What a great weekend to be in Tahoe for Memorial Day weekend!
The weather was fantastic and I was able to avoid the 100 degree weather we had here in Roseville!
The only diving I had done in Tahoe before was at Meeks Bay, just a couple of miles north of Rubicon Point. I had some enjoyable dives there but nothing to rave about.
I was staying at a cabin in Tahoma and by dive buddy was just coming up for the day. We made plans to meet in Tahoma at 7:45, transfer my gear to his truck and head on over to D.L. Bliss park. When I woke up I decided I would call him and see where he was at 7:00. He was already in town! So I hurried up and we met early, giving us time to get a couple of breakfast sandwiches at the Tahoma Market.
The last time I had been to Meeks Bay when it opened in the morning, there was a line of cars to get in so I was expecting the same, especially since it was Memorial Day Weekend. As we headed to the park, I realized that my Sealife camera was not with my dive gear but in by regular duffel bag, AARRGGHH! He asked if I wanted to turn around but we were already quite a ways down the road and I was expecting a line and we wanted to make sure we got a parking space in the little lot above Calawee Cove.
No line, only one other vehicle in the lot. Oh well, should have gone back for the camera but still going to be a great day! We lugged our gear down steps and trail and set up on the far right side of the beach. We took our time gearing up and went in for our first dive. Neither one of us had been to this site but I had done some research on it and we decided we would kick out past the point, descend there and head straight out east across the sand until it dropped off, descend to 85' and head south along the wall. My buddy had an issue clearing his ears, and spent a bit of time ascending and descending until he was finally OK. Where we went over the wall, it was not quite as dramatic of a drop as I was expecting, but still very steep and you could see that it did go down into a deep blue abyss.
Descending was a bit deceiving since you have a visual on the rock wall, but my computer was clicking off the depth pretty rapidly. I slowed and came to a hover at about 89 FFW. By buddy was a bit below me and I was ready to go and stop his descent at just about the time he stopped 10' below me. He was at 99' and since this was the deepest he had been, he ducked down to 101 and then came up and joined me at our planned 85' where we made a little progress south. I signaled him for a pressure check and he was already down to 1300 lbs. So I signaled that we would ascend and level off above the wall, which we did and then slowly headed back. We did our 3 minute safety stop and when we surfaced, he had 450 while I still had 1400. So I asked him to go on in and I went back down and used up my remaining air and had another 25 minutes of diving.
We discussed what had happened and felt that he had gotten ahead of being able to equalize and all that considered, had him use his air very quickly.
The next dive went much better for him in that regard. I had stressed that he needed to equalize early and often, early and often. We decide this time that when we descended, we would head further south before heading over the wall. We did that and slowed our ascent rate and we both comfortable came to a stop at 85 ffw. We continued south and as we came around a bit of a corner to the right, we see that the wall is a sheer 90 degree back to the top while looking below it continued that sheer wall down to nothingness. Wow! That was a sight that I had been expecting and will keep me coming back!
I look forward to many more dives here. It is not an ocean dive with all its color and life, but spectacular for its structure and dramatic vistas.
Not too bad that it is less than a 2 hour drive either!
The weather was fantastic and I was able to avoid the 100 degree weather we had here in Roseville!
The only diving I had done in Tahoe before was at Meeks Bay, just a couple of miles north of Rubicon Point. I had some enjoyable dives there but nothing to rave about.
I was staying at a cabin in Tahoma and by dive buddy was just coming up for the day. We made plans to meet in Tahoma at 7:45, transfer my gear to his truck and head on over to D.L. Bliss park. When I woke up I decided I would call him and see where he was at 7:00. He was already in town! So I hurried up and we met early, giving us time to get a couple of breakfast sandwiches at the Tahoma Market.
The last time I had been to Meeks Bay when it opened in the morning, there was a line of cars to get in so I was expecting the same, especially since it was Memorial Day Weekend. As we headed to the park, I realized that my Sealife camera was not with my dive gear but in by regular duffel bag, AARRGGHH! He asked if I wanted to turn around but we were already quite a ways down the road and I was expecting a line and we wanted to make sure we got a parking space in the little lot above Calawee Cove.
No line, only one other vehicle in the lot. Oh well, should have gone back for the camera but still going to be a great day! We lugged our gear down steps and trail and set up on the far right side of the beach. We took our time gearing up and went in for our first dive. Neither one of us had been to this site but I had done some research on it and we decided we would kick out past the point, descend there and head straight out east across the sand until it dropped off, descend to 85' and head south along the wall. My buddy had an issue clearing his ears, and spent a bit of time ascending and descending until he was finally OK. Where we went over the wall, it was not quite as dramatic of a drop as I was expecting, but still very steep and you could see that it did go down into a deep blue abyss.
Descending was a bit deceiving since you have a visual on the rock wall, but my computer was clicking off the depth pretty rapidly. I slowed and came to a hover at about 89 FFW. By buddy was a bit below me and I was ready to go and stop his descent at just about the time he stopped 10' below me. He was at 99' and since this was the deepest he had been, he ducked down to 101 and then came up and joined me at our planned 85' where we made a little progress south. I signaled him for a pressure check and he was already down to 1300 lbs. So I signaled that we would ascend and level off above the wall, which we did and then slowly headed back. We did our 3 minute safety stop and when we surfaced, he had 450 while I still had 1400. So I asked him to go on in and I went back down and used up my remaining air and had another 25 minutes of diving.
We discussed what had happened and felt that he had gotten ahead of being able to equalize and all that considered, had him use his air very quickly.
The next dive went much better for him in that regard. I had stressed that he needed to equalize early and often, early and often. We decide this time that when we descended, we would head further south before heading over the wall. We did that and slowed our ascent rate and we both comfortable came to a stop at 85 ffw. We continued south and as we came around a bit of a corner to the right, we see that the wall is a sheer 90 degree back to the top while looking below it continued that sheer wall down to nothingness. Wow! That was a sight that I had been expecting and will keep me coming back!
I look forward to many more dives here. It is not an ocean dive with all its color and life, but spectacular for its structure and dramatic vistas.
Not too bad that it is less than a 2 hour drive either!
