Within walking distance of Park Lake in downtown Santa Rosa is the famous Blue Hole, a mecca for SCUBA diving enthusiasts and a unique local swimming hole.
Blue Hole was produced from a cave system near the well's bottom (the access to this cave system has been permanently sealed with a steel grate for safety). Spring water flows into the 60 ft wide by 81 feet deep hole at 3,000 gallons per minute (!!), recycling the water every six hours. And the water temperature remains a constant temperature of 61F degrees year round.
The excess water overflows into this small creek.
The creek eventually joins the Pecos River.
The spring water is crystal clear and the creek is a fun place to hunt for crawdads.
Blue Hole is a very popular spot for SCUBA divers and can be an extremely busy place to visit. There are several permanent diving platforms installed within Blue Hole, too. The spring is 4,600' above sea level making the bottom equivalent of over 100' of depth in the ocean. Considering this, diving to the bottom would be considered an "altitude" dive and specialty SCUBA courses in Altitude Diving are often taught here.
Since driving to a higher elevation after a dive would basically be the same as flying after diving, divers have to observe special rules after conducting an altitude dive. Divers heading back to Albuquerque after diving the Blue Hole have to off-gas several hours because the highway crosses a mountain ridge of more than 7,000 feet.
We actually stopped by on Friday before heading to the campground because we wanted to get the lay of the land and also search for a couple letterboxes in the area. We had also brought a letterbox to place there, too.
It was fun to watch the folks jumping into the water and we could see evidence of SCUBA divers via their bubble trails on the surface.
And on Saturday, we all came back after playing in Park Lake, to have some fun and take the plunge into Blue Hole.
This was the first time my twinlings have ever jumped off anything so high as that cliff. Jax was excited but also a little bit unsure…………….
Jem said it looked a long way down from that cliff and he wasn’t sure how deep he would plunge down into Blue Hole before he could swim back up to the surface.
Apparently it was quite a rush because immediately upon coming up to the surface again, they were both calling out how awesome it was to plunge into Blue Hole.
Apparently it was also very cold, too. 61F degrees is very refreshing on a hot summer day, but quite a shock when plunging your entire body into it all at once. Jem had goose bumps on top of goose bumps.
Jen and I just hung out on the stairs only going about as deep as our knees.
The boys decided they wanted to jump into Blue Hole again. Jem went for a cannon ball plunge this time around.
Jax did the same thing, but didn’t like the water in his nose.
This picture of my daughter makes me smile.
On one side of Blue Hole there is also a diving platform for those who don’t want to jump from the high cliff. Jax wanted to try that one out, too.
And Jem decided to walk on water.
We had a great time exploring Santa Rosa and would love to go back again some day. We did end up finding two letterboxes and we placed one. I love hanging out with my kidlets because they are so much fun to be around. There are many more activities I’d like to enjoy with them and lots of great places I’d like to travel with them, too. I’m glad summer has just begun because we have many fun things planned.
How are you spending this summer?
11 comments :
What a wonderful photo essay! Your kids are the perfect ambassadors to take us to this lovely, watery place.
That looks refreshing! I don't think you would get me into it though! I am not one for cold water! Our lakes up here are really cold if we don't get much warm weather! Your pictures came out great!
your kids are so fortunate to have you taking them to all these awesome places...great photos...felt like I was there...
You have been having quite the adventure! That Blue Hole looks like wonderful fun!
That Blue Hole looked like fun. Very interesting too!
I've always heard about the Blue Hole but never gone. Looks like a pretty neat place!
Interesting about the scuba diving. I'm glad you are able to spend all that time vacationing with your kids. My parents were really good about planning at least one family vacation per year, usually two weeks in the mountains at a cabin. My husband and I have always been bogged down in work and could never get time off at the same time, so our kids rarely experienced vacations. I take Colt fishing for a day once a summer, and that's about it. Now that he's pole vaulting in the summer too, it's hard to find time when he's home for an entire day.
There's something I've never done. Very cool! Literally.
I got goose bumps looking at the photo of the goose bumps...lol! That really looked like a lot of fun! I would never be brave enough to jump into that water!
The Blue hole is one of my dive destinations, due to the depth you can only stay down a short time without doing a decompression dive which means staying at certain levels for a time to let the nitrogen escape your body so you don't get an an air embolism or more commonly know as "The Bends"..:-))
You live a life I can only dream about...think of me the next time. Thanks for taking me there with your pictures.
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