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Trip Report from Austria: Fernsteinsee/Samarangersee

Started Oct 23, 2020 | Discussions thread
kelpdiver Veteran Member • Posts: 5,564
Re: Trip Report from Austria: Fernsteinsee/Samarangersee

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

I'm still a bit stunned by this - partly the clarity, and but certainly also the cold. The very idea of diving there would not have occurred to me.

Here around Phoenix we have several lakes, and I've take dive training lessons in them. But they are nasty. Murky at best, with almost nothing to see, and the water stinks of boat exhaust. (Also cold at any depth, even in the summer.)

mountain lakes can have excellent clarity.   colder water, and not being downstream of lots of human runoff (sewage, pesticides, fertilizer in fields, etc) are big difference from what you might see locally.

Lake Tahoe once had ridiculous clarity - 200ft, but is now sub 100.   Phosphates lead to algae growth.

9C is about the practical limit for wetsuits, though for many it's likely 11-12.   10 is where I need to start wearing gloves, which I hate.

I once forgot my hood and had to dive Carmel in 9-10.   The first 5 minutes were very painful in the temple, until it went numb.   Then I settled, albeit with a highly elevated rate of air consumption.

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