Tenaya Lake in Yosemite

[andrewy]

Is very beautiful , but i cant find anything on diving in it. any experience?

 

[Peter_C]

From what I have read anything around the Foothills right now is about to be flooded. We have more snow pack this June sitting on the mountains than we have had since they started recording data. It could change the diving scene around any mountain lakes, especially with the predicted 79 degrees this weekend. Many of the larger lakes are near capacity right now too.

Go dive it and report back how it went Maybe there are some fish to check out, and the bottom structure could have trees for interest.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

And it would be an altitude dive in spades. Be sure to have that impact on the NDLs understood and respected.

 

[dougchartier]

Andrew, if you wanna dive it, I'll join you.

 

[Guy Alcala]

Is very beautiful , but i cant find anything on diving in it. any experience?

BTDT. My advice is, as with most mountain lakes, don't bother unless you just want it for the altitude experience. What you see above water is a lot more interesting and prettier than what's below. I did a 43 minute dive down to 85' there in August of 2008. It was cold (down to 41 deg.) and barren with the expected strong thermocline around 30', and I saw one fish during my safety stop. I entered and exited at the east end by the picnic tables.

Unlike Tahoe there are very few rocks, just occasional dead trees and branches, and the bottom is soft silt instead of sand once you get deeper than 15 feet or so. IIRR I was able to insert my arm up to the shoulder in the bottom with ease, and could probably have kept going if the two hadn't joined. I could see the sun's disk down to 45' or so, and the sunlight down to 65' or thereabouts. It was quite dim at my deepest point, and the vis was surprisingly poor at depth, only 10'-15' IIRR.

Because motor-powered boats aren't allowed here the people who access the lake tend to be a more environmentally-sensitive crowd, so you don't get all the human trash that at least gives you something to do to relieve the boredom in other lakes.

I've dived 4 mountain lakes now, Tahoe, Angora, Tenaya and Convict, and can't say that any of them are worth it for the diving compared to Monterey. But I'll probably dive Saddlebag Lake just outside the park (10,087') sometime, just so I can say I've dived at over 10,000 feet.

If you decide to do it anyway, like Chuck said be aware of the altitude corrections you need to make, and/or use nitrox if you can. At Tenaya I think I used 36%, which pretty much got me back to my original sea Level air NDLs, albeit you're still depth limited by the Nitrox.

Guy

 

[andrewy]

Doug you welcome to join me next saturday we are going for a weekend. pm me if you up for it. Guy and Chuck thanks for sound advise. Guy did you see much of crayfish there? i will try to enter from the opposite side you did, it might be cleaner bottom and some rocks, i hope.

 

[Guy Alcala]

<snip>

Guy and Chuck thanks for sound advise. Guy did you see much of crayfish there? i will try to enter from the opposite side you did, it might be cleaner bottom and some rocks, i hope.

Nary a crayfish to be seen. You'll have to wait a bit, as the road isn't open yet (they opened it for bikes as far as Olmstead point on Friday).

Guy

 

[rdjiv]

I had the opportunity to dive Lake Eleanor in Yosemite last year and Guy's description of the bottom fits. Mostly silt and tree trunks, visibility at depth (~50 ft) was 15-20 ft. Came across old quarry gear on the second dive. Also, while the surface was nice and toasty at 80°F, bottom temp was around 56°F. The best part was finding a couple of fish in 15 ft or so - water there was crystal clear.

Have a fun dive and, as previously mentioned, watch the altitude.

 

[Guy Alcala]

Found my online dive report from 2008. It's a bit more detailed and differs slightly from my undoubtedly faulty memory, but you can read it here if you wish:

Yahoo! Groups

Guy