Scorpion Bay & Dirty Shirt closing next week!

[shark.byte.usa]

easy accessability, good bottom and a variety of depth options

Well that's the million dollar question right now...As for the dive park, as was said in the other thread unless there is a good chance of us getting to sink "something", I don't think it's worth the trouble. I think if a place gets roped off from boats and pwc, it's just going to be infested with swimmers, little kids and OW classes, think Desert Tortoise on a Summer weekend x 10 :11: A "Dive Park" sounds nice I just don't see a whole lot of upside.

 

[titandiver]

I have seen a few free boats on craigslist that we can sink and I have the ability to get one to the lake with my truck and trailer what stopping us from doing that? Given that the boat or boats should be properly striped of everything that can pollute the lake and they are open bow type of boats to prevent someone being trapped inside I don’t think any one can say that we can’t sink a boat so we can dive it. What do you guys think?

 

[Darin]

Great idea. However, I'm sure *someone* will have a problem sinking something at the lake, county, water district, etc. But, there has to be a way of doing it with everyones support, I just don't know where to start.

For instance, what exactly is "clean"? I understand no gas or oils or lead-based paint, but I'm sure there is other things to be considered.

Then, where and what depth will it be at? Remember that the lake has huge seasonal changes and can change up to as much a 60 or 70 feet, IIRC. What we put in the lake during the summer during the lowest water point, would be undiveable in the winter when the diving is best, or at least outside of rec. limits.

We can keep talking about this, I'm sure we can get something going.

Darin

 

[Dive-aholic]

I checked my map and drove around the lake yesterday. Unfortunately, there's not much on the lake that's accessible by road and offers a variety of depths with a bit of a surface swim. Scorpion Bay is truly unique for Lake Pleasant. There are some areas we're going to dive over the next couple of months, but I don't think they're going to result in much.

As for sinking something there, you might want to contact Great Divin' in Boulder City, NV. They have a boat out back that they've been prepping to sink in Lake Mead. Jay Gundy, the shop manager, should be able to give you information on what it takes to sink a boat. Lake Mead is NPS, so I'm guessing it's a lot more difficult to sink something there than it would be at Lake Pleasant. And Lake Mead already has a lot of artifical wrecks.

 

[namabiru]

When we went up last October, you showed me one or two other places near Scorpion Bay... one was up that really bumpy road, and the other was just around the bend from SB--how are those places?

Perhaps we should take Tom Sawyer's cue, and build ourselves a raft so we can go diving...

Because I've looked at a couple of maps too, and didn't see much to impress.

It'd be really ironic if the marine builders' cars ended up as our new dive wrecks... honestly, officer, I don't know how 6 cars 'suddenly' went in the lake. Damnedest thing, ain't it?

 

[Dive-aholic]

The bumpy road area was Two Cow. The SB area was Dirty Shirt, which will be closed.

 

[AZTEK DIVER]

I hope you know you're all wrong about this closing, Basil AZ assures us it won't happen.

 

[titandiver]

I hade a friend take me out on his boat yesterday I did not plan on diving but I grabbed my wet suit mask and fins just in case. We drove around for a while and we pulled up and anchored in Pipeline cove I got in the water and did some free diving for while and it was just awesome there was 30 to 40 ft viz and really cool bottom structure. The side of the hill is similar to what scorpion bay looks like just a bit steeper and then there is a drop off at around 30 or 40 ft im just guessing on that depth I did not have my computer with me. I was able to get to the edge of that and it seemed like there was a thermo cline there and it went a ways down im assuming vertical drop off I could not see much past the edge im going to get my tanks next time I go there and maybe do some more exploring. From the looks of it I really like what I see so far on that spot and I have a feeling that it will be way better than scorpion bay. The only problem is you most likely will need a boat to get to it. I also looked up some maps and they show a road with a floating bridge that crosses the back of Pipeline cove and it looks like it might be accessible by car but I know that just because it looks possible from the map is not necessarily true so until someone explores it we won’t know I personally don’t think I will have time to do any diving or exploring for the next few weeks but you never know. Also here is a link to the lake pleasant map so you guys can get an idea where it is http://www.maricopa.gov/parks/lake_pleasant/pdf/2006%20maps/plesant-11x17-3d.pdf its just north of Dirty Shirt

 

[GreenDiverDown]

I hope you know you're all wrong about this closing, Basil AZ assures us it won't happen.

Basil who?

 

[DESERT EEL]

I think the map showed a hiking trail to pipeline cove. Looks like about 1/4 mile from peninsula turn off.