Deep Dives

I slowly descended into the clear, bathwater-warm depths as a rainbow of fish materialized before me … and then I opened my eyes and realized I was actually sinking into the sepia gloom of Raquette Lake, up to my elbows in muck. Forty-three-degree water trickled down the back of my wetsuit, and my fingers were numb.

Though this may not sound ideal to the average scuba diver—or maybe anyone—diving in the Adirondacks can be a unique and adventurous way to explore aspects of area history.

The object of this day’s quest was bottles. In the early days of settlement, ponds and lakes were a common disposalsite for refuse, and the soft mud bottom in some