Blue Springs, Shelbyville, IN 1st dive in IN

[Notso_Ken]

What brought you out our way?

I did two dives at BS this past Monday. The viz is probably down due to lake turnover. The thermocline is pretty much gone now and the quarry water appears to be mixing due to the unusually uniform temperature.

I dove Hidden Paradise today with Wally (crpntr133). It's about 20 minutes or so from Blue Springs.

I've been to Blue Springs, but not familiar with Hidden Paradise. How do I find it?


Ken

 

[Steve_Dives]

I've been to Blue Springs, but not familiar with Hidden Paradise. How do I find it?

Keep me in mind if you're heading there!

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I've been to Blue Springs, but not familiar with Hidden Paradise. How do I find it?


Ken

Here is their website. It's in St. Paul, IN and is about 15 min. or so east of Blue Springs. It is actually Hidden Paradise Campground and the quarry is Dream Lake.

It's not a bad dive really. $10 with $5 air fills, so the price is nice. Awesome camping facilities including 130+ sites, some electric. They even have a dump station for trailers and RVs. The shower house was one of the nicest that I've seen at such a facility.

The quarry is shallow, but there were alot of fish. In the summer I'm sure there's even more, but we saw alot of bass, some crappie and a painted turtle. They have a few underwater attractions. A small school bus, a motorcycle, a few boats. The quarry is down about 5' due to the drought so it's even shallower than normal. On our first dive we went to the bottom of the sump and hit our max depth of the dive ... 26'! On the second dive our max depth was 18' and the average was 15'. It's pretty much one long safety stop, but if you're not hung up on needing depth to get your kicks it's not a bad dive. It's actually an outstanding test of your buoyancy being so shallow, especially in drysuits.

They've recently put in 4 aerators that run most of the summer to improve visibility. The owner has been pretty pleased by how well they've been working. It was probably 10-20' yesterday and some have reported close to 50' at times recently.

They offer swimming and paddle boating during the summer as well, and luckily do not allow fishing.

The one key downside is that the diving entrance is on the opposite side of the quarry from the campground down a hill to get you down to the quarry level, so you have to drive there. They have a couple of decent docks for entry points. Nothing like Gilboa's, but a bit nicer than Blue Springs. There is no shore exit like at Blue Springs. The only exit is up a ramp that is hinged to the dock. Unfortunately there is only a float in the middle of the ramp and not at the end. We found out the hard way that you can't really stand up at the bottom of the ramp and walk out. The ramp sinks and you find yourself climbing up an almost impossible angle, plus the fact that it is entirely moss covered. I bet it was fun to watch us try and get out! We discovered on the second dive that the best technique is to swim as far up the ramp as possible and then crawl out. Might look funny but it works much better than trying to walk out!

All in all we had a good time and will definitely add it to our rotation of dive sites.

 

[crpntr133]

I've been to Blue Springs, but not familiar with Hidden Paradise. How do I find it?


Ken

Here ya go. It isn't deep but it is fun. If you want to see fish then this is a good place. They also have a fair amount sunk but nothing special. Jim mentioned the aerators, they turned them off a couple of weeks ago and that seems to be when the viz went from 50-15.
I need to type faster.


BTW Jim, I had a 50lb lift bag in my truck that we could have tied to the bottom of the ramp. I think it would have done the trick.

 

[Notso_Ken]

Here ya go. It isn't deep but it is fun. If you want to see fish then this is a good place. They also have a fair amount sunk but nothing special. Jim mentioned the aerators, they turned them off a couple of weeks ago and that seems to be when the viz went from 50-15.
I need to type faster.


BTW Jim, I had a 50lb lift bag in my truck that we could have tied to the bottom of the ramp. I think it would have done the trick.

Here is their website. It's in St. Paul, IN and is about 15 min. or so east of Blue Springs. It is actually Hidden Paradise Campground and the quarry is Dream Lake.

It's not a bad dive really. $10 with $5 air fills, so the price is nice. Awesome camping facilities including 130+ sites, some electric. They even have a dump station for trailers and RVs. The shower house was one of the nicest that I've seen at such a facility.

The quarry is shallow, but there were alot of fish. In the summer I'm sure there's even more, but we saw alot of bass, some crappie and a painted turtle. They have a few underwater attractions. A small school bus, a motorcycle, a few boats. The quarry is down about 5' due to the drought so it's even shallower than normal. On our first dive we went to the bottom of the sump and hit our max depth of the dive ... 26'! On the second dive our max depth was 18' and the average was 15'. It's pretty much one long safety stop, but if you're not hung up on needing depth to get your kicks it's not a bad dive. It's actually an outstanding test of your buoyancy being so shallow, especially in drysuits.

They've recently put in 4 aerators that run most of the summer to improve visibility. The owner has been pretty pleased by how well they've been working. It was probably 10-20' yesterday and some have reported close to 50' at times recently.

They offer swimming and paddle boating during the summer as well, and luckily do not allow fishing.

The one key downside is that the diving entrance is on the opposite side of the quarry from the campground down a hill to get you down to the quarry level, so you have to drive there. They have a couple of decent docks for entry points. Nothing like Gilboa's, but a bit nicer than Blue Springs. There is no shore exit like at Blue Springs. The only exit is up a ramp that is hinged to the dock. Unfortunately there is only a float in the middle of the ramp and not at the end. We found out the hard way that you can't really stand up at the bottom of the ramp and walk out. The ramp sinks and you find yourself climbing up an almost impossible angle, plus the fact that it is entirely moss covered. I bet it was fun to watch us try and get out! We discovered on the second dive that the best technique is to swim as far up the ramp as possible and then crawl out. Might look funny but it works much better than trying to walk out!

All in all we had a good time and will definitely add it to our rotation of dive sites.

Thanks, both of you for the quick replies! I will have to check it out some time!

Keep me in mind if you're heading there!

Steve, new dive site to try! When should we give it a try?


Ken

 

[Land Locked]

Dec 1st????

 

[LiamtheDiver]

I was at BS on Friday. Four of us had the place to ourselves. Viz was more in the 10' range; water 54 at the surface; 52 at depth (47'). It was a good day. Heading out again New Year's Day with some friends.

 

[Steve_Dives]

Steve, new dive site to try! When should we give it a try?

Unfortunately for diving, we're into the month of non-stop Christmas parties. I don't think I have plans yet for the weekend right before Christmas, but I know I'm traveling for Christmas and I'll probably be buying last-minute gifts. *sigh* January?

Now, who else do we know crazy enough to dive shallow water in mid-winter???

 

[jepuskar]

Are there training platforms at Blue and Hidden?

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Are there training platforms at Blue and Hidden?

Yes. Blue Springs has 4 wooden platforms I believe, maybe 5. A couple are suspended and the others are built on the bottom. The one main suspended platform is being replaced over the winter.

Hidden Paradise has two. They are the metal, grate-type platforms that sit on the bottom. They obviously hadn't been used in awhile because they were covered with moss/algae growth.