Iowa & Minnesota: A Juneteenth Adventure
Lake Okoboji - Water Tower
1005-1001 Lake St,
Milford, IA 51351
June 18th, 2022
Dive Buddy: Kenneth F.
39’ for 32 minutes & 39’ for 34 minutes
59°
Lake Okoboji is one of the three “blue lakes of the world” as classified by National Geographic. The others are Lake Geneva in Switzerland and Lake Louise in Canada. These lakes provide blue waters due to the clarity, depths, specific algae and the reflection of the blue skies. Above water it was blue and very pretty.
This particular dive site is an old water intake tower that sits about 16’ tall in roughly 30’ of water. In the water, getting to the site is fairly straight forward, swim out about 10 yards, find one of the three intake pipes and follow the most southwestern pipe to the tower. The other two pipes will lead to a smaller intake pump, which are less interesting to see.
There is plenty of algae, mainly the invasive watermilfoil. The fish life was abundant various types of fish; sheepshead drumfish, sunfish, crappie, carp, and northern pike to name a few. Visibility was good, about 15-20’.
The one complaint about the dive site is getting down to the waters edge. Parking is on the road behind the pump house. Be sure to not block access or driveways to the surrounding houses. To access the water, you must descend down 47 steps while carrying gear and the wade into the water. Going down is easy, coming back up with all the gear after the dive is less so. A dive flag is required as there is often boats overhead, recommended going earlier in the day as boat traffic picks up in the afternoon.
There are no changing rooms or bathrooms nearby. Rental gear, and tank fills can be obtained from Boji divers, which is connected to Okoboji Boat Works, about 10 minutes from the dive site.
Square Lake
15150 Square Lake Trail N,
Stillwater, MN 55082
June 19th, 2022
Dive Buddy: Kenneth Ford
18’ for 20 minutes and 21’ for 20 minutes
55°
Square Lake is a RV Campground with swimming and diving as an option. There is not a dive shop close by, and not any place for air fills, but does have changing rooms available.
Diving is shore entries, from a sandy beach area, navigating around swimmers and floating logs and a slide. There are some training platforms and a couple of boats that are connected via lines, all in about 20’ of water.
There were some fish present, sunfish and bass primarily Some algae but visibility was extremely poor during the dives. Another state down, but not worth a revisit, future adventures may be to the Mines in Northern Minnesota.
On the drive back, we stopped and checked out the Hermann Heights Monument in New Ulm, Minnesota, which was completed in 1897 and stands 102 feet tall. The monument depicts Arminius, an ancient Cherusan commemorating the German victory over the Romans at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest. After climbing up several flights of steps, and a spiral staircase you arrive at the base of the statue and get views of the Minnesota River Valley. A nice break to get out of the car and stretch our legs.
