traveling to twin cities area, where to dive?

[scubajoe123]

I grew up west of the twin cities and will be back for a weekend later this month and am looking for a spot to dive.

Ten or so years ago I snorkeled around christmas lake near shorewood, it was cold but the visibility was fantastic. Has anyone recently been out there? How was the visibility and temperature?

I'll be staying in that general area, other thoughts were lake waconia or lake minnetonka. 

Any other suggestions/recommendations?

Thanks!

[Hydro]

Vis isnt very good in most metro lakes right now, calhoun is a good bet for shore diving, some east bays of tonks might be ok, but was pretty green may 29th when i dove it last... little long lake is an easy shore dive too.

If you dive waconia, post how vis was, only have ice dove that i think..

[scubajoe123]

Thanks for the reply, if I end up diving Waconia I'll post an update. Right now I'm thinking I will drive up to Ironton and try diving in the mine pits, just need to figure out which one.

[doug67]

The vis in the pits has been bad this last week because of the massive dump of rain up there. Hopefully it will improve before you get here. My suggestion for pits to dive would be Huntington because it usually has the best vis or Louise if your new to the pits. I dive there every weekend and can give you an update when you get here if you would like.

[scubajoe123]

Hey doug, thanks for the info! Plan is to do 2 dives at Huntington early this Saturday with a friend.

Had a few questions for you as it sounds like you dive there pretty regularly.
1) What's considered bad vis? Like 5 ft or is it a little better than that?
2) We were planning for water temp to be mid-seventies on the surface and mid-fifties at depth, does that sound about right?
3) Do you dive dry at the pits in the summer? If so, what do you recommend for undergarments?

[doug67]

Huntington is a good choice! Right know with the rain bad vis is about 5' but that's down to 30-40' but I dove the Feigh end of Huntington last weekend and found good vis (30') down 60-90'. The temps are pushing high 60s down to 25'. Not sure what you mean by "at depth" because that means different things to different people. My dive buddies and I like to explore the depths so we are seeing bottom temps at 42 degrees. I do dive dry all year and for me I wear my 200gram jump suit and a vest normally but haven't been using the vest for the last 3 weeks and I am comfortable. My dive buddies are still wearing there electric vests so I'm not sure what to tell you on that one. Hope you have great dives!

[scubajoe123]

Thanks for the details doug -- it really helps in planning the trip up!

[doug67]

How were the dives?