Building underwater attractions

[scubadada]

Why build an artificial "attraction?" Isn't the marine life you see naturally enough of a draw?

I'm with you Dr Bill. Other than artificial reefs/sunken ships, I have little interest. I doubt I will ever dive a quarry though one of my homes is reasonably close to Dutch Springs. I've avoided it for 18 years, doesn't seem very likely now. I guess you do what you have available.

 

[maj2]

I'm with you Dr Bill. Other than artificial reefs/sunken ships, I have little interest. I doubt I will ever dive a quarry though one of my homes is reasonably close to Dutch Springs. I've avoided it for 18 years, doesn't seem very likely now. I guess you do what you have available.

I dive a quarry for convenience. Better viz than some of the local wreck sites, and a far shorter drive than the better viz sites that are not too local.
Still... the stuff that has been sunk there does get to be a bit boring after a while. It was interesting the first few dives, but now they more or less serve as landmarks for navigation.

I have always been leery of "underwater attractions;" however, we are planning a trip to Grenada this summer that will likely involve a dive at the "Grenada Underwater Sculpture Park" (Grenada Underwater Sculpture Park | The World's First Underwater Sculpture Gallery). I will reserve judgement on the site itself until I dive it, but I suspect that I will be paying closer attention to the colonization of the sculptures that I do to the sculptures themselves. Nonetheless, the site does seem an interesting mix of "underwater attraction" and artificial reef.

 

[scubadada]

I dive a quarry for convenience. Better viz than some of the local wreck sites, and a far shorter drive than the better viz sites that are not too local.
Still... the stuff that has been sunk there does get to be a bit boring after a while. It was interesting the first few dives, but now they more or less serve as landmarks for navigation.

I have always been leery of "underwater attractions;" however, we are planning a trip to Grenada this summer that will likely involve a dive at the "Grenada Underwater Sculpture Park" (Grenada Underwater Sculpture Park | The World's First Underwater Sculpture Gallery). I will reserve judgement on the site itself until I dive it, but I suspect that I will be paying closer attention to the colonization of the sculptures that I do to the sculptures themselves. Nonetheless, the site does seem an interesting mix of "underwater attraction" and artificial reef.

I certainly do not begrudge folks their local diving, diving is much better than not diving

 

[emoreira]

Why build an artificial "attraction?" Isn't the marine life you see naturally enough of a draw?

It's a quarry, this means there is little to see. Marine (?) life is only a catfish here or there. Far from what can be seen in the sea.

 

[flyin01]

So what does everyone like to see in a quarry? We have a new dive area opening up in the Chicago area and want to start adding things for divers to do/see. We will have the standard platforms and a bouyance course but with significant environmental restrictions we are having a hare time thinking of other things to do or see. Any ideas?

 

[drbill]

Good point. I guess I missed that. Although I dove quarries back in the 60s, they had fish, crayfish and other things to see (and the vis wasn't so bad). Understand that not everyone is surrounded by some of the best diving in the world... SoCal giant kelp forests out here.

It's a quarry, this means there is little to see. Marine (?) life is only a catfish here or there. Far from what can be seen in the sea.

 

[1982shawn]

So I'm guessing this is out of the question?

---------- Post added April 17th, 2015 at 07:44 PM ----------

I was first thinking something like this, but multiple leveled.

After everyone voiced their concern about the possibility of getting trapped inside and dying i think something along these lines but much larger is a good idea.

The frame could be pvc pipe and the walls could be pvc sheet. Of course there would need to be top and bottom cross braces. It could be mounted to concrete bases with adjustable levels (for silt) and could even be taken apart and rearranged every few months or once a year.

 

[OtherHalf]

If each panel was hinged at the top it would allow a panicking diver to just make an easy exit in any direction by just swimming through the wall, while allowing a great training site for wreck penetration. Floors would have to be solid if you wanted to make it multi-layered but it would make an easy modular system that could be rearranged.

I like it in concept, but it would need to be very large to be big enough for a buddy team to explore and have training value. Each cube maybe 5x5x5. If you figure 4 layers high, each layer maybe 6 cubes by 6 cubes. Thats a lot of material...

 

[Youssef ElNahas]

This is a great idea!

 

[1982shawn]

This is a great idea!

Thanks, I'm glad to see others share my enthusiasm for different underwater attractions.