Blue Hole Sept 14-16

[Tjack]

Great trip to the Blue hole, 5 dives in just over 24 hrs. Nice. Good times diving with RonFrank and Waterskier. Thanks to Stella for keeping the tanks a coming.

 

[BigBubbaJ]

I fell off the dock at Perch when putting on my BC. I was seated, with the BP/W behind me on the dock ready to go. I went to put my arm in, got off balance, and slipped off the dock! Now I have a 2`+ tall dock in front of me with my BC nicely positioned for me to slip it on assuming I was up there! :11doh:

So was perch pretty nice diving? Lots of fish?
I think I might like to make it down to santa rosa again pretty soon.

My next planned trip isn't until Thanksgiving, when I will be in Kona for a week. Im drooling over that one.

Sad to say I have reached PADI rescue diver all diving in fresh water. There is something cool and wrong about that. hehe.

 

[Waterskier1]

I had a great time! Thanks to Ron and TJack for the dives, and I really enjoyed meeting Kevin, James, Jason and all the ABQ and TX divers on Sunday. This was the first time I've dove the "hole" since I got certified, and at that time, I concentrated on passing the tests so I didn't get to sight see much. Perch Lake was also interesting. A really pronounced thermocline about 44-ffw, just above about 8" of mud. But vis wasn't any worse than Aurora Res, and lots better than Chatfield.

 

[Tjack]

So was perch pretty nice diving? Lots of fish?
I think I might like to make it down to santa rosa again pretty soon.

Hey Bubba, Perch Lake had Crappie, Bluegill and some decent sized Largemouth Bass, but no Perch found, go figure.

 

[Capnsnott]

Hey Ron,
what was the hole like now that it is "fixed"?
My brother Brian will be down there with a friend this weekend 28-30th. We were told that they goofed it up worse than before. BUT, I don't believe the source.
How much slime/algie is in Perch?

Any pictures of the bottom?????

Yeah, I know, I've been busy playing on dry land...... One of these days I'll get back in the water with you guys.

 

[RonFrank]

Hey Ron,
what was the hole like now that it is "fixed"?
My brother Brian will be down there with a friend this weekend 28-30th. We were told that they goofed it up worse than before. BUT, I don't believe the source.
How much slime/algie is in Perch?

Any pictures of the bottom?????

Yeah, I know, I've been busy playing on dry land...... One of these days I'll get back in the water with you guys.

They dredged the Hole both last summer, and this summer in July. I would not say they screwed it up. They cleaned up a lot of rock and stuff behind the grate. They removed a lot of the rock in the slide area. They have moved rock off the bottom, and opened up some additional vents. I think the outflow has increased, and the efforts to date may have helped a bit. There is a goodly layer of cobweb silt on a lot of the walls. I think there are less fish, and they killed off a lot of dads.

Diving there remains much as it has been prior to dredging. I'm more concerned at this point with what they will do moving forward. Their plans include moving the parking away from the water, and forcing people to go through a welcome center type thing with their gear. IMO THAT would suck.

Santa Rosa however seems to have problems getting just about anything that is not Federally backed and funded going. Stella says that they MUST start construction (I think by Oct) or they loose some Federal funding. She did say however that they are making arrangements to keep her compressor up and running during the construction period.

All we can do is sit back, wait, and see what they do. For now the diving and facilities are as they have been which IMO may not be a bad thing.

Perch WOULD have had surprisingly good vis had there not been a lot of students kicking the crap out the bottom. We had maybe 10+ foot vis on the plane, and the algae is not too bad. I'd check it out for a dive especially if you can hit it early.

When we where there we went first thing Sat morning, but there was a funeral in town, and I think whom ever was suppose to open it was MIA. When we got there the gate was locked, so we headed back to the Hole. That was a mistake as they opened the gate a few minutes later, and by the time we got back there (mid afternoon) the damage was done!

 

[Capnsnott]

Brian just got back from the dives.
He was pleased with the hole conditions as well, but noted all the silt. He said it looked like someone has been "excavating" an area trying to get an opening to the lower levels. He said Perch was 15' vis below 45' and 30' above the thermocline.
He didn't get to do a nite dive, so wasn't able to check the floor's subsidence. I need to go down and see it...... Last time I was there, the floor of the hole has sunken about 4". You could see back into several other chambers then. Brian also said the rocks in the main grate has fallen away again, so you can actually see down into it again. Did you notice this?
I would love to get in there and see what it looks like now that that lower roof collapsed. Diving down into a lava chamber would be wicked cool...... Can you say trimix.........

 

[ABQdiver]

Last time I was there, the floor of the hole has sunken about 4". You could see back into several other chambers then. Brian also said the rocks in the main grate has fallen away again, so you can actually see down into it again. Did you notice this?
I would love to get in there and see what it looks like now that that lower roof collapsed. Diving down into a lava chamber would be wicked cool...... Can you say trimix.........

I've noticed that as well! There are a couple more active vents now as well in the middle of the floor (over by the old slide area) that I don't remember seeing before. Be interesting thing to see what subsequent cleaning episodes will reveal.

 

[RonFrank]

I've noticed that as well! There are a couple more active vents now as well in the middle of the floor (over by the old slide area) that I don't remember seeing before. Be interesting thing to see what subsequent cleaning episodes will reveal.

My fear is it will reveal the fragile nature of the bottom, and a new bottom at 300'+ While some would welcome this, it would ruin it as an OW checkout spot. No instructor wants to face the potential of going after a fast descending student with no practical bottom! :11doh: