Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana

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Xefe

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Messages
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Location
New Orleans, LA
# of dives
0 - 24
Me and a few friends were supposed to be diving Gulf Shores this saturday. Since mother nature decided to screw up our plans with 4-6foot waves we need a place to get wet (no pools!). We toyed with the idea of driving to the springs in florida, 5 hour drives compelled us against.

So brings us to the closet body of water for us. Lake Pontchartrain. Have any of you guys ever dived this body of water ? Hopefully more recently. We need information such as, where to go, what to expect etc etc. ....

If you know or know where I can obtain this information I would greatly appreciate it. Also if anyone near this area is intrested in tagging along, let me know.
 
PM amadus98, he's dived the Lake from the Northshore, off a jetski.
 
I'd say with all the rain and wind the lake would be like a cup of NO coffee.
 
PM amadus98, he's dived the Lake from the Northshore, off a jetski.

Captain in Laplace dives it. I say a bunch of us need to get together one Saturday and map out a plan to start exploring it. I bet it would be interesting.

I also wonder if there would be a problem diving in Chef Pass. That water is about 90 feet deep or more.
 
Lake Ponch report.........
As of lastnight the lake is still turned up really good ,NO coffee is good description thanks Gary! So long as the wind stays gone it will take the lake a few days to clear up. Chef pass is great for spear fishing from what i heard but the channel current is really strong so beware and boat traffic can be very annoying.
Artificial reef just off of fountainblue state park in mandeville (northshore) but you need a boat to get to cuz the swim is way toooo far.

FYI im heading to gulf shores orange beach area next weekend (22-23)if youd like to do a shore dive. Im diving the big O on saturday and ill be free on sunday and the high tide is around 1245pm which would be great for diving alabama point wall/jetties.
Andreas
 
Lake Ponch report.........
As of lastnight the lake is still turned up really good ,NO coffee is good description thanks Gary! So long as the wind stays gone it will take the lake a few days to clear up. Chef pass is great for spear fishing from what i heard but the channel current is really strong so beware and boat traffic can be very annoying.
Artificial reef just off of fountainblue state park in mandeville (northshore) but you need a boat to get to cuz the swim is way toooo far.

FYI im heading to gulf shores orange beach area next weekend (22-23)if youd like to do a shore dive. Im diving the big O on saturday and ill be free on sunday and the high tide is around 1245pm which would be great for diving alabama point wall/jetties.
Andreas

I'll have to take a rain check for another weekend, but that sounds good. Next weekend is Easter, so it will be family time.

I'll bet there are some big drum at Chef Pass. I know the current can be ripping through there. I'll have to get a report on that current before I attempt to dive there. I've also heard about some warm water discharge spots in Lage Borgne that may be good too for spearing. I'm not sure what any of these spots look like in terms of the bottom.
 
I've been diving off the seawall on the Northshore and from a boat along the Causeway 2-3 miles from the Northshore.

From the seawall, you have to walk a good distance to get to 8-10 feet of water. The boat dive was better. The depth is around 14 feet but it gets dark under the bridge.

Regardless, you have to have a few days without wind or weather to get any viz. Fall is better than other times of the year.

As others have posted, the lake water is like coffee these days.
 
someone said the lake would be undivable for several months after opening the spillway. ... is this true ?
 
someone said the lake would be undivable for several months after opening the spillway. ... is this true ?

Captain said that. If they did open up the Bonne Carre spillway, then the lake vis will probably go to *****. I would think that it could take a long time to clear up too since the only natural flow through there is rain water and some small rivers on the northshore pushed mainly by rainfall. Essentially, the spillway pushes the Mississippi River through the lake. That is just gross.... but it always makes the crabs good the following year... :)
 
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