Arkansas- Beaver Lake
Beaver Lake – Dam Site Bluffs
Eureka Springs, AR 72631
36.429696, -93.856760
June 16th, 2021
Dive Buddy: Joanna K
35’ for 61 minutes & 44’ for 44 minutes
59°
Beaver Lake is a popular dive site outside of Eureka Springs, AR. The north side of the lake has several artifacts sunk, and has a training platform for classes. Other places may have remains of a world class Resort from the 1800’s but we did not dive that area of the lake. While diving a dive flag is required, while there was no one patrolling the area, there was some boat traffic so for safety reasons a flag is recommended.
The lake does not have a dive shop or fill station nearby, so we got tanks and some rental gear from White River Dive Company. They had a smaller shop, but the rental gear was fine. Minor issues with the HP hose, but we were still able to dive. Prices for rental for the day were along the lines of what was expected. When I called for information about renting gear they were not the most helpful but were much friendlier in person.
We dove on the northern side of the lake, off of the Dam Site Bluffs. There is nothing on the surface to mark either an entry or exit point or where any objects might be located. We entered near the boat ramp, where there was a ledge we could set our tanks on to gear up easier. Swimming east we eventually hit the guide lines that we followed to see the different attractions. As the map shows, there are lots of different sites to see, however some are starting to show the effects of the water. Most noticeable was the mock submarine. Along the lines there are robots and skeletons that give something to look at between the submerged objects.
Visibility and temperatures are what you would expect for a freshwater lake. Vis was on the better side of average, but we could have just been lucky that day. There was not a large amount of fish, mainly pumpkinseed fish, and some bass and other small sunfish.
