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My buddy and I drove up to Red Granite this weekend to get what look to be the last couple local dives of the year in.  Weather was WONDERFUL - better than July around here! 

We geared up and walked in the south side of the quarry.  Water was 42F and vis was quite bad maybe 15-20 near the surface and 5' the deeper we went.  Lots of particulate in the water.  Our max depth was mid 50's, vis got worse the deeper we went.  Didn't see anything living on this end, did see a bunch of cans, the highlight was probably a golf ball.  We followed the shoreline pretty much and got over 40 minutes in.  My buddy thought she lost me a couple times - I was less than 10' away.

Went to Kwik Trip for our SI, bladder relief and picked up some snacks.

Headed back for the north side - someone was shooting some type of film or something on the point where people generally dive off; old car, girl in a poodle skirt, a couple guys.  No idea what that was all about.  We hopped in, found the two boats, saw a couple fish, max depth around 40, better vis here (15-20), most likely because we stayed shallower, hung around 25' or so. 

Overall, I'll stick with Little Cedar or Big Cedar (I live near Little Cedar) - there is better vis and more stuff to see as long as you stay along the shoreline under the raft area.  To me Red Granite wasn't worth the trip.

Pick up the Red Granite conditions.  May 1, 2011.  Visibility was a consistent 10-15 feet, not great but not bad.  Little better at depth.  Plenty of ambient light to see the third boat at 81 feet and I mean 81 feet, there is a good 2 feet more water in the quarry than normal.  Visibility goes to 1-2 feet below 85 feet, especially in the trench.  I do not see any ill effects from the work above the water.  Visibility was just as good as Lake Wazee the week before.

Even 43 deg F.  Which is not bad when the above water temperature is 45 deg F with a +20 wind.

Had a nice dive.  Can really tell that Dive Realm cleaned the place up.  I wonder when summer will come?

Doug

Stopped by last friday and saw a couple of trout and a sucker by the pickle factory, so the gills should be comming up soon.  Could see something white in the bottom so there was at least 15' viz.

Still waiting for the bronchitus to clear up.   Maybe next week.

Did Red Granite Sunday.  Visibility was 10-15 at best above 30 feet and got better deeper.  No good below 80 feet.  Good dive anyway.  They just put a batch of trout in the lake so look for them.

Doug

Have to get out there with the fish food! >

We hit RG today for some scootering and skills practice.  Visibility was actually pretty decent with it being about 20 feet or so.  A nice surprise.

Below 40 ft vis was good. Better than I've seen there in quite a while. While Eric and Todd scootered around the quarry I took "the other Matt" and went to my favorite spot to look for stuff the local swimmers drop jumping from the rocks. I found 5 pairs of  cheap sunglasses, a bracelet, 1 earring, $30, numerous pieces of clothing, and a bunch of popped rafts and tubes. It was a good haul for so early in the year. I will definitely go back in a couple months to look for more goodies, and hope that the good visibility is here to stay and a sign of change for the good!

Nice haul!  Did you go to Curve In Cafe?

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We did hit the Curve In Cafe. Good post-dive nutrition. Todd also allowed me to have my first scooter ride.............and all I could think was "I definately gotta get me one of these."

Matt

Thanks, Todd.