PLEASANT LAKE

[dfreeman]

I have checked several lakes that I know that have great visibility against the LakeSAT map and found it to have great agreement. A dark blue lake is a great visibility lake.

Great map and a great resource. From what I can tell your only concern is algea bloom and rain. Have not found a purple lake but hope that I do.

Doug

[FreediveWI]

I was told that the university did their survey in mid-July, at the peak of the alge blooms, to get the most accurate data.

Once you find a lake, go to map quest and start playing with their photo section. This is a picture of Florence Lake in Oconomowoc. I saw on Lakesat.org that it was a clear lake, just like I remember it being 25 years ago, and then I went to mapquest to check it out. I drove by it a couple weeks ago and she seems to be totally private. :'(

So, I went back to the website and found some other lakes to dive instead. Pleasant lake was one of them

Jon

[MikeS]

Jon,

Do you know any of the 5 purple lakes? Can you recommend one? I'd really like to see a lake that comes close to ocean vis.

Mike

[FreediveWI]

They are all in the way northern part of the state. One of them is called Pine Lake, but there are probably a hundred Pine lakes in this state.

I just would look at teh LakeSat.org website and start zooming in on the northern part of the state. They start to stick out as you get closer. The lakes are small and somewhat difficult to get on, but worth the effort from what I have been told.

lake Michigan keeps getting better and better every year. I have seen school of aielwives (sp?) out there that rival any schools of fish that I have ever seen in the ocean. When the salmon come in to feed on them you'd swear you were watching tarpon feast on silversides down in the islands. 8) Some schools of these things are close to 40' tall and longer than I can see.



Jon

[jasondbaker]

I want to setup lake michigan dive trip for a couple of my dive buddies this summer. Anyone want to serve as a tour guide? I would love to see those schools of fish.

[Swimjim]

The Alwives tend to school up and come close to shore when the water warms up from about mid july to august. Of course you have to be there the right day to catch a school.
I took my boat down to Harrington Beach state park in Belgium and dove the pier crib last summer just to do it. I live close to this area and dive the crib to test gear or practice stuff or just to get wet. Anyway, on that particular day I anchored right off the end of the crib and a huge alwive school came in. All fish were about six to eight inches, adults. There were millions of them. I just sat under the school for about forty five minutes. They would come towards me when I inhaled and go away when I exhaled. I wish I had my nikonos along.
I was hoping to see a big Chinook or a coho working the school, but I wasn't that lucky.
Harringtons point can be done as a shore dive. Its a bit of a hike from the parking lot though. If you have a small boat and a four wheel drive you can launch from Hwy D which is the northern border of the park. Just look south and you will see the point about 1/3 of a mile away.
By the way, the wreck of the Niagara also lies off the point and is bouyed during the diving season. It pretty easy to find with a hand held GPS. This wreck lies in about 50 fow and is the remains of a paddle wheel steamer that burned to the water line and sank in 1856. The engine and lower hull are still there and there is usually a line you can follow to the boilers about three hundred feet off the main wreck.

Dive safe

Jim