Odd, but true: there actually is some scuba diving within 90 minutes of Prescott, down at Lake Pleasant, in the real desert desert near Phoenix. I haven't dived it yet, but it's definitely on my to-do list.

What's Lake Pleasant got that Prescott-area lakes don't have, besides legal diving? Visibility, to name one thing. But what is there to see?

“The terrain you see above the lake is exactly what you see below the water,” said Lake Pleasant Events Coordinator Ruth McCormick. “Boulders. Hills. Cactus.”

Cactus? Are they all rotted?

“No. Sometimes, when the water level drops and they're exposed, they seem to recover,” said Ruth, a comment I take with a few grains of salt.

Right now, the lake is about 62 percent full, so it should be easy to check the veracity of Ruth's report of amphibious cacti. Water temps are a “very comfortable” 84 degrees in August, but can drop into the low 60s in the winter, she said, and added that rules do not allow diving in the cove where the sheriff's office built its boathouse.

In some places the lake bottom drops down 250 feet below the surface, twice the recreational diving limit. And the lake is at 1,665 feet elevation, which means divers must make compensations for depth and bottom time to avoid decompression sickness. If you're a certified diver, you know what that is and 'nuff said; if you're not a diver, don't be the first person to die in the desert of the “bends.” Get trained and certified before you dive.

Lake Pleasant Regional Park belongs to Maricopa County, which charges $5 per vehicle for day use, including scuba diving. But post-dive partying is a required social activity for scuba divers, so you might consider staying overnight to avoid a losing argument with a DPS officer on the drive home.

“Alcoholic beverages are permitted in the park, but no glass containers,” Ruth said.

You can bring your comfy RV if you've got one, but for $10 you can pitch a tent at a shoreline campsite for the night. “The campsites are just pieces of dirt,” said Just Caroline, who works the park gate.

How's the spearfishing at Lake Pleasant?

“I've never seen or heard of anyone wanting to spearfish here,” Ruth said. “But we allow hunting here, so I guess the same rules about not shooting near developed areas applies.”

Yeah, it's another “Who'd a thunk it?”: desert spearfishing. But it's here, and Arizona Game & Fish covers the subject in its fishing regulations.

“In general, spearfishing regulations are lined out on page 50 under R-12-4-313D,” AZG&F biologist Andy Clark emailed me. “There's always safety issues involved when setting regulations on these types of activities. Typically, one cannot use a spear for 'take' of the listed species around docks, piers and launch ramps.” In other words, no spearfishing where the pickings are easy. Andy has spearfished Lake Pleasant, though, and knows some of their other hangouts.

“I occasionally see stripers in the backs of coves and such when diving, but you'd really have to kind of 'hide' around main-lake points with some deep water nearby to get a good shot them,” he said. “Carp are everywhere and offer good practice. I've often thought what a rush it would be to clear out some of the carp around Katherine's Landing.”

For more info on Lake Pleasant, call Ruth at 602-372-7460 ext.200, or Just Caroline at 928-501-1710 or visit www.maricopa.gov/parks/lake_pleasant/.

It makes sense to dive a new environment with people who have been there before and who know the hazards as well as the cool stuff, so I'll probably call Valley Dive-N- Boat Service ( This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , 602-770-0490) to take me and a buddy out on Lake Pleasant the first time. Their web page boasts of a “Full service dive boat for up to 16 divers, with water, snacks, cold storage, dry storage, and toilet provided.” The latter is important – after all, Lake Pleasant is somebody's drinking water...

Further north, Twin Finn Diving and Kayaks in Page, AZ offers desert diving at Lake Powell. Contact them at (928)645-3114 or This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

Some Googling turned up two links to dive shops and instruction in Arizona, mostly in the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas; those links are www.scubaspots.com/listings.php?Location=Arizona and www.scubadivingstores.com/arizona_scuba_diving_stores_2.htm. If that's too much for you to type in, just Google “Prescott Arizona scuba.” I was actually looking online for a local scuba diving club, but if there's one here (besides the student club at Embry-Riddle) they're 'way under the radar and aren't listed among Arizona dive clubs at scubaspots.com.

Locally, Prescott's YMCA (445-7221) offers scuba instruction. Looking in the Yellow Pages between “screws” and “sculptors,” I found one local phone number for scuba instruction, Adaptive Scuba Diving at 759-0597. Scuba Fantaseas on Gurley Street in Prescott, sad to say, is no longer with us. Go figure – whoever heard of scuba diving in the desert?