I went diving last weekend with the FROGs (Front Range Ocean Goers) a new scuba club in Colorado Springs. 
We drove up to Turquoise Lake Friday evening and camped. The Club/Divers Reef bought and cooked all the food so all that was needed was a tent and sleeping bag. I took my motor home and it was not necessary (other than for a bed) and quite costly - see below. The cost was only $15 for the weekend of bacon/sausage and pancake breakfasts, burgers/brats/dogs for lunch (x2), and Steak for dinner! :thumbs-up(And $5/vehicle at Twin Lakes).
Saturday we did two dives in Turquoise Lake. The lake was quite low and the visibility sucked ( < 5 feet). It was also cold :cold:; 48*F at 28 ffw and around 40*F at 60 ffw.
Sunday morning we broke camp after breakfast and drove to Twin Lakes. We planned on 2 more dives there, but the lake was so low, we had to walk 500 yards to get to it so we only did one. The temp was about 50*F at 48 ffw, but the vis was less than 3 feet, and at 48 ffw it might as well had been a night dive. I had to use the backlight to read my computer and my flashlight to read the compass. With the lights out, we couldnt see each other 2 feet away!:11:
I took my old motorhome and used 80+ gallons of gas :yourkiddingme:, so it wasnt a cheap weekend! I could have bought a round trip ticket to Cozumel and several boat dives for what gas cost me! Overall, I had fun, camping with new people, and seeing new lakes, but I doubt Ill go back often if the visibility doesnt improve significantly. The local diving has as good or better vis, and the water is warmer. I thought the main reason for diving high (about 10,000 feet) was to be in cold CLEAR water.
The FROGs are planning their next dive weekend for Jul 11-13 at Blue Mesa. :scubadive
The current plan is to camp again, and rent pontoon boat(s) to dive from. Again, they will buy and prepare the food and rent the boats and split up the costs, so camping is easy (I don't plan on taking my motor home this time).
Our 2nd meeting :meeting: of FROGs will be this Wednesday evening (the last Wednesday of the month). We are currently meeting at Divers Reef, 4465 Northpark Dr, (SE corner of Garden of the Gods and I-25) but this is not just a Diver's Reef club all are welcome. We have people from Monument/Black Forest to Pueblo west to mountain communities. We hope to have a web site up soon. It looks like the URL will be www.scubaFROGs.com, but voting is not quite over. If you have any questions, send me a PM and Ill try and answer them or put you in touch with someone who can.
We drove up to Turquoise Lake Friday evening and camped. The Club/Divers Reef bought and cooked all the food so all that was needed was a tent and sleeping bag. I took my motor home and it was not necessary (other than for a bed) and quite costly - see below. The cost was only $15 for the weekend of bacon/sausage and pancake breakfasts, burgers/brats/dogs for lunch (x2), and Steak for dinner! :thumbs-up(And $5/vehicle at Twin Lakes).
Saturday we did two dives in Turquoise Lake. The lake was quite low and the visibility sucked ( < 5 feet). It was also cold :cold:; 48*F at 28 ffw and around 40*F at 60 ffw.
Sunday morning we broke camp after breakfast and drove to Twin Lakes. We planned on 2 more dives there, but the lake was so low, we had to walk 500 yards to get to it so we only did one. The temp was about 50*F at 48 ffw, but the vis was less than 3 feet, and at 48 ffw it might as well had been a night dive. I had to use the backlight to read my computer and my flashlight to read the compass. With the lights out, we couldnt see each other 2 feet away!:11:
I took my old motorhome and used 80+ gallons of gas :yourkiddingme:, so it wasnt a cheap weekend! I could have bought a round trip ticket to Cozumel and several boat dives for what gas cost me! Overall, I had fun, camping with new people, and seeing new lakes, but I doubt Ill go back often if the visibility doesnt improve significantly. The local diving has as good or better vis, and the water is warmer. I thought the main reason for diving high (about 10,000 feet) was to be in cold CLEAR water.
The FROGs are planning their next dive weekend for Jul 11-13 at Blue Mesa. :scubadive
The current plan is to camp again, and rent pontoon boat(s) to dive from. Again, they will buy and prepare the food and rent the boats and split up the costs, so camping is easy (I don't plan on taking my motor home this time).
Our 2nd meeting :meeting: of FROGs will be this Wednesday evening (the last Wednesday of the month). We are currently meeting at Divers Reef, 4465 Northpark Dr, (SE corner of Garden of the Gods and I-25) but this is not just a Diver's Reef club all are welcome. We have people from Monument/Black Forest to Pueblo west to mountain communities. We hope to have a web site up soon. It looks like the URL will be www.scubaFROGs.com, but voting is not quite over. If you have any questions, send me a PM and Ill try and answer them or put you in touch with someone who can.
