Diving
June LakeDiving is a fantastic sport. It allows us to exercise, see wondrous vistas, and it adds spice to work-a-day worlds. However, when heavy surf turns the normal Southern California beach dive into a pounding experience it is time to seek alternatives.
Of course you can go to the nearest pool, but this gets old quick. You can practice skills only so long before you wonder why you even got wet. I myself like freshwater diving when I can't make it to the beach or boat. That's why I love June Lake.
Nestled in the Sierras, about half an hour out of Bishop, California, is a small lake fed by glacial springs. It is alive with life and can provide lots of fun to the diver who was washed off the beach. If you have the time, you can even salvage relics of land lubbers who have dropped anchors, bottles, and fishing poles into the lake.
We arrived at the Oh! Ridge campground (for reservations call 800-280-CAMP) on Friday night and stayed until Monday morning. The facilities were great. There is a general store that provides things the camper may have forgotten to pack. I bought a map of the lake there. There are showers. Not that big a deal for me, but my wife really appreciated them. The Camp Host was amiable and excited about us being there. We hiked, fished, and of course, went diving.
Parked along the peaceful banks of this natural beauty, we scanned the area for the perfect entrance site. We found an area just below the campground, near a boat launch ramp. The parking was good and there was a path through the reeds that made it easy to enter. The temperature was 80 degrees on the shore. Meanwhile, it was 64 degrees at the surface and 60 degrees at 39 feet below the surface.
We swam on the surface to what we thought would be about 45 feet. When we dropped below, we were in 39 feet of water. The comparable sea level depth was 62 feet using a NAUI high altitude table (June Lake is at 7,600 foot elevation). Remember that the pressure difference at altitude causes nitrogen to off-gas at a higher rate. Also keep in mind that if you dive on the first day, you arrive at altitude; NAUI recommends you treat the dive as a multiple dive. You should consider yourself at Level G for nitrogen loading purposes. Finally, make sure you activate your computer where you plan to dive. Then it will compensate for altitude if it is so designed. Make sure you read the manual and understand your computers high altitude functions.
The area of the lake has several benches where we dived. From 39 feet, we swam towards our entry point. There was not much to see at this point even though the visibility was about 10-15 feet. Upon our encounter with the bottom, one of us kicked up silt and destroyed visibility. We swam out of that cloud and eventually met a 20-foot ledge loaded with crawdads. We snatched up about 25 and then followed the bench. Then we swam slowly up the bench to 15 feet. We did a safety stop while swimming along the bench. Finally we moved up the slope and found our entry point.
Subsequent dives found us salvaging four anchors, finding bottles, and exploring the shoreline, taking pictures. Our last entry was a night snorkel. We set up welcome home lights and used the big dipper to mark our entry point. That night the wind was pretty bad and we were pushed around a bit and it was a bit cold, but was a fun time. We even saw a few trout scouting us out. I guess the lights made them curious.
We all would like to dive in warm equatorial waters, but we also love our California dives. We all love boat dives, but can't always get together the cash or time. Thus we brave rocks, surf, and sand on beach dives. However, when the waves wash you out and you want to practice for lobster season, June Lake can't be beat for a fun dive.
Editor's Note: June Lake is a VERY active fishing lake. Beware of fishing line and carry a sharp knife and/or snippers. Also beware of boat traffic. A flag and float is recommended.
