DawgDiver
Contributor
Went up to Dive Haven today for the first time. Really wasn't sure to expect. First off, alot of work has gone into getting that place ready. The office is still run out of a trailer, but they have onsite showers, changing rooms, and a couple of porta-potties. There are several picnic areas, as well as one covered picnic area that'll keep you out of the shade. They had constructed 3 docks, all good size and offering easy entry into the water. The water from the surface looked beautiful, clear and blue... and the surface temp was a cozy 80 degrees, and for about the first 30 ft, the water remained comfotably in the mid to high 70's. Viz up to that point was good at about 30 ft. However, the thermocline is VERY noticeable. You drop down below 30ft and you will not have to look at your computer to know it just got a lot colder. The viz also gets bad at the thermocline, just very murky... when diving the crane in the north end of the quarry, viz was below 5 ft and the lowest temp i recorded on my computer was 64 degrees, at 36 feet. I was told by other divers there diving that day that the viz clears up at around 70 feet, and that they recorded temps of 45 degrees at 130ft.
After withstanding about all we could take of the cold and groping around to find the crane we ascended to 20ft and continued on along the north wall, and stopped to check out the car wreck. Even though it looked like it had a great drive shaft still intact, alas I was unable to pull it from the wreckage. I probably would have gotten some looks anyway. We didn't ID the vehicle but I didn't feel much like descending to check out the VIN number on the dash with the front end below the thermocline.
From there we basically gawked at the rock walls (cliffs, really) some which were almost vertical and went down further than we cared to go.
So all in all, pretty good dives. I was wearing a full 3/2mm with a 3mm hooded vest, and I'm pretty sure i wouldn't want to venture any deeper than 40 feet without a thicker suit (or a drysuit for that matter). But it definetly beats Lake Lanier, the water is overall clearer, and you don't have to worry about the boats, or fishing line. I'd also have to say the the owners are very nice people. They came down and talked to us a couple of times, asked us how things were going and told us where to find everything down there. They also said they plan on continuing to improve the facilities. I'd definetly go back to Dive Haven.
After withstanding about all we could take of the cold and groping around to find the crane we ascended to 20ft and continued on along the north wall, and stopped to check out the car wreck. Even though it looked like it had a great drive shaft still intact, alas I was unable to pull it from the wreckage. I probably would have gotten some looks anyway. We didn't ID the vehicle but I didn't feel much like descending to check out the VIN number on the dash with the front end below the thermocline.
From there we basically gawked at the rock walls (cliffs, really) some which were almost vertical and went down further than we cared to go.So all in all, pretty good dives. I was wearing a full 3/2mm with a 3mm hooded vest, and I'm pretty sure i wouldn't want to venture any deeper than 40 feet without a thicker suit (or a drysuit for that matter). But it definetly beats Lake Lanier, the water is overall clearer, and you don't have to worry about the boats, or fishing line. I'd also have to say the the owners are very nice people. They came down and talked to us a couple of times, asked us how things were going and told us where to find everything down there. They also said they plan on continuing to improve the facilities. I'd definetly go back to Dive Haven.
