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Southwest Sand SharksIf you can't stand the "Dry Heat" stay out of the region. In the heart of the Sonoran & Mohave Deserts, we dive lakes, rivers and diverse tropical waters. Including Arizona, Southern Nevada, SW New Mexico and the Northern Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California to you gringos).
Please note: The last reply in this thread was more than 3 month(s) ago.
Thanks! Those are good bits! Has anyone gathered them all together? I'm a data hound, so I will start if no one else has. I'm sitting here reading through the old posts and learning some bits and coming up with new questions that I'm sure I'll find the answer to eventually.
I think I'll be buying me a topo map and marking things off as I hear them. Good on Rudebob! Is he often lucky like that? Sounds worth hanging around.
I am going to be visiting the area in late May/earl June, and I would like to get in a couple of dives out there. I used to (way back) live in Peoria and went to Lake Pleasant a few times, but never thought of it as a dive destination.
What are overall conditions, and is there anything special I would need to do to dive there?
What are overall conditions, and is there anything special I would need to do to dive there?
Currently, the surface temps are just over 60 degrees and warming up. Temp at depth drops pretty quick, last week we hit 53-55 around 70 feet. The vis is anybody's guess. The last few weeks we've been hard pressed to get over 5-10 feet where we've been diving. (Closer to 5')
Nothing special required other than a dive float/flag (which sometimes the boaters recognize). A knife/shears/etc. is a good thing to deal with fishing line depending on the spot- I've only had to deal with it a few times and it has thus far been easily avoided.
PM me or contact us via the website in my signature and let me know when you'll be in town. We'll do our best to meet up and dive with you, as I'm sure plenty of other folks will be happy to as well.
There is a bust of George Washington at 80 feet, just off the submerged road north of Beisemeyer Point. Greg Parsons took a picture and crustyscubapirate posted it.
There is supposed to be a set of rail road tracks at 330º off Vista Point. I don't remember the distance.
There is supposed to be a village someplace underwater, I think that the tracks go through it and again, I don't remember the particulars. (I told you that I learn something with every dive but at my age it's the REMEMBERING that's the trick)
I've explored several deep trenches on both sides of the lake. The deepest I found was a few weeks ago with Josh (AZdiver23) due north off the Two Cow Cove area. We were at 70 feet in pretty clear conditions (30'vis) and the beam of my dive light couldn't penetrate to the bottom. There were huge bolders strewn around like a giant baby's playpen. We had reached our turn around presure so we couldn't explore it.
I need to finish up working on my map - I've gotten it pretty decent - but - have cut back on work on it due to being so darn buzy!
The RR tracks should be near the 1920 quarry / cement stations
The village should be the old camp for the workers for the 1926 dam.
I would also think that some of the trenches are from/do to the old washes.
I remember from years go - being up on the agua fria (30-40 miles back from the lake) and seeing bolders one year being moved the next - these bolders were ~20 feet in diameter and had been moved 20-30 feet over a year.
I need to finish up working on my map - I've gotten it pretty decent - but - have cut back on work on it due to being so darn buzy!
The RR tracks should be near the 1920 quarry / cement stations
The village should be the old camp for the workers for the 1926 dam.
I would also think that some of the trenches are from/to to the old washes.
I remember from years go - being up on the agua fria (30-40 miles back from the lake) and seeing bolders one year being moved the next - these bolders were ~20 feet in diameter and had been moved 20-30 feet over a year.
Wow. Is your map in a format that you can email or post? It would be cool to try to find some of these spots. How deep are they? I'm guessing that some of them might require a boat dive to get to as they may be to far to reach from shore. Did the bolders wash down or were they being moved by heavy equipment?
World of Maps in Mesa sells a pretty good map of the lake by the "Fish n Map Co." It has some UW tropo info valid when the lake surface elevation is 1702'. According to the Waddell Dam Operation's web site the current elevation is 1692'. Anyway, this could be used as a template to locate the more interesting bottom features.
As of right now its in a 11 x 17 photoshop format - I've been adding "multiple" maps together based on old topo maps. With these I have layers and levels done to depths deeper than I think any of us would ever want to go in the lake. One of my thoughts once its "done" is to posibly transfer the map into 10 ft segemnts - so it can be an adjustable map of the lakes underwater terrain.
One thing that is interesting was the overlay of the 1902 survey of the area - which was the survey for the construction of the original dam. Its also pretty amazing that a hand drawn map from then matched up quite well to modern map. I've been doing a bit of historical work here and there to get as much info as I can, which helps. Another area that looks like an interesting dive site would be the original spillway just to the west of the "Old Dam."
I have an earlier "version" of the map prior to the most recent updates I have done -
Hey steve, Frank. FYI I have a 22 foot boat. When we figure out the location of these places I'll be glad to take you. It aways helps to ease the gas cost with a few people.
Scorpion Bay was a bust today. They still don't have electricity and they are still building boat slips. The staging area for the construction is the very same area the manager said in his email that we could use for diving. The contractor says no. The manager hadn't mentioned to them that we were coming so it was pretty much a cluster you-know-what. They're no whaere near opening up.
I'm a data hound, so I will start if no one else has. I'm sitting here reading through the old posts and learning some bits and coming up with new questions that I'm sure I'll find the answer to eventually.
It's not a good day if you don't get wet. 
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