NMDE site evaluation dive for Hurricane Bay - November 28, 2013 - Happy Thanksgiving!

Over the past several weeks, the NMDE team divers have endeavored to reach all of our PBTahoe sites.  Today we planned to visit the Hurricane Bay Site.  NMDE divers Martin M. and Marc B.  conducted a dive to the PBTahoe depth benchmark located up-slope from the wreck of the Alley Cat.  This benchmark was set in October of 2012 (see blog post below).  The benchmark should have read well below 60' as the lake is some 3 feet lower based upon the Lake Tahoe Watermaster data but it read 72' so we will need to re-establish a better and more accurate depth gauge.  We are not sure if the gauge simply has broken but will do a follow-up dive to assess in the coming months.  The temperature was a brisk 52F based upon the benchmark gauge and the visibility was simply crappy - at best 30 feet but 25' was the distance we could see on the visibility markers.  We could see the 3 marker but could not make out the #3 upon it.  As we delved deeper into the dive (pardon the pun) we began to notice a possible reason for the low visibility; Zooplankton - Diaptomus specifically!  These little guys are red in color.   Normally, this time of year as the lake temperatures are dropping the Diaptomus populations diminish.  This condition usually happens towards end of August early September but here we are in November and the populations in the 30-40-50 and 60 foot water columns were thicker than we have ever seen them.  We also encountered some dense populations of Mysis Shrimp but the populations were scattered and inconsistent along our 3000' path.  We did notice lots of juveniles.

Dive time was 65 minutes at a maximum depth of 63 feet with an average depth of 45 feet.

Project Baseline Stats
Depth: 72' (per benchmark gauge - under evaluation) 57' per digital FFW depth gauge
Temperature: 52f
Visibility: 20-30 feet (maybe 25-28feet) Could see the 2 and the third marker but not the #3
Photo:

Recreational Divers visit the Patton Beach Project Baseline: Tahoe site

Divers Brian P. and Mike S. continue their day at Tahoe with a second dive at Patton Beach. 

PBTahoe Stats:
Depth: N/A feet
Temp: 49f
Visibility: 30-40 feet
Photo:



Visibility markers extending east from the Depth Benchmark directly in front of the "Fish" (image below).  Benchmark seen in the lower left corner of photo below. 

Photos Courtesy of Michael Soldwisch - Member NMDE

Recreational Divers visit the Hurricane Bay Project Baseline: Tahoe site

Divers Brian P. and Mike S. (the latter a member of NMDE) took the opportunity to visit Tahoe for a day of diving in the face of inferior weather on the Monterey Bay (their original planned dive site).   

This is a perfect example of how divers enjoying a dive can contribute to the Project Baseline: Tahoe effort.  In a 60 minute dive, gathering the stats below took less than 5 minutes but the magnitude of this contribution is huge in terms of value to the study and understanding of Tahoe's nearshore water clarity. 

Thanks Divers Brian and Mike! 

PBTahoe Stats:
Depth: N/A feet
Temp: 49f
Visibility: 30-40 feet
Photo:

 The above image of Project Baseline: Tahoe's visibility markers.

At the Hurricane Bay site they eminate southward from the main benchmark at ~60 feet. 

The benchmark is next to the wreck of the Alley Cat (Top image below). 

Lahontan Redside Shiners -

To see a diagram of Tahoe's fish species - Click Here 

Photos Courtesy of Michael Soldwisch - Member NMDE

NMDE - Re-establish the benchmark at Patton Beach

Today NMDE divers Vanessa Belz and Martin McClellan ascended upon Patton Beach in Carnelian Bay on Lake Tahoe's north shore (39.22624,-120.07979) -  also now known as Watermans Landing.  In May of this year we established the benchmark in 37 ft directly in front of (north) the Patton Beach Fish - a 20 foot long, 8 foot high concrete fish that was discarded by the miniature golf course across the street prior to 2004 - when we first found it.  Sometime between May of this year and 9 November, 2013, someone decided to remove the benchmark and line leading to the fish and place all the equipment in about 15ft of water and leave it there.  At least they did not take it.  This equipment was found by another local diver and returned to us. 

Today, our goal is to reestablish the benchmark, and place additional line leading to the site.  The reason for the line is that the bottom composition of Patton Beach is basically featureless and since the fish is approximately 1200 feet from shore, it is a tough navigation and we wanted to make visiting our Project Baseline: Tahoe [http://projectbaseline.org/projects/usa/lake-tahoe] site easier. 

We scooted out on the surface to the approximate area and because the visibility was very good on this day, we were able to locate the fish very expeditiously as it sits in approximately 35 feet of water.  We descended, re measured the location of the benchmark and placed the 8" diamater auger back into the bottom about 16 inches.  This should hold.  Interesting where the benchmark was placed was an obvious pit in the bottom about 18" deep and about 3 feet in diameter.  Someone really had to work this out of the bottom so we hope that does not occur again.  Once the benchmark was placed, we assessed the depth, 35ft per the gauge on the benchmark and 56 degrees F on the temp gauge (this compared to 31feet on my digital gauge and 52 degrees F) - the difference is the gauges on the benchmark are older, analog for the depth gauge and a simple outside thermometer for temp.  After noting depth and temperature we assessed visibility which was at least 30feet but not 40feet.  We can tell this as we have visibility markers placed every 10feet starting at 20 feet from the benchmark.  If you can see the 3, which is 30 feet, which we could, and we could not see the 4, which is 40 feet, this gives us our visibility reading.  Importantly this is the exact same for any diver visiting the site keeping the information collected for Project Baseline: Tahoe,  scientifically valid.  Finally, we took our photo of the fish and then began the process of laying line. 

After attaching our line to the depth benchmark and providing a secondary tie-off, we headed 300 degrees to the nearest boat buoy.  We then ran the line directly into the beach at about 340 degrees along the debris field of old boat buoy anchors which consist of old concrete beams, motor blocks, 55 gallon drums filled with concrete, etc.  and lots of old boat parts.  We made kind of a nice debris pile to debris pile type of course.  Fun to dive and stuff to see. 

Our dive was 83 minutes to a maximum depth of 35 feet with an average depth of 18 feet. We saw no invasive plants or animals but encountered a fish cleaning station, right at the Patton Beach Fish, where fishing operations from the Marina adjacent to this site stop to clean their clients fish.  Thus, we saw lots of crayfish...bring a bag as we are certain that the local sportfishing companies know of this concrete fish. 

PBTahoe Stats:
Depth: 35 feet
Temp: 54f
Visibility: 30-40 feet
Photo:

Camp Richardson and The NUB Chara Bed Research September 8, 2013 [Phase 2 - Dive 7]

Again, under the flag of Project Baseline: Tahoe, we were asked to volunteer our dive skills and time to assist the University of Nevada Reno's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science complete its study the Chara Beds of South Lake Tahoe on the Nub and off Camp Richardson. Here is a link to the Phase 2 Project Report:

          Project Report Phase 2

A video of Dive 7 of this phase can be found at this link:

         Camp Richardson Chara Bed - Video Report

Camp Richardson and The NUB Chara Bed Research June 1 - June 29 [Phase 1- Dives 1-6]

Under the flag of Project Baseline: Tahoe, we were asked to volunteer our dive skills and time to assist the University of Nevada Reno's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science study the Chara Beds of South Lake Tahoe on the Nub and off Camp Richardson.  This is ongoing work in the Nearshore water zone of Lake Tahoe.  Here is a link to the Phase 1 Project Report:

          Project Report Phase 1

A video of Dive 6 of this phase can be found at this link:

          Camp Richardson Chara Bed - Video Report

Establish the Patton Beach/Watermans Landing Project Baseline Site

The Patton Beach Fish (we should probably give it a name?) presently sits in 37 feet of water, is covered in algae, is deteriorating (from our first encounter in 2004) but still sits majestically creating a great dive site. 

 

Today's dive was conducted to establish the depth benchmark, temperature gauge and visibility markers at the Patton Beach Fish.  Upon 102 minutes in the water at a maximum depth of 37 feet, the site was successfully established. 

 

The Fish sits about 1200' off shore at a bearing of approximately 150 degrees. 

A couple of notes:

1) This is right in the boating lane coming out of the marina and gas dock. Take a flag with you – you can clip it to the depth benchmark. We had several boats pass overhead and were glad we had our surface station and flag present.

2) We are going to need some help from the dive community in maintaining this site.

a. First we tried to run the line over and under logs and rocks to keep it low to the ground so as to avoid being hooked by a recreational boat anchors. So keep an eye and add debris along the line to keep it down. Remember though not to push the line into the sand so that a storm will cover it. Where you put something on the line to anchor it, put something under the line around your debris anchor to keep it about 1 – 2 inches above the sand.

b. Second, periodically clean the line; it will get covered in algae.

c. Finally, please let us know if the line goes missing… we have more and will go up and reestablish the line. (nmde@att.net)

 

Project Baseline Stats

Depth: 37 feet

Temp: 58 f

Visibility: 30 - 40 feet

Photo: