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re: Why don't more people swim in lake Pontchartrain?
Posted on 4/6/20 at 10:48 am to bigberg2000
Posted on 4/6/20 at 10:48 am to bigberg2000
I remember as a kid the lake was loaded with casual boaters and people skiing. In the surrounding bayous too. Great times! After Katrina I’m a little sketchy about what I might step on. I’m not worried about getting sick. Just maybe stepping on something that’s been sucked into the lake from Katrina.
0
Posted on 4/6/20 at 10:49 am to RocketPower
I ain't scared of the water
I'm scared of what's in the water
I'm scared of what's in the water
Posted on 4/6/20 at 10:52 am to RocketPower
As a kid, we used to go swimming in the Lake Pontchartrain all the time. We swam both right off the seawall and while staying at a camp in Little Woods. Every summer my parents would get together with a bunch of friends and rent a large camp out in Little Woods. We'd go swimming all time. It was a blast.
Then, they closed it down for swimming because of pollution. Just got a bad name after that.
To the person who said sharks, I have seen sharks in the lake while sailing. I doubt they come up close to the seawall, but you never know.
Then, they closed it down for swimming because of pollution. Just got a bad name after that.
To the person who said sharks, I have seen sharks in the lake while sailing. I doubt they come up close to the seawall, but you never know.
Posted on 4/6/20 at 10:55 am to RocketPower
I don’t swim in water unless it’s crystal clear. Yes I’m a pussy.
Posted on 4/6/20 at 11:03 am to boxcarbarney
Same happened to me I was always warned how dangerous the Lake was
Posted on 4/6/20 at 11:03 am to Brazos
Shark attack on 7 year old
Officials warn of dangerous bull sharks in Lake Ponchartrain
I did, drunkenly, at Fontainbleau Beach when in college. Never again. I'll take my chances in an ocean, but not Lake Ponchartrain. That water is too brown and too murky.
Officials warn of dangerous bull sharks in Lake Ponchartrain
I did, drunkenly, at Fontainbleau Beach when in college. Never again. I'll take my chances in an ocean, but not Lake Ponchartrain. That water is too brown and too murky.
Posted on 4/6/20 at 11:06 am to RocketPower
It's probably safe to swim in (although the levels can spike on the north shore after a lot of rain due to runoff).
But the stepped seawall can make access kind of a challenge, it's dirty looking, and no one really knows where the riptide problems may lie.
But the stepped seawall can make access kind of a challenge, it's dirty looking, and no one really knows where the riptide problems may lie.
Posted on 4/6/20 at 11:11 am to RocketPower
They pumped Nola East Katrina floodwater in the lake. Aerial view looked bad.
Posted on 4/6/20 at 11:14 am to RocketPower
When I was a kid we did all the time. Still now we take the boat out and the kids will swim around
Posted on 4/6/20 at 11:17 am to RocketPower
Swam in it all the time back in the 80’s on the Mandeville lake front. Used to camp out and swim in the point across the the coast guard station in Madisonville.
Posted on 4/6/20 at 11:18 am to NOFOX
quote:
People drown a lot
On the south shore in particular, you have a LOT of people drown because they (1) can't swim or (2) do stupid things. For instance, the Mexican guy who dived headfirst into the water off an old concrete pier at Pontchartrain Beach, only to hit his head on some broken off concrete and die.
quote:
the water is brown
Very often true. The AVERAGE water depth of Lake Pontchartrain is only about 12 feet. This is for a 'lake' with a surface area of 650 sq, miles, about 25 miles wide. It is a huge, shallow pond. All it takes is a good stiff wind to churn up the sand and silt and turn the water brown. If there are several calm days in a row, and not so much rain, the water can be pretty damn clear. I've been in it when you can see your toes in waist deep water, and while it is not Destin-level clear turquoise, at those times it has a nice jade/olive green hue.
quote:
there is no real easy access for swimming without a boat.
This is the key reason. Jefferson Parish's lakefront is about completely lined with rip-rap. Orleans has a stepped seawall, covered with slippery green growth. The sand beach at Pontchartrain Beach is ill-kept and now closed to land side public access because of idiots like the Mexican mentioned above. You'll see boaters like myself, however, anchored in the Pontchartrain Beach cove every warm weekend, hanging out in waist deep water with a pretty nice hard sand bottom.
quote:
Better question would be why people don’t swim more in Bayou St John now that it’s open to the lake?
Because it's NOT open to the Lake. Where did you get that idea?
I go over the Lakeshore Drive Bridge at least once a week and those flood gates just south of it are NEVER opened.
Posted on 4/6/20 at 1:22 pm to BRich
Buddy had a camp in Little Woods, one of only four to survive Georges. We were out there a lot between 2003 and Katrina, the water was VERY clear, and waist deep at the end of the run and deck 120 yards behind the camp.
Would stand out there and catch the kids coming down the slide from the deck. We could see the bottom at night with the 1000 watt halogen lit. Last night there saw and HOOKED both a small shark and a 70 pound alligator gar. The deck was about 12 feet up off the surface and we would have never got either one up that high.
Would stand out there and catch the kids coming down the slide from the deck. We could see the bottom at night with the 1000 watt halogen lit. Last night there saw and HOOKED both a small shark and a 70 pound alligator gar. The deck was about 12 feet up off the surface and we would have never got either one up that high.
This post was edited on 4/6/20 at 1:29 pm
Posted on 4/6/20 at 1:28 pm to VolsOut4Harambe
quote:
I know there were sightings of a garfish
You’re talking about it like it’s a UFO
... garfish are a staple of the ecosystem down here bawPosted on 4/6/20 at 1:37 pm to NOFOX
When I was a kid just arriving in the US, my grandparents and cousins lived in Lake Vista and we would go to where Bayou St.John met the lake . In the summer los of people would go swimming there....and near the Seabrook bridge bethe Marine Reserve on Lakeshore Drive.
Posted on 4/6/20 at 1:37 pm to BRich
quote:
I go over the Lakeshore Drive Bridge at least once a week and those flood gates just south of it are NEVER opened.
I wish they would open it more often or at least put out some kind of schedule of when it's open. The fishing and crabbing gets pretty decent on that end of the bayou(south) when they do.
As far as swimming in the lake, we go out maybe once a summer in a boat and let the kids ski and tube.
Posted on 4/6/20 at 1:50 pm to RocketPower
Because there’s not many beach areas along the lakeshore. None on the southshore, but Fontainebleau and Northshore beaches get a decent amount of swimmers. But even the Mississippi beaches are nicer than those
Posted on 4/6/20 at 2:15 pm to RocketPower
The lake is super dangerous, especially in the summer. It's like it has a freaky microclimate all of its own, where storms pop up in minutes. One of the only times I thought I was a goner was in a bay boat and we got caught out.
Posted on 4/6/20 at 2:23 pm to RocketPower
I used to tube and ski in that bitch until I saw an hombre at the point with a monster arse gar and an alligator in the marina.
frick that water. Yall can have that dead people juice filled with monsters.
frick that water. Yall can have that dead people juice filled with monsters.
Posted on 4/6/20 at 2:27 pm to JetsetNuggs
quote:
As someone that's lived near it for 20+ years I say, have you seen that frickin thing?
I enter the Lake at the Bucktown Coast Guard Station about a dozen times per year. Last time was about a week ago. It's perfectly fine. Didn't use to be, though.
This post was edited on 4/6/20 at 2:28 pm
Posted on 4/6/20 at 2:31 pm to NOFOX
quote:
Better question would be why people don’t swim more in Bayou St John now that it’s open to the lake.
Would occasionally swim in the bayou when I was kid, in the area between Pitot House and Holy Rosary. Not the best conditions but okay as long as you stayed in what was the channel. I guess it was illegal because the police would tell us to get out if they saw us
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