my Okoboji images

West Lake Okoboji is a glacier-carved lake in Northwestern Iowa whose clear spring-fed waters run 140 feet deep. It is the centerpiece of a chain of six lakes including Spirit Lake, the largest natural lake in Iowa, and the inter-connected East Okoboji, Upper Gar, Lower Gar and Minnewashta.

West Okoboji covers 3,850 acres. Underwater visibility approaches 30 feet in early spring, and daylight reaches down nearly 60 feet. The clear waters beckon Midwest scuba divers who come for the underwater features and finds and to explore several historic dive sites.

The lakes area was settled in the mid-1800s and became a tourist destination before the

The Lost Sailboat was discovered by Lloyd Cunningham as he was diving at the seam of a thermocline in 52 feet of water off Sunset Beach, June 24, 1996. It had settled to the bottom without mast, boom or sails but otherwise intact. It rests upright, bow to the east. Its rudder stuck into the sandy bottom, the tiller rusted to a stump. Years of cold-water soaking have worked at the joints and seams leaving its wooden hull mushy to the touch. The sailboat’s rigging is rotted away. It has collapsed onto itself, the upper deck settled into the hull. There are no records or stories of a sailboat lost in the area, when it sank or what happened to the crew. It rests on the bottom too deep for sunlight to reach much of the year. The first photo was taken June 30, 1996, the second in April 1997, the last on May 25, 2003.