For Father’s Day this year, Jen and Evan gave me a day of diving! They conspired with our friend and dive buddy Jason, who agreed to accompany me beneath the crystal clear, ice cold waters of Clear Lake, OR — one of my favorite freshwater dive sites. The date was to be June 24th. And the “gift certificate” outlined all the details: Jen & Evan would pull out all my gear, pick up all of the tanks at the dive shop, pack us snacks and lunch, and drive us all the way up to Clear Lake. Wow!

Clear Lake is located in the Oregon Cascades at an elevation of about 3000′. It is fed by groundwater that is filtered through miles of volcanic rock before it emerges at near-freezing temperatures from the vents and springs at the north end of the lake. Not surprisingly, this water offers legendary visibility — often in excess of 150′. But the extreme water temperature and the fact that this is technically an “altitude” dive mean that divers should have both their Advanced Open Water and Altitude certifications. In addition, with the lake bottom consisting of volcanic ash and the large expanses of yellow-green algae that hover just off the bottom, peak buoyancy skills are mandatory.

Our day started early with a 7:30 AM departure from Eugene. We stopped for bagels, picked up Jason, and then headed East on Hwy 126. An hour and twenty minutes later we arrived at Clear Lake. The weather could not have been better — a clear blue sky, warm temperatures, and a gentle breeze. Both of our easy-going dives were done in the north end of the lake. After our first dive, we all enjoyed a delicious lunch packed by Jen. Jason and Evan both nodded off for a while as I anxiously counted off the minutes of our surface interval.

I took my camera along on both dives but had some problems keeping the inside of the housing dry, especially on the second dive. I’m not sure if my housing has a small leak or if there was just more condensation than usual. (You know what happens to the outside of a glass containing an icy cold drink on a warm day? Well, turn that whole system inside out and you’ve got a camera housing in Clear Lake!) Anyway, I’ve posted an album of photos from our dive.

This entry was posted by Steve on Sunday, July 2nd, 2006 at 12:53 pm and is filed under Celebrate, Diving, Family, Friends, Local/Regional. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.