Christmas Lake info anyone?

[Littlelats]

Hi All,

My name's Mike Berger and I'm a new poster to this forum (figured I should introduce myself). Moved up to Waconia, MN from Key West, FL a few years ago. I've been asked to go and dive Christmas Lake this coming weekend. Can anyone give me any information on the lake? I read the past posts, and it appears that there's only one access point? Anything I should look for in particular? And what can I expect as far as conditions go?

Thanks in advance,
Mike Berger

[Mark Y]

Hello Mike,

I've emailed you a map of Christmas Lake (PDF format). From what I understand, there is only one access point (boat landing) unless you know someone on the lake.

I've only done ice dives there. Saw the remains of a small boat, a fish, lots of ice . . . vis was maybe 40'??? I checked my log book, but that was back in 1999 . . .

For future lake information, has a Lake Locator function (need lake name & county).

Have fun! Report back!

[MNLakeDiver]

I did open water there the most inportant thing is stay off the bottom ! it silts out very fast and is a black silt :o
other then that it was a good dive but not alot to see

[jasondbaker]

Mike welcome to the forum! Christmas lake has one dive access by the public boat ramp. Watch out for boaters! You may have to get there early in the morning because parking is limited.

Christmas Lake has decent vis in the winter and early spring. I can't imagine the vis is more than 5ft right now. I think the water problem is due to the fertilizers used by surrounding homeowners. Like Jim said, the bottom is muck.

In any case bring a compass. You can always use the dive to practice those compass skills.

An alternate dive location on the west side is Little Long Lake. It is about 20 minutes north of Christmas.

[LKunze]

I dove Christmas Lake twice two years ago and I probably won't return there. The first time was in early May and the viz was 8 feet and nothing to see but black mud. The second time I dove it was in July with absolute zero viz. Jason and I ended up making a little black water compass navigation dive out of it. There is very limited parking at the public boat access and you have to swim a fair distance out to get out of the shallows which are thick with weeds. Sounds like it's decent for an ice dive though.

[scubadog76]

I have not been there this year, but dove it a few times last year. The boat landing fills up very quickly as there is only 6 spots. In the culdasack next to the landing where the 5 or houses, the signs say no trailor parking(at least the did last year) We parked there and walked down the hill and had no problem with tickets or towing as we had no trailor. Hope that is helpful.

Also, a buddy and I found a double oven that someone probably tossed off a pontoon instead of recycling it. If you come across it, you may want to double check that they didn't leave it on.

[Littlelats]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. It's much appreciated. I'm about to start a new thread asking for advice on Little Long Lake as well. Seems like it might be a better choice?

Mike