Lac Lavon Lake in Burnsville

[WeatherPaparazzi]

Went out on a fun dive with others at the shop tonight at Lac Lavon in Burnsville.  Not bad.  The fish were pretty fun as there were hundreds of them around us checking us out as we checked them out.  We found a platform underwater that someone put there for diving and it was pretty cool to check out.  There was a nice sized small mouth bass under it and did I mention the fish.  There were tons of them checking us out. 

Right now it is about 10 feet and the water temp is nice until you hit 22 feet, then it gets cold. 
I'm going to go back soon before the vis sucks to do some vidoe of the fish.

Doug

[Art]

Where on the Lake did you dive out of?  I am looking for somewhere new to hit when dive buddy comes down for the weekend.

[WeatherPaparazzi]

Bring a roller or hand truck for your gear. 

Here is a Yahoo Map of the area. 


Take Cedar Avenue south to county road 42.

Take a left on 42 and go west about a mile until you get to Garden View.  It is past the fire station.

Take a Garden View south about a mile until you see Lac Lavon Park. 
There is a parking lot there but the hill is a little bit of a pain with all the gear.  It is about 100 feet down a mild hill on a paved walking path until you get to the beach. 

The drop off is sharp when you go about 10 feet out so watch out. 

But for diving in the south metro, it is not bad. 

Thermo is at 22 feet.  Here is my NiTec Duo log of the dive. 

[WeatherPaparazzi]

Update, we actually dove in the Apple Valley side of the lake.  I was looking into this tonight and saw some older posts from year past on MNScuba.

The older posts say that their is no scuba diving in Apple Valley.  I looked on the Apple Valley city website and there is nothing listed in the city laws / rules saying you need a permit at all or if it was against the law to dive in the lakes in the city.

The DNR website says you need a permit for some lakes in Dakota County for scuba instruction.  I guess if your making money off the lake, they want a piece of the action.  But I can't find anything about diving being against the law. 

I did find some old real estate ad saying there was scuba diving at the lake.

Someone told me there is a truck down there.  I'll have to find someone to go with and look for it. 

Oh the only thing I did find about no diving was no diving within 100 feet of a boat ramp in Dakota County.  Which makes sense because I don't want to look like a manatee.

On the Vis Side.  The lake is pretty clear with 10 foot vis but it is low from with Mike at Fantasea said.  Maybe our little drought has helped the lake clear up.

[tullibee]

I've been wondering how the diving might be in there.  have ice fished it the last several years with a buddy who lives down that way, but the last couple winters it has been MUCH cloudier than it was before then.  I might be talked into hooking up for a dive one of these days...

Jon

[Dano]

I am teathered to local diving this weekend. Anyone want to try this lake Saturday morning?

Dan

[LKunze]

Dano, if you find no takers on Lac Lavon I'm thinking of hitting Square tomorrow morning to use up some air in my doubles before getting fills for Crosby Sunday. 

[LKunze]

Well...Dano twisted my arm and he, Dan G and I did a dive at Lac Lavon on the Apple Valley side this morning.  Viz was ok (5 - 7 feet) down to about 18 - 20 feet of depth.  Below 20 feet of depth the viz dropped to less than a foot so we had to roast in our drysuits in the toasty waters above the thermocline.  I even wore my light fleece garment and I was still too hot.  The lake has a nice bottom, no muck, just sand and gravel which was kinda nice.  Not much to see except a ton of sunnies and one northern in the weeds.  The lake is very clean.  We hardly saw any trash.  Might be worth trying this lake in late fall or early spring when there may be better viz.

[WeatherPaparazzi]

Wish I would have checked sooner, I would have gone with.

Dave and I dove this yesterday and did not even need a wet suit.  Vis was still 5-7 feet and in the north end on the Apple Valley side we just check out the area.  We did find the underwater dive platform that is out there.  If your out in the water and see the orange plastic fence just south of the fishing dock, it is about 2/3 of the way out there. 

I think the fish out there a learning that divers bring food.  I brought some more freezer burned old shrimp with and I think we had at least 1000 fish around at one time begging for food. 

It was nice being able to just swim in the shorts and a t-shirt. 

[Diver_Dave]

There were a bunch of kids who capsized and sank a canoe just when we entered the water too. Did those kids ever get that canoe out? I didn't even notice