Weekend Drive Trips around CO?

[DivingDoll]

I am going to Utah (Crater) for my OW check-off dives in a couple of weeks. I would like to get some ideas for other fairly close dive locations. I want to plan some weekend trips, so places that are close, or a cheap ticket away, would be great! I was already looking at Blue Hole. What are some other quick getaways? Thanks all!

 

[goonsquad]

Maybe bonneville seabase? Other than those two it may still be a bit too cold. If you're looking for a dive buddy let me know, i'd love to get out.
Blue lake is going to be about two hours west of slc but its right next to Wendover so you've always got gambling afterward!
Later in the year there is the Sand Hollow reservoir, it has a dive area, a sunken prop plane, a VW bus, and a small course as well.

 

[av8tr]

I'd be down for local trips as well. I know you can dive most of the lakes around here. You might want to look at getting dry suit certified. The waters around here can be pretty cold. I just moved here myself and am getting the lay of the land but would always be up for a weekend trip. You also might want to join the shark bait club. Which is a local diving club where you can hook up with lots of others for weekend trips.

 

[JJColorado]

Hi and Welcome!

I would second av8tr's suggestion of joining the dive club. We have some great members and plan local diving as well as some more exotic trips. We meet once a month for diner, drinks, and have presentations from vendors, photographers, sea life experts, etc., and membership is free. It's a great way to get to know some of the other local divers. Our upcoming meetings are posted here: Shark Bait Dive Club - ScubaBoard

Although it isn’t posted yet, our next meeting will be 4/21 at Café’ Del Sol in Lakewood and we will have a presentation from Mel Cundif who teaches marine and coral reef ecology. If you are interesting in joining the club, you can send an e-mail to info@sharkbaitdiveclub.com

Blue hole is probably your best weekend getaway for year round diving. We head down a few times a year. In the summer we will dive Aurora Reservoir, Chatfield, and Turquoise Lake, but the vis in those is nowhere near what you find at Blue Hole. Another weekend trip we’ve done is Bonne Terre Mine in MO: Bonne Terre Mine It’s something totally different, and we drove so it was a long weekend, but we had a fun time.

 

[DivingDoll]

Thanks guys! I really appreciate the responses!

I am pretty new to diving, so I don't know about spending the money on dry suit diving until I am sure this is something I will be able to do more than 2 or 3 times a year I loved my class, so I am hopeful that I will be able to go pretty frequently and justify the expense of my own BC and gear. Do all of you have your own gear? I just have my mask, fins, snorkel, boots, and wet suit.

I am going to join the Shark Bait group, but I am really bummed about the next meeting being on 4/21 because I already have an event that night, but I am looking forward to being at the next one after that. I have only been in Colorado about 3 years, so I forget about the water being cold, and about being land locked, until I think "hey, I want to go to the water"...

Anywa, I would love to get a trip together! Thanks again for the trip ideas, I appreciate it

 

[robint]

you don't need a drysuit to dive at Blue Hole. You can rent a 7mm suit at your local dive shop but most people buy them. In the summer (June-Sept) the water is very refreshing as the air temp in Santa Rosa, NM gets up to 90s many days. In the winter, the water is still 62 degrees, so it is warmer than the air. We dive there year round with no problems. As you can see in the videos MOST people are wearing wetsuits!

check out a couple of my videos:
[vimeo]5829074[/vimeo]

the rest of my Blue Hole and Perch Lake videos are here:
Diving "Blue Hole" in Santa Rosa, NM & around the Southwest USA on Vimeo


robin

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

When you want to try diving the Blue Hole, just post here a week before. There are so many of us hitting the place that you are almost certain to be able to find a few friends to meet you there, if not possibly get a ride.

Also, when you are down in Santa Rosa, there are at least 4 different dives. You can go deep and explore the bottom at 70-80', just concentrate on the walls at mid level for an hour plus shallow dive, dive at night and dive perch lake (really just a good sized pond, just a couple miles away). Add the cheap air ($5) from Stella on site, reasonable food in town and you have the makings for a nice weekend.

 

[RonFrank]

You are in the right spot for CO diving, for what that is worth! :shocked2:

We are a small but dedicated group of locals who actually DIVE where we live, and believe me, that is rare.

In the summer we do Aurora, and we will be having our annual RMO picnic~dive with Shark Bait. Between the two groups we MAY get 25 divers!

I go down to BlueHole about every other month. In the summer we dive Turquoise Lake (cold), Jefferson Lake (cold), and Twin Lakes (cold). Do you see a pattern here?

When I say cold, I mean it.... 45F in August is about typical for any of those lakes. So the drysuit suggestion if you DO plan on diving locally is a good one.

Welcome to ScubaBoard, and to RockyMtnOysters!

 

[RonFrank]

you don't need a drysuit to dive at Blue Hole. ... As you can see in the videos MOST people are wearing wetsuits!

robin

Yes, that is because MOST people are OW STUDENTS!

Now, take a look at the instructors.. All Dry.. well except for Ron of late!

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Yes, that is because MOST people are OW STUDENTS!

Now, take a look at the instructors.. All Dry.. well except for Ron of late!

Oh come on, stop being such a wimp.

61F is fine wet, we all know they real reason instructors dive dry is they like to fiddle with their p-valves.