CT lake diving

[DCBnG]

Does anybody know the temp of West Hill Pond? Sounds like an ok dive....I can't wait to get back in the water this season.

 

[Henryville]

Chris, divers have been in it all summer mapping it out, if you go there now you will find a topo. map on site, they list it as 75' max with about 45' shelvs in spots. I have not seen any tidal movement in it, and have'nt been to the bottom in years but the fire and state police depts. train there and do clean-ups. I have never encountered anything too hazardous in there, but like any quarry people do throw stuff in there.The water however is pretty clean vis being about 20' on a good day at the 45' mark, but drops to about nil at 60', no oil slicks or chem haz. just murky. There are signs in place warning about swimming since the town bought it a while back, and I can tell you first hand that they dont want divers in ether! you should come over and check it out again, is it has come a long way since being listed as an historic site. You may be surprised! Dave.

I was in there (Portland Quarry) January 2 (!) with some of the group that is trying to get it going as a diving facility. Went to a max depth of 70 feet, could have gone deeper. Visibility was 10 to 15 feet or so, water temp was 39F. There are quite a few junked vehicles in there, barrels, trees, etc. that you would not want to accidentally descend onto. I haven't dove it in the summer when the algae gets going, I imagine that would be pretty murky and dark.

On access, all I can say is be patient, the people who are trying to move this forward are determined individuals. If and when it comes together I am confident it will be done in a first-class manner. As of now it is not open. Cross your fingers, it would be great to have something like this open and accessible in the area.

 

[michaelp68]

Does anybody know the temp of West Hill Pond? Sounds like an ok dive....I can't wait to get back in the water this season.

State DEP website for West Hill Pond: http://dep.state.ct.us/cgnhs/lakes/westhill/lake.htm.

I dove there fairly early in the season last year but cannot remember the temps. I'll check my log book this weekend, if I can remember to do so. But my vague memory is that it was probably in the mid-to-uppper 40's or low 50's when I was there sometime between mid-May and early-June.

Michael

 

[dbg40]

I was in there (Portland Quarry) January 2 (!) with some of the group that is trying to get it going as a diving facility. Went to a max depth of 70 feet, could have gone deeper. Visibility was 10 to 15 feet or so, water temp was 39F. There are quite a few junked vehicles in there, barrels, trees, etc. that you would not want to accidentally descend onto. I haven't dove it in the summer when the algae gets going, I imagine that would be pretty murky and dark.

On access, all I can say is be patient, the people who are trying to move this forward are determined individuals. If and when it comes together I am confident it will be done in a first-class manner. As of now it is not open. Cross your fingers, it would be great to have something like this open and accessible in the area.

OUTSTANDING! thanks so much for the solid info on this. Im pretty excited about the possibilities of this happening. Not only for selfish reasons, but for what it can do for our town, it would be great to have a spot to drop into at a moments notice,and less than 5 min. from home! Not to mention a great place to meet other divers,do you know of any time frame? or if there is any need for volunteers, as I would be happy to help in any way needed. Again, thank you for some first hand information.

Dave.

 

[michaelp68]

Does anybody know the temp of West Hill Pond? Sounds like an ok dive....I can't wait to get back in the water this season.

Last year, on May 31st, the bottom temperature at 48 feet was 43 degrees.

 

[ScubaSarus]

Wondering what are the temps at 0-20 ft now.

 

[michaelp68]

Wondering what are the temps at 0-20 ft now.

I'd like to know, too.

 

[scubajim]

Wow, thanks for all the reponses to this post. I finally realized that I used to take my old Boy Scout troop 48 from Stamford, to Camp Sequassen which is on the lake for summer and winter camping in the late eighties. I was amazed back then how clear the water was, but for some reason I thought it was called Crystal Lake. Small world. Anywho... me and Cushdiver might take a ride up there this tuesday to just check it out.....don't think we'll be diving it until it gets a little warmer.

I'll bring a thermometer and get a reading on the Temp

 

[mer]

This is from memory, which is dangerous, so don't quote me.
From what I have been told, Portland Quarry is probably deeper, in the sense that when it was an active quarry it was rather deep 150, maybe even 200'. Flooding from the Conneticut River has brought sediment into the quarry to make the water depth effectively shallower. Also keep in mind that the walls of the quarry extend some places 80'+ above the water's surface.

In some of the shallower parts of the quarry, I have first hand experience that there is no hard bottom, as you go deeper the water gets "thicker". Right now, the vis can been quite bad 5-10' especially shallow. It was a little better in January with a little bit of the algae died off for the winter. I've done some diving there last season with the group that it working on the quarry, and the vis/depth/temp pattern seemed to follow:
0-10' deep, 10-20'vis, warm depending on season (frozen to high 70s)
10-40' deep, 5-10'vis, definite thermocline below 15', mid 50s at best
@45'ish deep, 20-30'vis but very dark, huge thermocline (high 30s to very low 40s year round)
near the bottom, "gets thicker"

Many of the risks in this quarry is not so much what is in it, but that you can't see it until you're in it. Dead trees and other junk abounds.

The group is working on eco-friendly ways to improve vis, therefore allowing the water to warm better during the summer. Right now we're all keeping our fingures crossed. This place will be run top-notch. You'll get updates. Right now, you have you worry about the cliff jumpers landing on you from 80' above the water's surface.

It's a beautiful place... I really enjoy visiting from my neck of the woods.

 

[michaelp68]

This is from memory, which is dangerous, so don't quote me.
From what I have been told, Portland Quarry is probably deeper, in the sense that when it was an active quarry it was rather deep 150, maybe even 200'. Flooding from the Conneticut River has brought sediment into the quarry to make the water depth effectively shallower. Also keep in mind that the walls of the quarry extend some places 80'+ above the water's surface.

In some of the shallower parts of the quarry, I have first hand experience that there is no hard bottom, as you go deeper the water gets "thicker". Right now, the vis can been quite bad 5-10' especially shallow. It was a little better in January with a little bit of the algae died off for the winter. I've done some diving there last season with the group that it working on the quarry, and the vis/depth/temp pattern seemed to follow:
0-10' deep, 10-20'vis, warm depending on season (frozen to high 70s)
10-40' deep, 5-10'vis, definite thermocline below 15', mid 50s at best
@45'ish deep, 20-30'vis but very dark, huge thermocline (high 30s to very low 40s year round)
near the bottom, "gets thicker"

Many of the risks in this quarry is not so much what is in it, but that you can't see it until you're in it. Dead trees and other junk abounds.

The group is working on eco-friendly ways to improve vis, therefore allowing the water to warm better during the summer. Right now we're all keeping our fingures crossed. This place will be run top-notch. You'll get updates. Right now, you have you worry about the cliff jumpers landing on you from 80' above the water's surface.

It's a beautiful place... I really enjoy visiting from my neck of the woods.

Mer, thanks for that information. I really look forward to the future updates.

Michael