Has anyone even been diving in Cheat Lake near Morgantown, WV?
Where is the best place to go?
Temps?
Viz?
I have made two attempts at Cheat Lake. Once off of someones boat dock, zero vis and pretty stiff current for a lake. That dive lasted 6 minutes at 15 feet.
Second attempt was off the rocks by the old iron bridge, under I 68 bridge. I could see my hand in front of my face that time, still pretty stiff current, but could only get 10-12 feet.
Temps are the same as the other normal lakes around here, 70s at surface.
Cheat Lake has high boat traffic and is pretty shallow in most areas, very limited shore access. I think there is an ordinance against shore entry swimming.
One place I would like to try sometime is by the old stone bridge, now demolished, but it is hard to get too, very limited parking and you would need a rope to get in and out of the water, very steep bank.
A boat would be the best way to try Cheat. It is a bummer for me, as I only live about 10 minutes away, and cross the lake on my way to Mount Storm all the time.
We have dove in the Cheat River at Point Marion, below the dam. Again, steep access, shallow water and low vis.
There are two holes in the Upper Cheat, one called Blue Hole, and the other Bull Run, both have very good vis but again are shallow and hard to get to. Both are popular swimming holes and lots of goodies can be found at the bottom. Worth doing for the BTDT (been there done that) feature.