Lake Pleasant, in Peoria Arizona, has long been a local spot for Scuba divers. However, recently diver traffic has picked up significantly. More divers are being 'open water trained' in Lake Plea.jpg)
sant. Further, certified divers are using Lake Pleasant as a convenient place to practice there skills and make a few recreational dives.
Some divers claim, the economy has clamped down their budget from the usual weekend trips to San Carlos Mexico or California. Other divers claim, that the visibility is the "best it's been and the water is warm, so why not do a couple of dives on a Saturday morning".
I recently spoke to a diver at a local "meet and greet". She had just completed her 100th dive. Out of those 100 dives only 8 of them were salt water dives. The balance of them had been done in Lake Pleasant.
On the weekends, it is common to head out to Lake Pleasant and see the shoreline peppered with Scuba divers. These divers vary from brand new divers to technical and rebreather divers, using the lake as a convenient opportunity to train with their extensive amount of equipment. However, as you peer off into the distance, there is another group of divers heading to sites that can't be reached by shore divers.
These divers, off in the distance, are trolling on the 2 dive boats that frequent Lake Pleasant. The two local dive boats are the Diver Down II and the Scubateers. These two boats have seen their popularity increase significantly over the last couple of years as the diving community in Phoenix grows and Lake Pleasant becomes a more demanded day trip. Fees for diving on the boats range from $29 to $69 dollars depending on how many dives are being made to whether or not you bring your own tank.
Diving from a boat, on Lake Pleasant, has many advantages. These advantages include reaching remote dive sites such as the "Old Dam", "Tech Island", and "Scorpion Bay". It is reputed that diving from a boat on Lake Pleasant offers divers a comfortable environment with better visibility. While that may be a matter of opinion, during the summer, ease of entry and finding deeper depths is certainly a reality.
The 'Old' Waddell Dam is one of the more sought after boat dives. The Old Dam was partially dismantled and breached in December 1992. While the purpose of this was to flood the new dam area, it created a great dive site for Lake Pleasant Scuba divers. The Old Dam tends to be a deep recreational dive or technical dive. No matter which one it is, getting their by boat is the only viable option.
Divers interested in diving Lake Pleasant should talk to their local dive shop and get a thorough orientation. Many of these shops have divemasters who will escort you on your first lake dives. If you are interested in boat diving Lake Pleasant, you can contact your dive shop and see if they have any boat charters scheduled with the Diver Down II or the Scubateers. If not, you can contact the boat operators directly through their Web sites below.
Have fun and dive safe!
For more information about the author and where he teaches, please go to the Academy of Scuba.
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