Blue Hole Sept. 15th~16th

[RonFrank]

A group of us will be at the Blue Hole in Santa Rosa, NM on Sept 15th~16th. Rick, Tom, and I will be there just for fun, and are planning on a night dive on the 14th, and then whatever is to follow.

A1 will have some classes on the 15th~16th, not sure how many divers or what they are doing. The NM crowd will show up on Sunday morning, and I have some good friends in that bunch. They are DIR types, but great divers, and peeps.

If anyone wants to join us, we will most likely be staging at the covered picnic tables across the parking lot. If you are there, don't be shy!

[Kidder]

Not that I can go or anything (I live in Missouri), But how deep is it? What do guys expect to see?

[georoc01]

Originally Posted by Kidder

Not that I can go or anything (I live in Missouri), But how deep is it? What do guys expect to see?

80 feet..crawfish, goldfish, and about 2 pirhanna. Some golf balls, clown statues and whatever else people have put down there.

I am going down to get my Dry Suit and Deep specialties completed. Its a big open water checkout place for Colorado divers.

[Charles R]

is it worth the drive up from Alb. ? My parents live there and I visit 1 a year and always looking for interesting places to get dry I meant wet no i didn't see all this dry suit stuff is messing with my head!

[Kidder]

Pirhannas and clown statues eh? Thats a little unusual, but then again you can see some weird stuff under the water. Just one more reason why I love it.

[georoc01]

Originally Posted by Charles R

is it worth the drive up from Alb. ? My parents live there and I visit 1 a year and always looking for interesting places to get dry I meant wet no i didn't see all this dry suit stuff is messing with my head!

If you are looking for a good group of people to hang out with and get a couple of dives in? Sure its a good trip.

If you are looking for some really good diving? It is a cold springs full of Open Water students. A little further down the road is perch lake, which I haven't dove yet, but is supposedly a decent dive in the springtime.

[RonFrank]

How do describe BH? Hmm... BH, in Santa Rosa NM is unique. It's a volcanic vent, 85 feet deep, and is a natural springs. So one appeal for us cold climate divers is that it remains at 64F year around. At that depth, and altitude, it's a serious training ground for Rec divers.

This is significant, what it means for us is that while most bodies of water are either frozen, or close to frozen, this place has an outflow that keeps it at a constant temp.

If you want to see some photo's, see my pbase gallary.

The bottom line is that it provides a place us to go year around where the water temp, while never warm, is never cold. My thought is that the more I dive this spot, the more I enjoy it. The vis is RARELY less than 30 feet, and often it's closer to 80F, so that also makes it unusual for land locked diving. There is not a LOT of life, but 2 foot gold fish are common, along with a TON of Dads. We adorn the ledges with interesting stuff for other divers enjoyment.

This is just one part of a HUGE cavern system, and a few folks died prior to them closing off the vents to the deeper caves. There are gravestones at the bottom, but hard to say how serious they are other than to say that people have died here.

This is NOT a replacement for tropical diving, or Wreck diving in the great lake area for example. However, I find that serious divers from our area, and those that love to dive are frequently at the Blue Hole. And there are some SERIOUS divers here, and nearby Rock Lake at close to 300' is a haven for tech divers, and rebreather divers. Robyn Basher teaches at both sites, and can be seen in his silent stelth rebreather on a regular basis, and how cool is that!

[RonFrank]

I just spoke with Stella, and she will be at the BH this weekend for air fills, tank rental, or gear rental.

She usually arrives around 8:00am Santa Rosa time, which means somewhere between 8:00am~9:00am but if you MUST have a tank before 9:30am, I'd bring one!

She also said she would be willing to try and meet us there Friday night around 7:00pm. At $5 for a tank rental I would rather burn her air vs. mine as I'm do for a Vis!

[fire diver]

Yep, Ron described the Hole perfectly.

It's not a dive you want to do every week. That would get pretty boring. But if you only go there a few times a year, it's great! I LOVE the vis. When you get in before the OW students, and can see the surface from 80 feet down, it's pretty nice. PLus looking for all the junk lost/thrown in by the landlovers. Lots of forks, hotel key-cards, toys during the summer months.

Perch is really nice in fall-spring. Summer time gets the algea blooming and the vis disapears. Only about 30-40 ft deep, but it's got an airplane, a car, and some other stuff to explore.

FD

[georoc01]

Originally Posted by RonFrank

I just spoke with Stella, and she will be at the BH this weekend for air fills, tank rental, or gear rental.

She usually arrives around 8:00am Santa Rosa time, which means somewhere between 8:00am~9:00am but if you MUST have a tank before 9:30am, I'd bring one!

She also said she would be willing to try and meet us there Friday night around 7:00pm. At $5 for a tank rental I would rather burn her air vs. mine as I'm do for a Vis!

I have been requested by Pipefish to wait until my dives tomorrow to get in the water in my dry suit. So I am going to skip the dive tonight. See you this weekend!