![]() There isn't a whole lot to see and so we swam along the slope at 50 feet or so. The bottom at Meeks Bay is sandy and shallow until it slopes away into the abyss at a 45 degree angle. Lake Tahoe is wonderfully clear and generally has great viz, but a group of mostly novice divers all gathered at the bottom can fix that in a hurry and so we'd soon kicked up enough sand and silt to make it advisable to move on. ![]() At the bottom the SmartZ showed 42 feet and the Timex 41. I had my Uwatec SmartZ computer on my left wrist and the Timex Helix on my right. That was on the agenda to see if all were altitude-adjusted and whether readings differed or not. We swam out to one of the buoys so we could descend on its line to the bottom where we'd compare and record the depths shown on our depth gauges or dive computers. The water was a nice, refreshing 68 degrees Fahrenheit but I had put on my hood anyway, knowing that Lake Tahoe can get quite chilly during a dive. He'd brought his snorkeling gear and I was sure he'd have a great time, but he's still only 12 and I wanted an adult to keep an eye on him. One advantage of a group this big (there were probably 20 of us all in all) was that we had a couple of non-divers, and so I had someone to look after my 12-year-old son Morgan who'd come along for the experience. We did the buddy check, then gathered around instructor Kate who spent time going through the special considerations of altitude diving as well as the plans for the dives. My new 6-1/2mm ScubaPro wetsuit went on a lot easier than the recalcitrant 7mm Telos I'd become used to fighting with, but it still took me time to don my gear and make sure all was well. The larger resort area beach we used also has a nice store for campers and beachgoers, so that's a plus for when you want a drink, snack or a souvenir (I got a handy nautical map of the lake and surrounding waterways). Both have adequate parking close to the sandy beach and both have rest rooms. Meeks Bay actually has two beaches, a small one north of a marina entrance and a larger one south of it. The Fisheye crew was already there and so was an assortment of students taking various classes. Meeks Bay is on the other side of the lake and so it was a bit of a drive to get to the camping and resort area by 8AM. No big deal as thanks to a big fan I managed to sleep anyway. The motel did not have air conditioning and the room was baking hot despite open windows and night time temperatures dropping into the mid-40s. A bit of research and calling around yielded a reasonably priced motel room, a rare commodity at Tahoe in just about any season. Instructor Kate Fuquay, who is also part-owner of Fisheye Scuba, wanted students to go up to Lake Tahoe the night before the class so our bodies could properly acclimate to the much higher altitude. I also attended the altitude portion of the class at Fisheye Scuba which took about an hour. I bought the 375-page tome, studied, answered the quiz questions and did the knowledge review. Altitude is part of "Adventures in Diving" and the concepts and things to know are described in one big instruction manual. ![]() There really is no separate altitude class in the PADI system. So it seemed like a good idea to do the whole thing over again, and I signed up for the PADI altitude diver class with Fisheye Scuba in Folsom. But it turned out that I never got my card and my old instructor vanished. | Dogs, tanks, suits and Nitrox » JAltitude diving class at Meeks Bay, Lake TahoeĪlmost two years ago I wrote how I got certified as an altitude diver at Lake Tahoe.
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