Christmas Lake

[Chris]

The DNR sent me this recommendation:<br><br>Christmas Lake<br>Hennepin County<br>Nearest town Chanhassen<br>Clearity reading of 25 feet

[MNLakeDiver]

ok to dive if you don't mind a walk to the water. also I dove it in the fall and the viz was about 5 feet with a silt bottom that would black you out instantly if you stir it up.

[Chris]

I wonder why they would have recommended this lake? They said it was the closest and clearest lake to where I live... Besides, I think Square is closer and I know that is much more clear than 5 feet!

[JoelW]

Christmas lake is definitely a time of year dependent lake.  Early last year it was actually pretty nice.  The viz was about 20', the vegetation on the bottom was growing nicely and attracted a lot of fish.  Towards the hot part of last summer the water was warm enough that the vegetation died pretty much completely.  The bottom was pretty ugly.  By the fall the viz was around 5'-7' with very little growing.  I would assume that similar weather this summer would produce the same results.<br><br>There is another problem with Christmas.  The public access on the north end has very little parking, so go early in the morning or on a weekday.  There is a platform and a boat on the bottom at the south end, but there is not parking there, nor is there really an access.  There used to be, but it has been closed.<br><br>Still, for me Christmas is close to home and it's a easy dive to do to stay in practice.<br><br>JoelW

[LKunze]

Jason and I tried Christmas Lake on Saturday and it was horrible.  It was "0" viz.  I actually ran into the bottom descending at about 26 ft and couldn't even see it.  I wouldn't recommend diving it.  

[jasondbaker]

Actually we turned the dive into a navigational dive. So it wasn't a completely wasted experience. We practiced maintaining a depth of 20' and a specific compass heading for about 30 minutes.