Did some wreck diving on Minnetonka today with Terry, Doug. First one we did was the Hopkins with a vis 10-15. Silted up quickly. Second was the Side Wheel Steamer with a vis of 5-10, and very dark. This wreck is very interesting, and worth multiple dives to see it all.
All in All it was a great day out diving, but wish that all boaters are required by law to pass a test after "READING" the boating laws. Some sail boats got a little too close.
Thanks to another boat in the area, helped keep any other sail boats away from us while we were diving. THANK YOU whoever you were.
I'm glad you were able to see something! I wasn't sure how bad the lake would of gotten with the rain. (I hope to make it next time)
That sounds like it could be a good song. "Almost got run over by a sailboat, diving in Lake Minnetonka one day" ..... ;D
Yeah, sing it to the tune of "Grandma got run over by a reindeer!"
Thanks for the great diving guys, and hats off to Terry for putting us right on top of them. He's a better captan than the skipper on the USS Minnow ;D
I have been hitting Minnetonka alot this spring because of how good the vis has been. The thermocline doesn't start until 30' in some of the bays. Overall, the lake is sand and rock bottem which I can only guess is due to all the movement on the lake and that the homeowners have lawn crews that catch leaves before they hit the ground. I don't know of another lake in the metro that has so little silt. Grays Bay was about 4' yesterday, Wayzata Bay was over 10' today. Boats were getting way too close today. It amazes me that a person can be smart enough to afford a $100,000 boat, but still be too dumb to read a boaters manual. ???
Hmm.....Like the blind men and the elephant, Minnetonka must be different to different divers in different areas. I was diving there two years ago and all I could see was one foot in front of my dive light and about two feet of silt below me. Where the boat dropped anchor was a complete silt cloud....
It all depends on when and where you go. I have been told that the futher west on Minnetonka you go, the worse the vis is. The further east/northeast you go, the better the vis gets.
We were in the middle of the big part of the lake on the first dive, and south of the big island on the second dive. The vis was better on the bigger part of the lake even though it was rougher than south of the island.
Better then the skipper of the USS Minnow! You guys do make me smile. It was Roberts GPS that put us on them and the Sudden Impulse that kept us, well, not really dry, but at least on the surface. When we got anchored above the sidewheeler and I said to Robert, "I think were holding our spot", (with 200' of line out) turned out to be about as true as when Ernest M. McSorley, said, "were holding our own" when asked how he was doing as Captain of the Edmund Fitzgerald, 15 minuets before they all slipped benieth the waves. Lucky we only had to rehook once! It was pretty choppy Sun on Tonka, I remember learning that lesson 25 years ago in JPCRSP in Key Largo and the boat captain looked at the American flag crisply snapping away as we all set up our gear, and said, "lesson learned here Terry, is that when the flag is straight out, don't go boating" He was right! We came up 20 min. later to everyone already on board ralphing their guts out as we tried to climb the ladder. Not only did the dive suck, just trying to get back on board sucked!
It was cool to finally see a couple of the wrecks in Tonka, especially the Hopkins. After the 4th will need to get back out there and find the others. Robert I think we'll need to bring both boats next time to have a larger profile of flags above the water, least your flag anyway. Bring with Matt, Christi, Doug, Peg, me and you but I'd like to invite the DQ Lisa and the scubadog, (if he leaves that cowbell home), just to hear the debate about water quality and the consistancy of the bottom in Tonka, because there's times I've agreed with them both! Thanks again, R and D good diving with you! Terry
Terry, next time out we will have to use both GPS's and compare the readings and accuracy..
Agree 100% about having both boats, and more flags. Could work the opposite too though, it might attract more on lookers, wondering what happened, or who are they looking for, etc.
Some people's kids just fell too hard from the tree!!