‘We just stay low’: Scuba divers say boats, jet skis on Lake Mead endangering divers

That’s how scuba diver and instructor Curtis Snaper described an early Saturday scene, having just risen from the lake’s depths.

“It looks dark and inky, right? But it’s not like that when you’re in there,” Snaper said.

Snaper is a course director at Sin City Scuba, a dive shop based in Las Vegas that offers those curious the chance to become a certified open water diver. On Nov. 2, he led a group of students in their first open water dive at a popular Lake Mead site called Kingman Wash.

The day was quiet, with one boat entering the narrow cove before retreating.

With the class below the surface, only bobbing red and white flags could be seen. This flag, solid red with a white diagonal stripe, is an important symbol for Snaper, who bears the flag everywhere from the hood of his truck to his painted toenails.

The flag keeps divers safe, and multiple divers said too few boaters and watercraft skiers know what the flag means: They are sharing the water with nearby scuba divers.

Boating guidelines dictate that all vessels stay at least 100 feet away from a dive flag, but divers said that this is often not the case and that they have even experienced people picking up the flag and dragging it through the water, not knowing it’s tied to a person under the water below them.

A meeting of scuba enthusiasts

Safety was the primary concern echoed by dozens of divers who met with Lake Mead National Recreation Area Superintendent Mike Gauthier on Oct. 3 at the America First Center in Henderson to share changes they would like to see from the National Park Service.

“Recreation communities have a lot of strength and power, but being unified and having an open dialogue with the agency is what really makes the magic happen, and that’s why I’m here,” Gauthier said.

Many divers said that they would welcome more signage to let people know what a dive flag looks like and what it means. But to truly be safe from boats and personal watercraft, divers said, they want a designated dive site that restricts motorized vessels.

The park’s old dive site near Boulder Beach disappeared as the lake’s water receded, according to Corey Dickson, a volunteer diver with Sin City Scuba and professional diver for the Bureau of Reclamation.

A park service spokesperson scribbled notes on ideas pitched at the meeting.

In an email, Gauthier said that the park is setting up an internal team to review these ideas, but that no changes have been made. He plans to meet with members of the scuba community again in late winter or early spring.

“I do want to help the scuba community and look forward to some changes by next summer,” Gauthier wrote.

‘Very dangerous’

Standing on the shore of Kingman Wash nearly a month later, Erin Sivia, who was preparing to lead students in their descent, said she feels more education is needed about scuba divers and their flag.

Boats and personal watercraft, which are popular in the area during the summer, “race in,” Sivia said, not understanding what the dive flag represents.

“It’s a lot of chaos sometimes,” she said.

People picking up dive flags is something that happens too frequently, according to Sivia.

“You’re under there holding it,” she said, meaning that divers get pulled with the flag until the person above decides to let go. “It’s very dangerous.”

Fortunately, instructors with more training are normally the ones holding the flags, Sivia said. While they would let go of the line if it became dangerous, they would prefer not to let go, as doing so would put everybody else in danger.

“That’s our safety markers,” she said. Normally, divers only get dragged a few feet. “But it’s still scary.”

When boats pass overhead, divers stay down. They can hear it first, Sivia said. “Sound travels differently underwater than it does above water,” she said. “You can’t really tell where the boat is, you just know it’s somewhere close to you.”

‘I can’t compromise’

Travis Bouse, an instructor with Sin City Scuba, also led a group of students into the depths of the lake that Saturday morning. One of his students was only 12 years old.

Bouse said he doesn’t think anyone is “maliciously trying to endanger people’s lives,” but boats and personal watercraft in the area can in fact do just that.

One of the hardest elements of scuba diving to master is buoyancy, several instructors shared.

People looking to get their certification will start out in what is called “discovery scuba,” according to Snaper.

The first few classes in October took place in a pool at Whitney Ranch Recreation Center, where students can learn the basics before taking to open water. Once each person is fitted with their gear, they can start breathing underwater.

Scuba divers breathe through a regulator and adjust their depth with a buoyancy control device, releasing air to descend deeper and inflating to come back up. Being able to control buoyancy to stay at a particular depth requires correct use of the device and well-controlled breath work.

Bouse said that for new students, buoyancy is difficult — and sometimes people ascend too quickly. While the shallow depths students dive at means that this by itself is no problem, boats and personal watercraft overhead create a dangerous scenario.

“Sometimes it’s not their fault, and they basically will end up in an uncontrolled ascent,” Bouse said of his students, calling the phenomenon a learning moment. But if there is a boat at the surface, Bouse said that people’s heads and propellers “don’t mix very well.”

As an instructor, he hasn’t seen this happen. But Bouse said he needs to protect students, some of whom are children.

“When it comes to the lives of my students,” Bouse said, “I can’t compromise.”

A designated dive site

While Kingman Wash, which sits east of the Hoover Dam in Arizona, serves as a popular diving destination in the winter, water levels fluctuate in the summer as boaters flock to the water, Snaper said.

Snaper pointed to Cabinsite Cove, home to fixtures for divers to discover like an old school bus, as a possible designated dive site at Lake Mead. The cove is located north of Kingman Wash, on the lake’s Arizona banks.

Dickson said he believes a designated dive site “makes things easier for both parties” and allows divers to have a “safe operational environment.”

As divers fight for their own cove of the lake, many agreed more education is needed. This could mean signs posted throughout the park, or more education given to those renting boats or personal watercraft on a hot summer’s day.

In the meantime, Lake Mead’s scuba community continues to avoid the dangers above them.

How do they know when there’s a boat coming? “You can hear it,” Snaper said. “We just stay low.”

Contact Estelle Atkinson at eatkinson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @estellelilym on X and @estelleatkinson.bsky.social on Bluesky.