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JenFid · 06-16-2014, 04:46 PM,

Hi all - newly certified diver here, hoping you all can give me some up to date info on places to dive around here since I see some conflicting info...

My husband and I and a friend got certified together through the great folks over at Aquaventure last month. We are looking for lakes/quarries close to the cities that we might want to go to practice some skills, not necessarily for site seeing, although decent visibility would still be a plus. Here's all we've done so far (we live in Brooklyn Park BTW):

Square Lake of course, where we got certified.

We did a jaunt up to Quarry Park Reserve in Waite Park and dove quarry #18. We were pretty unimpressed having to hike about half a mile to the site, and the quarry itself did not seem to have a large diving area due to the big hunks of granite blocking the way. It's an even further hike to get to the other quarries that are diveable.

Our instructors recommended Christmas Lake and Little Long Lake, but I saw some info here (not super recent though?) that said Christmas wasn't the best.

I also found this upper midwest dive sites with a bunch in MN. Besides the two I just mentioned, are any of the others in the cities decent at all? I thought I saw something along the lines here of Lake Minnetonka being pretty nasty.

Any help with where to go would be great! We're basically looking for places that we can go spur of the moment, leave your dog at home kind of thing. We are planning to go to Crosby area and Wazee but those will be well planned trips most likely. Also we don't have a boat...

Thanks guys!

popolarbear · (This post was last modified: 06-16-2014, 07:27 PM by popolarbear.)

probably get very different answers from different divers.
my 2cents. i love tonka. what is known as the lower lake is the clearest. vis right now is around 12-15. there are some spots that are much clearer. from shore dive perspective wayzata bay from the public beach is ok, im working on a new public dive site, but i want to study it more before i post. my interest is fishy spots. i might be able to recommend another spot or two but i wont post them.alot of our lakes are getting green now.

ohh, i am of the thought that diving over hard bottom is nice for newbee's. in case something happens you don't sink body deep in silt.

tonka is great for this as many areas are sand or rock.this year is exceptional with the no-wake rule in effect lake wide. you can go anywhere and boats are slow.

you can drop me a cell number, and can put some dots on a map for you Smile

stef

***jasondbaker*** · 06-17-2014, 10:31 AM,

Perch Lake across the border in WI is another option. It used to be a better spot than Square, but ever since they built the county park next to the lake it has never been the same. Honestly, the best diving is far from the cities these days. Besides Wazee and Crosby, you should consider the Gilbert-Biwabik (Ore-be-gone/ St. James) area.

popolarbear · (This post was last modified: 06-17-2014, 05:58 PM by popolarbear.)

I thought big carnelian was interesting. worth diving once for a minnesotan. unique plant growth.

here is the wayzata beach dive car

while not a dive video. (freedive) this is minnehaha creek a month ago. musky that i swam with. and a bunch of minnows

ohh, and got to squeeze in the awsome musky video from this winter.

did i mention im looking for spots to get video of minnows(or fish).if any mnscuba divers have one to share with me. id appreciate it Smile

Terry · 06-17-2014, 08:51 PM,

Hi J-fed,
The Mpls. and St. Paul city lakes come to mind, no real, (I mean gas powered) motors, (and your safe from that "strong as a bull' trolling motor I scored (pulled from the depths) last weekend as she's not yet mounted to my boat the Impulse) easy enough shore access, not the depths and steep banks, of the mines. If your intent is to just practice skills, this being the land of 10,000 lakes, meaning you have probably close to a 1000 lakes that could actually be dove in the summer. As a group of guppies I would recommend local lakes, not mines,,,,, closer, less bank, less depth. Christmas is tough w/o a boat. Little long much better, Medicine is good. Harriet, Calhoun, Minnetonka, but w/o a boat as Popo where to go. Go for hard bottom and stay shallow, call if you want more ideas,,,,Trinity

JenFid · 06-18-2014, 07:48 AM,

Awesome, thank you all for the recommendations! I think we'll try out little long lake first, maybe sometime next week. Sounds like we have some options close to home Smile

Hydro · 06-18-2014, 09:16 AM,

North and south of calhoun are great dives for local easy shore dives. Good vis and solid bottom... harriet is a little muckier. If you can score a boat, lake elmo is one of the most underated metro lakes for diving... solid areas.. deep areas decent vis.

popolarbear · 06-18-2014, 06:49 PM,

this is funny hydro. the few dives i have done in calhoun it was murky. perhaps like4ft vis on south side. i didnt like it actually, not for the murky(dont mind) just nothing to see. but north side is sandy on edge of beach, and very fishy. slightly beter vis if i was going to do calhoun Smile

again, elmo in shallow is murky because all the fish stay in less than 10ft because it drops off so quick into deeper water. bottom is soft clay as it was mined for clay. to me elmo is dark and not fishy enough for my taste. with this high water excellsior bay off the side of the beach might be intersting.