I'm probably gonna be working in the Wisconson Dells area for part of the summer and plan on sneaking the gear with me. I did a search for wisconson Dells and devils lake came up with three little devils dive shop. Is this worth diving or are there any other suggestions?
only an hour and a half from either Wazee or Milwaukee....Not a bad place to be. I am sure there is diving in the area as well...there are others on this forum that will know a ton more than i.......but..Three Little Devils used to be an extremely busy shop......I have to guess...Yes there is diving there.
GL
Devil's lake is going through a huge clean-up process. My dive buddy's boss, who is a proffesor of limnology, is running hte largest lake resoration project in the country onthis lake.
THe lake has been know to have swimmer's itch and really lousy vis in the summer months due to contaminates in the lake from the years of abuse it took as a resort haven. HTey used to have at least 6 major resorts, steam ships, and cottages onhtis lake, all dumping their sewage into it. They took outthe last resort over 40 years ago, but the lake still has way too much phosphorus in it. THis is what causes the algae blooms and swimmers itch.
Along comes the prof with this idea to put a huge pipe in the lake and drain off the toxic bottom water in the middle of the sumer, once the lake stratifies. LAst summer the vis jumped up to 25' and it "should" get back to it's original 50' by time the project is doen. If it works here it will be replicated around the world.
THe lake itself has some nice rocks in it, and the surrounding bluffs make it rock climbing central for the state. THe max depth is only 45' and there is no longer any spearfishing allowed there- which stinks becasue it was an awesome lake for that!
There are other lakes close by that you can try when you get bored with Devil's- Red Granite quarry, Wazee, Mendota, Pearl lake- in Washura county.
HEre's a shot of Devil's
Jon
Here's a shot I took for the university of the pipe intake holes- they were concerned how much clearence they had above the silt. Depth here is 45'.
Jon
Here's a shot of the West bluff.
Devil's Lake state park is the busiest park in the state- over a million visitors a year.
Jon
Man Jon, you need to get ahold of photoshop. Looks like you're diving in antifreeze...LOL!
I could always touch them up, but I don't want to misrepresent what the water really looks like.
The water really is green around here, but not always on Lake Michigan as you already know. If I started posting pretty blue pictures people might sue for false advertising.
LOL..."Diver sues dive photographer over false water clarity representation"
Seriously though, does the water really look like that to your eyes though? I've taken some pictures in Perch Lake at around 40 feet that looked pretty green like yours. Wait a minute...maybe not quite that green I guess
Anyway, it seemed to me that the camera was more affected by the lack of light at depth than my eyes were because I didn't remember it looking as green as my photos turned out. Of course it didn't look as good as my photoshop corrected photos either on the other hand. :
It actually seemed pretty clear, but the Daphnia were swimming around all over the place eating up the algae. They gave it a green snowflake effect.
What I have noticed about digital "video" cameras is how much light they can pick up in low light conditions. I have been on dives that were crap, and then watched someone's video up on the boat afterwards and was amazed by how clear everything seemed. I know for sure it wasn't that clear on the bottom, but the vidoe cameras, and not always the still cameras, could still gather enough light to work pretty well.
Jon
Is 3 little devils the nearest shop to the Dells or is there anything in town that you know of? I could make a fortune hiding out in some of those mini golf water hazards ;D I don't know that neck of the woods very well. Thanks.