WORST LAKE TO DIVE IN MN

[DetectorGuy]

Here is my opinion of the worst lakes to dive in MN:
1. Green Lake in Chisago County by Linwood. We did a thin ice rescue training with Linwood Fire Dept there. We dropped a 200 LBS dummy through the ice in 26' deep water and it burried it self in bottomless silt like a lawn dart. I couldnt find it on my first attempt and found it on the second attempt under about 4' of loose silt.

2. Devils Lake near Mora in Kanebec County. We searched for a guy that drown there in 12' of water. The silt was about 3' thick and very black at 12'. Viz wasn't helped by Kanebec County dragging the night before we got there. After this dive I brought my regs in to get serviced and they told me that I had wood inside the regulator from me burrowing through the silt.

3. Knife lake by Mora in Kanebec County. We dove here during that "Anchor Challenge" right over the old dam, as we heard the bottom was so tangled up with rebar, that the anchors should be snagged all over the thing. The rebar was a tangled up mess and the chance for an accident there was high, so we each tried it and called the dive earlier than normal. The vis is zero in the summer and about 2' in the winter.

4. Purgatory. The location is undisclosed, as this site IS going to kill somebody someday. A 130' deep private Granite Quarry about a half mile into the boondocks. At 50' deep there was a 10' layer of hydrogen sulfide that all the trees that ever fell into the pit were hovering in. This was like a spider web until we started diving below it and our bubbles percolated through it and dispersed this layer. After about 12 different days of diving through this hydrogen sulfide layer of trees, the water blended, and the trees dropped to the bottom and sat on all the other entanglements already on the bottom. The visibility above and below the layer of hydrogen sulfide got worse after this 'percolation'. There is also at least one overhead environment in this quarry that is a potential (probable) widowmaker... Bad, bad place to dive!

5. Un-named granite quarry pit near Purgatory. We did one ice dive here prior to the Purgatory dives based on local folklore that there was some really cool stuff on the bottom. After cutting the hole, the parasite larvae came to life. These little critters were about a half inch long and disgusting to look at, not to mention swim with. The pit ended up being only 26' deep with lawn mowers, washing machines, bikes and the like. We crossed that one off the list and later found out we were one pit away from the one with the stuff in it (Purgatory).