I dove West Hill Pond today and I have to say that it was great.
We entered from the beach at Brodie Park, which is on the east side. Entering the water, we were all enthusiastic and optimistic because the water seemed so clear, unless you were near me where I kicked up all the sand and silt in the world.
We picked a course that would take us west/southwest from the beach toward the "deep end," some rocks only a few feet below the surface and a submerged island (that's apparently due to a damn that raised the water level in 1973).
The water temp was cool but not too cold (at first) and the visibility was about 20 feet.
I didn't see much fish or life, but there was quite a bit of interesting debris and tons of huge boulders.
We ultimately dropped down to 45 feet. (The maximum depth according to the DEP chart is 65 feet.) As we approached that 45 foot depth, the temperature dropped to 50 degrees and the visibility went down to about 5 feet, or zero feet if you were anywhere near the silt I kicked up.
It was a good thing I brought a light for the deeper/darker water. Unfortunately, one of the guys in the group didn't have a hood, so it ended our deeper and colder exploration fairly quickly.
After that, we dove closer to shore for the rest of the dive in the 20 to 35 foot range, explored a bit and really enjoyed. The visiibility remained around 20 feet and it was quite interesting.
Well, we didn't see tons of the lake, but we saw enough that all five us want to go back, and will do so. Several other people in the group saw some schools of fish and also some rather large bass and trout.
Next time, we might rent one of the rowboats so that we can start the dive out near the submerged island and rock pile that rises close to the surface.
It's really a great dive location for freshwater in this area.
Happy diving.
Michael
