Quarry Diving: 500 Dives in a Quarry - Are You SERIOUS???

[knowone]

I really admire folks that dive for divings sake
The reason for rec diving is doveing for diving


When my predominantly, salt weathered friends
approach when I'm standing atop a puddle, and
enquire about a few but far between perfect day
in relation to the vis, or, whether I have been in
I quietly question their motives and ignore them

Although the greeting, how's the vis? is a bit like
hanging around a copper's bar, when you are not

 

[ChaosHokie]

Easy and cheap.

You also don't have to do the following:
* contend with the fact that the wife will get jealous of you going to a "beach" area and have her tag along
* if wife's coming, so are the kids
* find a hotel on the beach (read: more expensive) so that the wife and kids wont be bored while you're diving all day
* reserve all of this 3-4 weeks in advance so you get a seat on the boat and a room in the hotel
* get a head-cold the day before your trip begins, but can't change your plans because you paid for your hotel on a discount site to save some money
* stress out about having a head-cold and getting worried about not being able to equalize and/or reverse block concerns
* show up to your dive destination, only to find that the winds are blowing 10-20mph on the beach, and get blown out all 3 days of your (now) summer vacation
* spend close to $1000 (hotel, food, gas, aquarium fees, etc etc) for a dive trip where you never actually dove

** Yes, this was my experience this past weekend

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Many of us do not have the luxury of living next to a coast. I'm also not a doctor, lawyer, CEO, etc with lots of funds to spend on travel. The nearest ocean diving is a 7hr drive min. Lake Erie is two but it is also 50-75 in gas, 100 for the boat, if I'm doing Erie I want a little Helium in the mix so min $50 for a fill, plus lunch. That works out about $100 per dive. Quarry is 20 bucks in gas, free air, and an hour away. If I had a job that paid me big bucks I'd travel more. If I had the vacation time. I get three weeks and aside from a day where I need to do something most of that now is dive related. But it's a two edged sword. Take a vacation day and its straight time for the week. No OT. That can hurt depending on bills due.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Hell, you should see the crap that I call dive sites......just so I can dive. Some people are blessed to be near great diving, some are not. I fall into the latter so I will dive in whatever I can.

 

[Tristan.ak]

Im in the same boat or pond. In Fairbanks we have nice diving, but 400 miles away for a weekend trip and one doesn't know the vis before hand. That makes its a toss up of fishing or diving all depending on vis. Im going to be diving a gravel pit pond this weekend since its free close and I can work on finning, buoyancy, navigation (as i sit in front of this screen in Alaska states mapping office and Im making a map as I type!), and build my confidence in the water, also I might see a massive pike that I missed last time that was right in front of my face. There is a toilet, car, and some other crap people have tossed into it so its a mapping/discovery day. I might as well place some objects in for a little change.

 

[Jaydubya]

Thus said the Lord, "Thou art yet ignorant in the ways of the waters and thy fins are but flippers. Thou shalt never hold thy breath. Thou art the salt of the earth and in the same shalt thou dive. Thou shalt log thy dives lest though be cast into the Lake of Fire for all eternity without thy gear." And I so did. It came to pass that I journeyed inland and came upon a hole in the ground covered with water. Heeding not the dictates of the Lord, I girded my neoprene and ventured beneath the still waters. The rocks were wet, the beasts of the depths were exceedingly strange, and the water tasted not of blood, sweat, and tears but of Dasani. While sweet the flavor, it held not the adventure of the waters of my youth and I found it an abomination. But the people of the quarries welcomed me and thus ever into my logbook is it written : "Though our waters weight differently our wetsuits smell samely."

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Some folks just like to blow bubbles. Does it matter where? Not to my concern ... if a quarry is what's handy, go for it.

I consider myself lucky in the extreme to live in a place where diving is convenient, relatively inexpensive (mostly shore diving), and interesting. Most folks don't have it that good.

If you love diving enough to trek off to a quarry often, because that's what you've got available, then you're probably somebody I'd seriously enjoy diving with.

It's the joy that matters ... not the location ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[tstormdiver]

Thus said the Lord, "Thou art yet ignorant in the ways of the waters and thy fins are but flippers. Thou shalt never hold thy breath. Thou art the salt of the earth and in the same shalt thou dive. Thou shalt log thy dives lest though be cast into the Lake of Fire for all eternity without thy gear." And I so did. It came to pass that I journeyed inland and came upon a hole in the ground covered with water. Heeding not the dictates of the Lord, I girded my neoprene and ventured beneath the still waters. The rocks were wet, the beasts of the depths were exceedingly strange, and the water tasted not of blood, sweat, and tears but of Dasani. While sweet the flavor, it held not the adventure of the waters of my youth and I found it an abomination. But the people of the quarries welcomed me and thus ever into my logbook is it written : "Though our waters weight differently our wetsuits smell samely."

Interesting take,....... I like it!!!!!!

 

[scubadobadoo]

I have a good 50 dives at Dutch Springs from when I lived in NYC. While I have to admit that after 50 dives it sucked, I still sometimes went. Here are a few reasons why people go to Dutch instead of heading to a boat that may be much closer:

1. It's cheaper even after gas and tolls.
2. It's more social since anyone can hang out on land including bubble watchers, not as easy or cheap on a boat. Kids even have places to play. It's family friendly.
3. It's easier and cheaper and more reliable to train in a quarry
4. Almost zero chance of a blow out
5. It's much easier than diving in the Atlantic. MUCH easier. The Atlantic off NYC isn't a friendly place and isn't as nice as that video that was posted. Diving off NYC makes that video you posted look like, well, Dutch Springs. Honestly fighting with Wreck Alley is sometimes too damn much for recreational diving. Dutch springs is more like your video than diving out of Coney Island. Now, if it were like your video, NOBODY would go to Dutch!
6. You don't have to be there at 5am
7. It's better than nothing
8. You meet more people than you can on a boat
9. It's great for testing all that new gear without fear of task loading

 

[Sortsol]

I got certified in 2001 and didn't dive again till 2008...mostly because I thought I didn't live anywhere where you could dive...(Germany then D.C., then S.C.). I didn't realise the options available to me in SC and never even looked in the other locations... If I'd been plugged into the scubaboard back then I would have dove all the time and if I'd known about quarry's and the option to dive them, I'd have taken the chance to do so.

Of course, in a few years I'll move back to a landlocked place and have to put my money where my mouth is. I'll say that I'm quickly learning that I can't live without it anymore so if a Quarry is where I have to dive in order to keep up my skills and training...a quarry is where I'll dive. (I will also search for other options as well!)