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

[Ulfhedinn]

Any quarries is So Cal... Sometimes the beach can be so crowded.

 

[dmcutter]

I was at the beach last week on vaca and paid $115 for a boat charter for a sweet wreck dive 20 miles off the NC coast. Great diving, too bad I was so miserably sea sick before and between dives. Last night I drove 45 minutes to my local quarry. I got to practice with a full face mask, go to 86 ft in 44 degree water, and do a beautiful night dive swimming the wall of the quarry. Sure, I like the sharks and the 80 degree water, but which dive trip was more productive, as far as developing skills? I just love being under water, and if I can do it weekly in a "boring" quarry vs a few times a year at the coast, why wouldn't I?

 

[BobbyT22]

I tried to go ocean diving this week, I really truly did. I bought tickets for Monday and Friday on a local VA Beach boat but both dives were scrubbed due to the boat having maintenance issues. So, I ran down to Morehead City Thursday night and jumped on another boat Friday morning...only to have it turn around about 30 minutes out due to the 6 foot and building seas.

Not sure when I will get the chance to dive again factoring in work, family (wife, three kids) etc, but it will most likely be in Lake Rawlings because if I can line up a precious free day to dive I won't want to take a risk of another scrubbed dive. I try to dive at least once a month, and if the only way to make that work is in the quarry, so be it.

 

[dburg30]

Heck, I've seen about that many fish in one of the quarries I dive in. Sure wont see sharks or anything like that. But lots of points have been made. it's where I live, and it's where I KNEW I would do most of my diving if I wanted to dive. I dont mind doing that. From the 20' one that's close to me, to the 60-110 foot ones that are a couple hours away, to the quarry outside raleigh NC that my nephew and I dive. I was going to try to get on a charter last oct when we went to Emerald Isle, to hit a couple of wrecks of the NC coast.. Guess what? Never was weather decent enough that I felt comfortable to go diving, and then the rest of the week it was bad enough the CAPTAINS didnt take charters. Unless there is lightning around the quarry, I dont care if there are 40 MPH winds, or blindling rain or anything. I'll jump in the quarry.

Why do people play golf at the same courses? Why do people eat at the same places? Why do you shop at the same places? Usually because you LIKE TO, or it's what's close and you almost HAVE to

 

[iztok]

I dive a lot in local quarry. Piedmont Diving and Rescue Association (PDRA) owns 3 in North Carolina and for a yearly membership of $40 you get 24/7 access to it year round. It is a value one can't beat. It is 25 minutes from my house (the closest quarry that is) and with $250 for yearly set of doubles air fill I get to dive as often as I want (and find someone to dive with).

I would like the dues raised to round $80 per year so we can invest some more and do some upgrades at the quarries to make them even better. It will still be a rocking deal regardless.

Why dive there? If I go to the coast, I would pay $120+ per night for lodging, $40 per day for pet sitting, $160 in gas money, $140 per boat trip, and I am close to $1000 for a weekend trip.

 

[Jaydubya]

@Drewsky As you know, Hatteras was blown out this weekend but the quarries were open for business.

That's why the local shops do their training in the quarries. It's a logistical nightmare to schedule training classes when you have to deal with 40% of days being blown out. There are just too many schedules to coordinate for makeup days: instructor, assistants, and all the different students, and most importantly the boat. Good luck getting a boat for the class on a weekend before the tail end of the season. And if that trip gets blown out then the class rolls over to next season. Life continues in the meantime. Students move away, lose their jobs, get married, have babies, get divorced, or just plain give up on the class before they can complete it.

I love diving in the ocean but when I do my adv trimix class, it sure as hell won't be anywhere on the mid-Atlantic coast. It will be someplace reliable. I'll then do my diving locally.

And like others I know, I will be pissed off repeatedly when I get blown out with my tanks filled with expensive mix and the next trip is going to someplace half as deep. I might take up cave diving to avoid the constant disappointments and frustrations of loving a fickle ocean mistress. You might see me at Rawlings as I try to stay sharp between cave diving trips but you will rarely see me on the boats anymore as my time and diving budget will now be spent in North Florida.

 

[diverjed]

Quarries are not always my favorite dive spot either but when the coast is a minimum 4 hrs away and so weather dependent and you really need to get a diving fix in, they are easy.
But I know what the OP is saying, ya meet some divers out there that are always diving in cliques, and almost never dive anywhere else. They end up getting their dive master / instructor certs in their local watering hole with only 2 ocean dives to account for. Hmm...

 

[Dr Wu]

The only way you could have witnessed this would be by diving the same quarry.

So what is your excuse?

 

[wrybosome]

I get to see my friends, dive with new divers who don't do boats, take kids, meet new buddies, and try out the gear I'm using on the boat the next weekend. I try to alternate. I couldn't do just the quarry but it's a great way to meet people and practice. And like everyone else has said it's a lot less expensive and arduous than getting to and going on the boat. The only problem is that it doesn't get my heart going the way a wreck dive does, it's a more low key sort of fun.

I know one fella who only dives freshwater. Dutch, the other quarries, state park lakes, rivers. He just doesn't like salt water.

 

[dburg30]

So your last statement you threw in, I guess you mean then they try to get a job on the coast / ocean? If they are going to instruct / divemaster and they dont live on the coast, arent planning on moving to the coast..... what would you want them to do to become an instructor? I dont know why many people think that 'scuba diving' only means ocean / salt water / reefs?? And I would ask the same.. Let's say someone does all their diving off key west for example. Sure you can have crappy vis down there, but now come up to Ohio and dive in some of the quarries that either get murky / green, all silted up from run off, have 2 or 3 thermoclines, are 40's to 50's all year at depth, your gonna want to have thick suit, thick gloves, regs that dont act up in cold etc etc? Should I be comfortable with someone that has "only" dove 80 degree water?

Quarries are not always my favorite dive spot either but when the coast is a minimum 4 hrs away and so weather dependent and you really need to get a diving fix in, they are easy.
But I know what the OP is saying, ya meet some divers out there that are always diving in cliques, and almost never dive anywhere else. They end up getting their dive master / instructor certs in their local watering hole with only 2 ocean dives to account for. Hmm...