Quarry Diving - What's it like?

I've heard all around the board about people that dive's in quarries, and since English is not my native languaje I looked up what a quary is and found it's some kind of open mine (Quarry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) and it may be filled with water.. Here in México we don't have anything like that, or if we do, I don't know of any and less than all, I never heard of diving in some kind of those places.

I've seen some pictures and videos, but I can't imagine how big a Quarry is, is it like a lake or a Dam? Is there life in a quarry? Is there an activie minig operation in a quarry? Have diving in a quarry its own danger? Is it good only for practice (like a big pool) or it's something different?

Please tell me so I can have a better undestanding of what I read in here.

Thanks!

Quarries come in all different shapes and sizes and depths.

Most quarries were mined for rock and abandoned when they finished the job or when the mining hit a spring that was uncontrollable and quick flooding occurred. Otherwise, when the job was finished, the quarry slowly filled up via springs and rainwater.

most dive quarries are 20 to 150 feet deep and have different levels of depth depending on the outlay of the bottom of the quarry.

In most cases, quarries set up as "dive sites" are run commercially and someone has gone in and sunk training platforms, boats, trucks, or other objects to dive on. These items usually have a buoy tied on the surface as a marker for reference and often have cave/wreck line going between them as a guide for divers. On the surface there is usually a dock or steps for easier entry while wearing dive gear.

most run as commercial dive operations have a dive shop on site where you can buy/rent dive gear and have a compressor and tank fills/rentals on site. Of course options will differ per site/shop.

Quarries are cold. They typically have one to three thermoclines that temperatures differ/drop 5 to 20 degrees easily per thermocline. while the surface temp in the summer might be 85f, bottom temps of 70f or lower easily at 55f or colder are not uncommon.

quarries are a great place to practice or try out new gear as it's in a controlled pool. (no currents, etc).

you asked about active mining operations. I don't know of a quarry that is open for a commercial dive site that has active mining operations. usually mining operations need to be done on a dry base/bottom.

The main lure of diving in a quarry is that often it's much closer to dive locally in a quarry than it is to pay the cost of diving in the ocean on an weekend and having to drive farther out of town. It might be closer than the ocean. (for example I have three quarries within 30 minutes that you can dive in.). For the most part, most places charge about $20/day for admission for quarry diving.

as for "life" in a quarry. It's pretty common that most quarries have some freshwater fish in them. Typically put in by someone in the past. but they multiply over time. Some quarries have "freshwater jellyfish" that are there for a month or two of the year. I've only seen them one time, but it was pretty cool.

Of course all of this is different for different quarries/locations

most are cold water not all i dove this site a lot in wisconsin

WAZEE LAKE RECREATION AREA

Hi Zap,

I've only dove one quarry but will give you the info on it. Dutch Springs in Bethlehem PA is a 50 acre 'lake' that used to be a limestone mine. It is broken up into 3 areas: 1) a kind of water park for the kids with things they can climb on etc; 2) a "Student" side of the quarry that has platformsat various depths and where alot of instructors hold OW cert or other training and 3) a "Pennisula" side which has more platforms. Both the Student side and Pennisula side have many 'attractions' like boats, planes, helicopters that have been 'sunk' and are great to navigate to and explore. This quarry does have some koi and other 'life' but not alot.

It is an old mine so no active mining. I don't know of any quarries with active mining that are also scuba parks.

This quarry is great for skill building and training at a reasonable cost. Viz varies but can be 40 feet to 2 feet depending on how much silting has happened. The student side (for obvious reasons) tends to be more silty.

There are usually thermoclines in quarries and this one requires a 7mil suit year round. Alot folks dive it in a dry suit.

This quarry has a nice setup with air fills on site, bathrooms, camping grounds, and food.

The disadvantage of this quarry diving is no current, no waves. So you don't build skills at managing those things. But you can definitely work on navigation, buoyancy control, safety drills and trying out new equipment etc.

Here is the link to this quarry:

Dutch Springs - Our History

Cold, dark and dead.

N

In Germany there are some abandoned mines, where you can practice cave diving:

oxy doc's hot spots - Höhlentauchen Sachsen, Altes Kalkbergwerk Miltitz

I wouldn't call them quarries though.

Here is a link to one of the premier quarries in the Midwest. It's in Ohio.
Gilboa Quarry Scuba Diving - Training Platforms
Navigate the website to see all it has to offer. Quarries in this part of Ohio are massively popular for open water training dives.
They are good for just plain fun, advancement , activities like the Halloween stuff shown.
Quarries that are commercial dive operations will often have attractions in them like motorcycles, cars boats, trucks, airplanes, helicopters. You name , it might be in one. They put stuff in them to make it interesting. The objects can be used in underwater navigation training etc.
Some quarries will have good fish life in them some will not. Most are on the shallow side , 40 feet or so, and some like this one will hit 130 feet. They often are cold and have a thermocline or two. visibility can be great it can be poor it can be unpredictable.
Quarries are sometimes used my manufacturers to host a showing of their products so you can try before you buy.
The on nice thing is that surface conditions (waves) are predictable so you don't have to worry about being blown out. Lightning is another matter.
Most charge an admission to cover salaries and lawyers (insurance). We like to sue people when we do stupid stuff in the USA.

Randy

Here is my video from Gilboa Quarry in Northwest Ohio USA

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7567866743218145250#

To sum up a Quarry dive in three words:

Cold
Dark
Cold

Some Quarries will have sunken items for your viewing pleasure, but this description fits every single Quarry you can, or will ever dive in.

A rebuttal in three words:

Drysuit
Light
Drysuit



I enjoy quarry diving due to the fact that they are close and accessible.