Vermont Fall Weekend Roadtrip

Last weekend AlaskaDiver and I headed up to Vermont to enjoy the foliage and some fresh water diving. Of particular interest was the mention of doing some cave diving at an old marble quarry in West Rutland as confimed by Reefseal. Our plans were to drive up after work on Friday and then dive the True Blue Marble Quarry on Saturday (04 October 2008). We followed this up by booking a charter dive for Sunday (05 October 2008) on Lake Champlain through Waterfront Diving Center in Burlington.

Well we maintained this schedule and had a ball as the foliage is at and/or near its peak and the diving was fabulous! In particular we very much enjoyed the dive at True Blue. We checked out the quarry area above ground for quite a while as we eventually found the airshaft opening. We were the only folks around and sadly it is apparent that this area has become a local dumping ground. Regardless of this, the beauty of the quarry shone through as I've included a number of pictures. The first two pictures are of the open areas while the third picture is of the surface to try and show the wonderful visibility. The fourth picture is the opening of the airshaft into the mine tunnel. AlaskaDiver deserves credit for the pictures.

We entered and exited on the wooden ladder into the mine shaft. The water was 43 F at surface but at a depth of 20' it dropped to 41 F where it remained throughout. The tunnel opening began at 90' as we immediately found a gold line going into the tunnel and maintained a depth of 100' throughout. We followed the line into the tunnel for a 350' penetration. The tunnel is wide as the walls and ceiling are sharply cut marble. There are a number of old mining equipment including some tracks, a shovel and various rusted debris along the bottom. The visibility was 50' or better! We turned after 14 minutes as our total dive was 35 minutes which included 8 minutes for stops. We were both wearing doubles with EAN-32 and stayed within our 1/6ths Basic Cave Diver training limits. The dive was wonderful and fascinating as it is one that I certainly look forward to returning to for much more exploration.

Our dives on Lake Champlain included the O.J. Walker Sailing Canal Boat wreck and the General Butler Sailing Canal Boat wreck. Both of these wrecks are from the late 1800s and in nice condition within relatively shallow waters. The water temperatures here were 61 F.

Last weekend was a wonderful time to dive before winter settles in as Vermont does have much to offer as a change of pace from our typical Rhode Island diving. I look forward to more adventures in both places next season!

I dove the Walker the day before you, also through Waterfront. Fun, easy dive.

The quarry offer anything for a non cave certified diver? Always looking for somewhere new to dive, within the AoW limits.

Nice report guy. Looks like a nice adventure away from the ocean and a refreshing change to dive vintage New England in the Autum. I always love inland lake diving in the fall.

Very interesting dive reports, thanks!

How was the vis in the lake? What depths were the wrecks at?

Dave C

CFDAlden:

The quarry offer anything for a non cave certified diver? Always looking for somewhere new to dive, within the AoW limits.

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Yes the quarry has a large open area as shown in the first 3 pictures. Apparently there are reportedly a number of cars in there along with cut marble platforms. There is a nice entry/exit area with wide wooden steps as well. The only caveat will be the colder temperatures although these were not an issue for us as we were diving dry.

dave4868:

How was the vis in the lake? What depths were the wrecks at?

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The visibility in Lake Champlain was around 20' although a couple of our other dive boat patrons silted it up pretty well as there is alot of fine sediment on the wrecks and bottom. The OJ Walker depth was 61' while the General Butler was 40'

I had fun and hope to be able to explore more there next time! The hardest part was exiting out of the water climbing up a slimy wooden ladder wearing doubles.

you could have accessed the cavern/cave without the shaft. The main body of water has tunnels/caverns that don't require getting in and out with a ladder.

ReefSeal, could you give a little more info on the quarry? Hoping to dive the open water part next year. None of dive crew dives dry, except me. I'm only an hour, hour and a half from here.