The rest of you missed the Aurora fun today!

[mhedstrom]

Me, my hubby (Leif), robanna, and tmurray met up at Aurora this morning. There was a group of divers just finishing up when we got there, but other than that, there wasn't a soul on the scuba beach besides us. Vis wasn't horrid, I'd say 5-10 feet, and you could see the plane before you actually got to it. Not much before, but you could. We did 3 dives, bbq'ed some hot dogs, chatted, and just generally had a good day....and made it out of Aurora before it started *hailing!* The temp dropped from like 80-90 to about 55 very very fast and then the hail started. Fortunately we were in the car (I'm guessing Rob and Tim were too since we were the last ones to leave), but GEEZ.

It was way fun to meet some people from the board and dive with them - I hope there's more random get togethers in the future.

 

[tmurray]

Yes, it was good times. I couldn't believe how cold it was below the thermocline. That's when I was wishing I had my 7 mil suit on. We lucked out having the diving area to ourselves. I can now add Aurora Reservoir to my list of local dives. I think I still like Turquoise Lake more (better scenery). Aurora is still a neat place and I will definetely return.

 

[robanna]

Yup, it was a pretty good time. Good vis (10 feet), no one else there, good company.
72° at the surface, 55 below the TC at about 35 feet, and mid 60s at the plane (30 feet)

Thanks for the dogs and swedish mustard!
Let's do it again soon.

 

[jnickell]

Tmurray what were you wearing in terms of exposure suit? What does everyone else wear locally in 50 degree water?

 

[robanna]

I think we were all wearing 3 mm, but at 55° that was way too cold for very long. We did 20 min and I came up shivering.
Tim wore a beanie also.
I had on gloves but that's more to play witth the mud bugs.
Our last dive Michelle and I wore hoods (35 feet/65-68°).

 

[RonFrank]

Thanks for the report, and glad you all had fun. I'd love to dive Aurora on a weekday, but I just can't justify burning a vacation day for that dive!

Maybe we could hook up late one afternoon during the week. Does anyone know if you can dive after 5:00pm? I know that the placard has to be back by 5:00pm, but I'm working on getting a system together so I can just roll my gear and a tank in a carrier.

With the canopy, it would be a two trip process, but I think I can manage it.

 

[Kbear]

Me and my buddy dove Aurora today (our first time). Viz was decent, around 8'. We got there about 2:00 and watched a dive group leave right as we were pulling up. We ended up having the beach to ourselves, and went out to the plane where we saw a monster bass hanging out inside it. I also saw a ton of MONSTER crawdads. I never knew they made 'em that big! I wanted to grab one but was afraid it would take the tip of my finger off .

All in all a good day, except for the pond we tried to dive at the Pinery trying to find a fountain head for my brother in law.