Any decent diving locations in Louisiana?

[louisianadiver]

Several shops in New Orleans offer reasonably priced trips to the rigs. There are also charters in Venice, which is fairly close. You're also about 6-7 hours from Freeport, Texas where you can catch a ride to the Flower Gardens for a few hundred bucks. Great blue water live-aboard diving over a weekend. I've put up some recent pics from my last Flower Gardens trip--blue water oil rigs and healthy reefs. See http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id196.htm -Clay

 

[louisianadiver]

whats wrong with the oil rigs? ive never dove them but ive read about them and it said that those oil rigs created the most prolific reef there is...and youll see bigger stuff down there then you will anywhere in the carribean...also spearfishing down there is good, (Helldivers Rodeo)...is there a reason why you wouldnt want to dive them?

Hi Chaz. Humberto Fontova is a friend of mine and he put me in Helldiver's Rodeo. It's a good book, but don't read it as a manual of Louisiana oil rig diving. -Clay

 

[archman]

Below is the link to the Lake Ponchatrain Basin Foundation.
www.saveourlake.org

Thanks for the link. It's very nice. The map of the lake clearly shows no delivery inputs from the Mississippi River, although the lake dumps into IT.

I'd recommend keeping tabs on the fecal coliform count prior to diving in the lake. The website appears to update this fairly regularly, which is friggin' fantastic. It also gives a water visibility value for specific areas.

Stay out of waters with counts exceeding 300 MPN's. You're at higher risk.
http://www.saveourlake.org/water_quality.html

 

[Corigan]

I'm going to be in NOLA November 27th. I am going to be cruising on the NCL Dream from the 28th to the 5th (going to do some diving in belize and roatan.). I had scheduled my trip so I was coming in on saturday the 27th and boarding the cruise on the 28th. I would be interested in diving the rigs on the 27th, but don't have a buddy with me. Anybody around NOLA interested in diving the rigs with a newer diver? If someone was interested I would come down a day early so we could get an early start on Saturday to get out to the rigs. Hoping someone drops me a message, thanks.

Matt

 

[shaneevans1]

Arch,
There are several rivers that run into Lake Maurepas, which runs into Lake Ponchartrain. I spent whole summers in the Blind River, and The Lower Amite River when I was a teenager. I spent alot of time in False River too. When any of these south La. rivers or lakes are not real stirred up, and full of mud, then they are pretty clear, but full of pollen. Makes em real green. I have seen False River with vis to maybe 3' at best. I bet there is a TON of cool stuff on the bottom of False river. Probably alot of sunk small boats, as well as a millions sets of sunglasses and beer cans.

The local rivers are pure mud unless you go north to say, the Baton Rouge or Kentwood area where the Tangipahoa or Amite/Comite are clear, but VERY shallow. We ride our ATVs up and down them. There are the occasional deep holes, but not too often.
I guess the main problem is there is nothing deep. If you want to look at Bass in 10' of water, I have a 5 acre pond near my house, that is a clear as Ive seen around here, but it maxes out at about 12 feet. Good luck to you finding a good spot, but Im going to PCB this weekend!

 

[shaneevans1]

CLAY! I just put two and two together! I just finished your book. Great job on it. I really enjoyed it. I actually ran across it at The Greenwell Springs Library in B.R.
Then I saw it on display at UA. Guys, if any of you are recently certified, check Clays book out.. he covers all the stuff you need to know but didnt get in o/w 101.

Hope to run into you sometime on a trip or at UA.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Hmmmm

Thanks for the link, I may have to start bringing gear with me on my weekly trips.

I'm guessing beach entry probably won't get me to anything interesting. LOL I wonder if I can make enough room in the work van to hold my tools, my templating material, my regular luggage for an overnighter, SCUBA gear, and my Zodiac! This could get interesting... or maybe I should just start looking for friends with boats in the area

 

[chuck41]

I grew up in Monroe, La where the "clear" lakes of Louisiana are located. They all suck as SCUBA locations. Most of the north LA divers venture up to Lake Ouachita near Hot Springs, AR or to Lake DeGray - about 30 miles south of Hot Springs to do their dive training. I now live 10 minutes from Lake Ouachita and the vis here runs from 20 to 40' in the spring and fall and drops to 10 to 15 feet in August when the Algae blooms. Local rainfall of course makes it poorer from time to time.

If you can't find a good trip to the oil rigs there, just go to Biloxi or points East and you can find nice places. You have to get away from the Mississippi river as that clouds things up big time, or you have to go one heck of a long way from shore. I use Dixie Marine in Biloxi http://myweb.cableone.net/dixiemarine/ Capt George has a nice boat and goes to some good places. Prices ran about $125 for a three tank dive last year before fuel prices went sky high (you provide gear).

The Biloxi area is only a couple hours drive for you and would make a one day trip if you like. Pensacola, and Panama City both have lots of dive operators and a little lower cost since they don't have to go out so far to find clear water, but they are a few hours more driving and probably not so good for day trips. They both have a couple shore dive locations available that are sometimes pretty nice. I have some pictures of shore diving from Pensacola by Ft Pickens on the Gulf Islands National Seashore at: http://www.royalcs.com/scuba

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Gulf Shores also has several charters available for diving.

I have some Ft Pickens jeddy pics too http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album04 The sheephead usually run late fall/early winter and in the early spring.

Just about all my diving has been done in AL and the FL panhandle, I have lots and lots of pics if your interested in driving further East. http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album01

 

[Xtreme]

Lake Pontchartrain is a good place to dive when the conditions are right. The water quality is good despite being so close to the Mississippi River, that is unless they open the spillway then it gets pretty bad. Most people dive the reef balls, causeway, twin spans or hwy 11. The depth is no more than 10 to 15 feet and like I said the visibility is dependant on the current conditions. Good luck and be safe…