bogrady
Contributor
Ok Its not as cool as Frank and Alans road trip to Belize, but this Swamper is in NY for some diving. This week, its the Queen of American lakes, Lake George, nestled on the east side of the 6 million acre Adirondack Park in upstate NY.
Arrived on Long Island (Im a native) courtesy of Southwest on Tuesday afternoon. Thank heaven for their 3 checked bag policy since I had to pack all my cold water gear Lake George is definitely drysuit diving. Left Long Island for the drive north at 6am. An hour later I was watching the NY City skyline recede in the mirror as I turned North for the Catskills and the Adirondacks. I met my Jersey Wreck Diver buddy Chris at Capitaland Scuba in Clifton Park (I left this little town just North of Albany in 1992 to move to Texas) to pick up some tanks and a dive flag.
By 1 PM we were checking into the Northern Lake George Resort a rustic little lake shore motel, whose main redeeming feature is the only air compressor for 60 miles. Free fills are included with the room. After a quick lunch we were suited up and in the water by 3.
The shore entry is literally 20 yards from the room, however, I was a little disappointed in the quality of the diving. 95% of the shoreline is privately owned so the shore diving is limited. The bad part - this particular stretch of shoreline is called the football field by the local divers 20-30 ft deep and featureless sand bottom for as far as you can go. Visibility was only 20-30 feet I was expecting better. Water temp is 70 at the surface and mid 60s at 25ft.
The good part There is an old ferry pier that juts out from the motel. Three of the original piers, built in the early 1800s are still there. These are massive interlocked timber and rock structures 10 yards on a side and 15 30 feet tall. We did two dives on the piers , each about an hour. The second dive around dusk, had the added attraction of lots of interesting fish.
Chris drysuit sprung a leak on the first dive so he went wet on dive two while the Aquaseal repair hopefully took hold. After all the traveling, we called it an early night.
Tomorrow we head for what were told is one of the best shore dive sites, a NY state park called Rogers Rock. Were hoping for 70 100 foot rock face wall dives in colder water with much better viz.
Were keeping an eye out for Daisy we figure after she left Alan and Frank in Belize, Lake George was the next place she would go stay tuned for updates and next week the Long Island Sound.
Arrived on Long Island (Im a native) courtesy of Southwest on Tuesday afternoon. Thank heaven for their 3 checked bag policy since I had to pack all my cold water gear Lake George is definitely drysuit diving. Left Long Island for the drive north at 6am. An hour later I was watching the NY City skyline recede in the mirror as I turned North for the Catskills and the Adirondacks. I met my Jersey Wreck Diver buddy Chris at Capitaland Scuba in Clifton Park (I left this little town just North of Albany in 1992 to move to Texas) to pick up some tanks and a dive flag.
By 1 PM we were checking into the Northern Lake George Resort a rustic little lake shore motel, whose main redeeming feature is the only air compressor for 60 miles. Free fills are included with the room. After a quick lunch we were suited up and in the water by 3.
The shore entry is literally 20 yards from the room, however, I was a little disappointed in the quality of the diving. 95% of the shoreline is privately owned so the shore diving is limited. The bad part - this particular stretch of shoreline is called the football field by the local divers 20-30 ft deep and featureless sand bottom for as far as you can go. Visibility was only 20-30 feet I was expecting better. Water temp is 70 at the surface and mid 60s at 25ft.
The good part There is an old ferry pier that juts out from the motel. Three of the original piers, built in the early 1800s are still there. These are massive interlocked timber and rock structures 10 yards on a side and 15 30 feet tall. We did two dives on the piers , each about an hour. The second dive around dusk, had the added attraction of lots of interesting fish.
Chris drysuit sprung a leak on the first dive so he went wet on dive two while the Aquaseal repair hopefully took hold. After all the traveling, we called it an early night.
Tomorrow we head for what were told is one of the best shore dive sites, a NY state park called Rogers Rock. Were hoping for 70 100 foot rock face wall dives in colder water with much better viz.
Were keeping an eye out for Daisy we figure after she left Alan and Frank in Belize, Lake George was the next place she would go stay tuned for updates and next week the Long Island Sound.
