orange/black gold fish and a bunch of shrimps. These shrimps are very aggressive, they stand their grounds and raise their claws when they see you swim by. People also put a lot of toys on the stone ledges for the heck of it.

The high altitude of 4600-ft does take a toll on the body. I felt winded after two easy 25-minutes dives.

 

[fnfalman]

My instant buddy Bob and his wife Dinah with daughter Haley. This family is more of a warm water dive vacation type although Bob said that he wanted to get into spearfishing and hit the local lakes for trouts and basses.

Little Haley was quite of a trooper. She was in a removable cast and she took the cast off to go one-finned.

They were there to support their other friends of the family going through their own open water cert dives.

All in all a good time, but it's not something that I'd look forward to doing again. I do feel for the landlocked people who are limited in access to open water. The Blue Hole is about the only safe place to dive. The various lakes in New Mexico are populated with boaters who don't give a rat's ass about anything and like to use dive flags as slalom cones.

 

[Deco Time]

Looks like an interesting place to dive does it get crowded?

 

[fnfalman]

That day there were about twenty something divers altogether, possibly close to thirty was my guess. Three shops from Albuquerque with their students plus the ones who show up on their own like myself. There was a double-tanker guy out there playing with his new rig, getting adjustments done. Supposedly there are some serious talks about opening up the cave entrances at the bottom of the hole for cave divers. And I guess the City of Santa Rosa and the State of New Mexico wanted to use the water run-off to make a swim/snorkel park nearby and more amenities in order to attract diving & swimming tourists.

The water is so clean that I barely hung up my gears right now (sitting in the trunk of my car through the night) and nothing stinks!!!

 

[rakkis]

i stopped by there on my drive back to socal from the midwest last year. looks like stella's new building is coming along great

 

[jlyle]

Question: Is there a dive shop nearby where can I rent a full set of gear to dive the Blue Hole?

By a "full set," I mean mask, fins, wetsuit, reg, tanks, belts...everything?

I'm riding my bicycle from Los Angeles to Boston and will take a rest day in Santa Fe. I think it would be great to get a couple of dives in, if possible.

 

[Teamcasa]

Looks like an easy site to navigate.

 

[Divebum Don]

Thanks f-man! Very Cool! My brother just invited me to visit, he's in Santa Cruz, I've been to Santa Fe 3 times, sopapillas and real green chile, Ahhh! Best food on earth! Acoma Pueblo tamales, Mmmm!

Did you need an Altitude Cert to be legal?

Did you bring your own gear?

Can you solo there without hassle?

Is there any "season" that's better?

TIA, Don

PS~ Have a Great Trip Jim!

 

[Jasonmh]

Yup, that place looks pretty darn familiar, and so do the people.
Sorry I missed ya!

 

[fnfalman]

Question: Is there a dive shop nearby where can I rent a full set of gear to dive the Blue Hole?

By a "full set," I mean mask, fins, wetsuit, reg, tanks, belts...everything?

I'm riding my bicycle from Los Angeles to Boston and will take a rest day in Santa Fe. I think it would be great to get a couple of dives in, if possible.

I "think" that the onsite shop has everything for rent. When I went inside to get my air fill, I saw some gears laying about: fins, masks, wetsuits, aluminum tanks, weights for sure. I don't see why they wouldn't have BC for rent if they already had that much stuff out for rent.

Looks like an easy site to navigate.

Kinda funny but I was about to strap my compass on and then it occurred to me why the heck would I need a compass.

Did you need an Altitude Cert to be legal?

Did you bring your own gear?

Can you solo there without hassle?

Is there any "season" that's better?

TIA, Don

PS~ Have a Great Trip Jim!

No, you don't need an altitude cert to be legal, but you are welcome to contribute to PADI's coffer and get a cool Altitude Cert card.

Yes, I brought all my gears and yes, I could have gone solo (one tech dude trying out his new setup did) but this fellow looked like he could have used a buddy so I volunteered to be his instant buddy.

The "season" is pretty much the same. The water's temperature doesn't vary much.