Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Di.
Being a former open water diver, I am curious as to the typical visibilty you experience during a summer dive.
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The viz question is much like "How much is a cab ride?"... It depends.
It depends where you are in the Lake. It depends what season you're diving. It depends how deep. It depends on the weather in the weeks/months before the dive.
When the water warms and the algae blooms intensify in late summer, viz typically declines. If you dive deeper than, say, 60-70 feet, it gets dark very quickly. Some of the shallower parts of the Lake have worse viz than the same depths in deeper areas. I've seen visibility ranging from 20 feet or more down to just a few feet. With 72 square miles of lake and so much variation in depth, shoreline, boat traffic, bottom composition (silt vs. clay vs. glacial till vs. bedrock) and temperature, there are lots of influencing factors.
While carrying freshly-filled tanks across Main Street in Wolfeboro, I've heard lots of folks make comments about diving in Winnipesaukee. "Why on earth would you dive in the Lake?" "What's down there?" "Must be a really boring place to dive!" "What's the point?"
These people simply don't get it. If you like wrecks, there are plenty. As mentioned above, there's ample treasure. Geological wonders abound. Loads of fish. Holes, walls, rocks (just a few), and as much depth as you want. Viz can be much like northeast ocean diving -- from zero to 20. In short, it has everything a diver looks for. Check out the divewinnipesaukee.com site for a representative list of dive sites.
Ah - just two weeks until I finally get back beneath the surface of the Lake...can't wait.