Fun stuff in Boring places...

[trucker girl]

At the quarry (forgive me if I sound like I'm starting to harp...) it can get boring.

There's always the fish, but what are some things my buddy and I can do for fun? We stay on the shallow side so dropping things/recovery isn't a major deal.

I like to do headstands and practice my buoyancy upside down.

At Gilboa, someone has put a bowling ball on one of the platforms. Last fall we played volleyball with it (you can't really bowl with it underwater ) but this year someone has written "Do Not Remove" and has it inside a "hidden treasure chest." So I don't feel comfortable playing with someone else's stuff- even though they DID leave it on a platform in a Quarry!

Suggestions?

 

[jpsexton]

Sometimes I like to find crayfish to feed the bass. If you look close along the bottom or the edge of a rock pile you will see dark sediment where they have made a home. You have to be very carefull to not stir up the bottom when lifting the rocks to find them. You also have to have pretty good bouyancy control to stay off the bottom. (you allmost have to stand on your head) The Bass in our quarry know the drill and after they see you uncovering the crawfish they'll follow you around for the rest of the dive.

 

[erparamedic]

I spoke the the lady that runs Haigh Quarry up in northern IL, and they have lots an infestation of zebra mussels, that they are trying to get control of. She said when we come up to crush some zebra mussels and feed them to the fish. She said the fish love it. I am typically a "no touch" person, even in the quarry. But, since the lady that runs the quarry mentioned it, and it's an infestation that is damaging, I'd be willing to help get rid of a few by feeding them to the fishies. I just hope the fish don't get a little over-zealous.... there's fish with big teeth in there (northern pike)! I prefer to keep all my fingers attached and in working order!

 

[brutus_scuba]

I spoke the the lady that runs Haigh Quarry up in northern IL, and they have lots an infestation of zebra mussels, that they are trying to get control of. She said when we come up to crush some zebra mussels and feed them to the fish. She said the fish love it. I am typically a "no touch" person, even in the quarry. But, since the lady that runs the quarry mentioned it, and it's an infestation that is damaging, I'd be willing to help get rid of a few by feeding them to the fishies. I just hope the fish don't get a little over-zealous.... there's fish with big teeth in there (northern pike)! I prefer to keep all my fingers attached and in working order!

A guy I dive with always plays with the snails and zebra mussels to feed the fish. He'll even put it in his mouth and the fish will come right up and eat it.

The funnies story he tells is a time he brought whiz cheese or whatever in the can. He sprayed cheese on his hand so that when he was helping his buddy pu this gear on he spread the cheese all over his buddies tank and back of the bcd (without his buddy knowing) he said he buddy was being attacked by fish the whole dive.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Break-dancing over a platform is always fun Work on keeping your arms crossed in front of you and using hip, shouder, head and fin movements to do spins--oh and maintain your position in the water column without whacking the platform with your head/tank/fins (especially your head )while you're doing it. It will give you a good idea about how much control you can have over your body without using your hands.

Really bored? How about taking a large slate down and making yourself a map of the quarry? Take headings from one item to the next and measure distances either with fin kicks or if you're really bored get one of those plastic 100' measuring tape reels and make a scale map.

UNO has waterproof cards now :biggrin:

There are always toypedoes and underwater frisbees too.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[erparamedic]

Ber... the dancing over the platforms bit sounds like fun! I don't think I could map a quarry though... I have horrible navigation skills! But, UNO, now that sounds fun!

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Ber... the dancing over the platforms bit sounds like fun! I don't think I could map a quarry though... I have horrible navigation skills! But, UNO, now that sounds fun!

You just have to start with the right quarry Gilboa has ropes from one attraction to the next so you can practice reading your compass and know you're headed in the right direction. When you get the hang of the compass then you put information on the map that doesn't correspond to existing ropes.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[erparamedic]

You just have to start with the right quarry Gilboa has ropes from one attraction to the next so you can practice reading your compass and know you're headed in the right direction. When you get the hang of the compass then you put information on the map that doesn't correspond to existing ropes.
Ber :lilbunny:

Last quarry I visited was Natural Springs, and you mentioned in another thread that's not a good quarry to navigate in cause of all the metal. I suppose it may be easier for me to navigate in nicer water. I think there's a mental block that goes up when the viz is bad... and that day it was only 2 feet by the 3rd dive... and it was the 3rd dive that I was trying to practice navigation. I'm going to Blue Springs in 3 weeks, I hear viz is pretty good there.

Anyway, back to the topic of this thread, I just wonder how to keep the UNO stack from floating away. I suppose a rock on the top of the stack might work. I've also heard of underwater frisbee. Komi has a wind up Nemo that swims underwater.... it's kinda cute!

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Anyway, back to the topic of this thread, I just wonder how to keep the UNO stack from floating away. I suppose a rock on the top of the stack might work. I've also heard of underwater frisbee. Komi has a wind up Nemo that swims underwater.... it's kinda cute!

Natural Springs is not the place to learn navigation--it will make you crazy

I've been trying to figure out the UNO card stack problem. I was wondering if one of those large binder clips would work.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[runamonk]

At the quarry (forgive me if I sound like I'm starting to harp...) it can get boring.

There's always the fish, but what are some things my buddy and I can do for fun? We stay on the shallow side so dropping things/recovery isn't a major deal.

I like to do headstands and practice my buoyancy upside down.

At Gilboa, someone has put a bowling ball on one of the platforms. Last fall we played volleyball with it (you can't really bowl with it underwater ) but this year someone has written "Do Not Remove" and has it inside a "hidden treasure chest." So I don't feel comfortable playing with someone else's stuff- even though they DID leave it on a platform in a Quarry!

Suggestions?

My wife and I dive down at Alki beach alot (West Seattle, Washington) and it can get a little boring. So I picked up a new dry suit and I did my first dive with it. The boots on it are about a size and half too big for my feet so there is tons of room in there, well I was able to invert really really easily. So my wife was giggling at me the whole time. I'll be trying out some fin keepers this weekend to see if they will compress the boots enough so that I don't have to put new on there.

Two of our best friends have this plastic skull head that we're planning on planting somewhere with an old mask on it for someone to find, figure someone will get a good giggle out of it while looking around for an octo hehe.