Cool stuff to put in a quarry?

[TheStosh]

I'm sure similar threads have come up in the past, but I've had trouble turning up much searching the forum. I live near a rock quarry that is open to diving and am friends with the owner. I'm looking for some interesting things to put in it to make it more interesting for new divers.

I've been to quarries that have trucks, boats, planes, and lawn statues, but a lot of these items cost a bit of money.

One thing that has been put in was a buoyancy course made of pvc diamonds suspended at different depths to swim through.

Plastic skeletons leftover from halloween store.

Old cement lawn ornament animals.

Live spoonbill fish caught out of the river.

What are some cool things you have seen placed in dive sites to add interest?
What are some sources to get it at a great (free/cheap) deal?

Feel free to mention cool stuff you have seen that was hard to come by as well.

 

[Captain12Pk]

One place I dive locally has a pretty desolate sandy bottom. I've been bringing and leaving different pieces of steel (of all shapes and grades) so I can watch them deteriorate into my own artificial reef over time. It's fun returning to see what I've created. Of course, working in the steel industry makes this easier for me.

 

[chefchris]

It'd be cool to build some walls and make a scuba maze, with no overhead of course. Kinda out there, but i like entertaining the idea.

I like objects that you can interact with. For instance at Alabama Blue Water I enjoy the bus and the culverts alot more than a crushed car and a boat. The culverts are huge swim-throughs and the bus also makes a nice one.

But I think you should be the first quarry with a scuba maze.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Have you thought of hitting a garage sale? Bicycles could probably be had fairly cheap. Telephones are always fun, even the old desktop rotary kind. Kids toys that are heavy enough to sink OR that have a place you can put sand to help weigh them down would be cheap garage sale finds. One of the coolest things I've seen in a quarry is a playground piece that looks like a space shuttle. You can actually pick it up, adjust your buoyancy and "fly" around on it.

Broken items that people put out for the trash would work as well, think tables, chairs, etc. Heck you could probably go tromping around in the woods just about anywhere and come up with some cool stuff people have trashed. A little bit of elbow grease can make found items nice enough to use at a dive site.

How about painting rocks? New divers could paint their own rock and you could set them in various places and do a navigation tour to find them.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[mike_s]

Chris, you should visit the cave training tunels at Vortex. it's sorta a maze.


As for items to put in a quarry. Think *BIG*.

Madison has an F-4 Fighter and a Minuteman Missile in it. Plus a space shuttle simulator ride and a mock-up used for the original "Space Lab".

Mermet has a Boeing 727 in it.

Portage (I think) just sank a private Jet in their quarry.



Even the small items that Ber Rabbit suggested though are good. The more the better.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

How about some fish?

The thing I enjoy most is to see a healthy, functioning freshwater habitat. I like to see the various species interact, breed, feed, protect their territory or just cruise around. This is why I like quarries like Haigh and Gilboa so much and what I like least about the closest quarry to me, Blue Springs in Waldron, IN.

If I were a quarry owner, I'd consult with freshwater biologists and I'd primarily sink objects that serve some purpose in the ecosystem.

It isn't just coral reefs or kelp forests that form fascinating ecosystems. They can exist in freshwater as well.

 

[BeachJunkie]

Try to steer away from garbage. While my experience is limited, I personally don't find trash to be entertaining. Swim through's are a blast. So keep your eyes open for large tubes that you could probably get for free. People would probably just be happy to be rid of them. I really like the idea of a "maze". That would be a lot of fun. Especially if you managed to make it multiple levels. (not with a roof but maybe certain areas raised above others) to help with boyancy practice. I've seen boyancy practice areas that used hoola hoops. That would be pretty cool. And I'm sure the local instructors would love it. Something like that would have been very helpful for my certification classes. (actually it would be very helpful right now). One of the most entertaining things I've played with so far is an old computer. Don't know why, guess cause I'm a geek. But typing on a 80's style computer 30 ft underwater is pretty amusing. Think photo op. Old toilets, bathtubs, phone booths. Things like that always make for an entertaining moment and a good picture. Perhaps an old video game machine. I mean, who doesn't want to play pacman underwater? Larger things are always cool but you mentioned being on a bit of a budget. I don't know about where you're from but where I used to live it was really easy to find an old bus or truck sitting in a field rotting. You could ask the farmer if you could take it off his hands. Stuff like that is really entertaining. I think one of the coolest things I've seen is an old UH-1 Huey helicopter. Put an add in the paper asking for donations. Someone might have somethin that they'd like to get rid of. Just about anything is cool when its underwater. So get what you can. Just try not to have piles of random crap laying all over the quarry. Maybe have it broken up into sections and add to the rules of the quarry about not removing certain things from certain areas. That way you could have multiple points of interest throughout the quarry and could use them to help with UW nav classes as well. Good luck and let us know what you sink!

 

[cdreamer]

Dutch Springs has a bunch of very large Japanese Koi which I thought were awesome.
They can get to around 50 lbs and are very hardy and colorful. If you buy them small
they are pretty cheap. They grow pretty fast and can make it through the winter.
They hang out in large groups at Dutch and that is my favorite thing to see there.
Terri

 

[Gary D.]

I

Plastic skeletons leftover from halloween store.

I will disagree with this one. I know of one case and there may have been more where one of those was a contributing factor to a diver’s death.

Gary D.

 

[phunk]

Gotta agree on that, too much potential to induce panic in someone not expecting them.