dutch springs is boring

[VTernovski]

Lets take this a bit farther. Supposed your pony bottle had a cracked neck? (I have observed several pony bottles with cracks).

What if one of your doubles had a cracked neck or slow leak? Would you continue to dive? My terminology was not entirely correct (thanks for the correction). But the point made was that if you are uncomfortable or have no experience with doubles, H-valves on single tanks offer a next level degree of safety (fully redundant regulators/back up gauges/computers, Etc.) Diving with a pony tank plays havoc with trim unless you sling it in front but the extra drag is still there. And, to do the depths that NJ diving attractions require, a pony would need to be 30 Cu Ft or more to do a "safe" ascent (and probably no safety stop).

Obviously, diving doubles is the ideal. No argument here.

form that picture, doesn't look like it's a pony. it's a deco bottle since he just mentioned he is going into deco on those dives.

If one of the doubles has a cracked neck, you will need to shut down the isolator and abort the dive, at least you can maintain your full stops. What are you going to do when your single tank has a cracked neck? that's where H-valve is useless, at this point you will have no choice but to ask me for gas. I agree that a pony has to be at least 30cu.ft. anything smaller and it's useless.

 

[VTernovski]

Dutch is great exercise for your gear, body and skills if done with a season pass, but paying the $21 per entry fee is a bit much and adds up. After ~ 6 entries, that's the season pass. There are many undocumented sights that are told word of mouth and interesting features in areas where divers often do not go ... in the sections we use, the outbound swim alone is 90' deep and takes over 30min. Suffice to say, these dives are all deco dives, but the vis easily exceeds 80' and the wall is sheer and caribbean like.

This is a recent picture with over 60' of vis at 85'.

Hey, I was looking for this car the other day... is this car near the hole? do you have pictures of those two cars and two vans on the south west corner of the lake?

here are some more shots of things at Dutch that are not on the map... I particularly like abundance of telephone poles along the south road. especially those near the tanker with some cables still going down. looks cool when you swim through the empty road, give you an eerie feeling.

 

[Saturation]

Hey, I was looking for this car the other day... is this car near the hole? do you have pictures of those two cars and two vans on the south west corner of the lake?

here are some more shots of things at Dutch that are not on the map... I particularly like abundance of telephone poles along the south road. especially those near the tanker with some cables still going down. looks cool when you swim through the empty road, give you an eerie feeling.

Those are great pictures of the area near the pit! That's Dutch's deepest point, about 110' ... but as you may have found it tapers into a cone and only your arm will reach that depth.

I do have pictures but there are not very clear. As you've made it to the pit area, return and stay on the southern wall and keep swimming West. The 2 cars will be about half the distance to the cove before the southern wall opens to allow you to swim south. If you reach a wall infront of you facing west, you've passed the cars. That's the 'cove' wall. The car's wall is very sheer, and possibly the best wall at Dutch. Please pass on not to salvage any of those cars ... unlike the other 'attractions' these cars fell a long time ago ... one car has a rock jammed on the accelerator. Its got all its parts intact.

~ 600' directly south from the Pennisula entrance.
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/addressimage.aspx?t=1&s=10&lon=-75.3562915215507&lat=40.682077208149&alon=-75.35634330&alat=40.68475807878&w=2&ref=A%7c4733+Hanoverville+Rd%2c+Bethlehem%2c+PA+18020

The van is in the edge of the cove. If you swim past the wall going west and head to the very edge of the quarry, there is at least one van there .. I haven't seen the other van, but it gives me ideas.

Either of these wrecks is a long swim, so enjoy!

 

[dutchfin]

Those are great pictures of the area near the pit! That's Dutch's deepest point, about 110' ... but as you may have found it tapers into a cone and only your arm will reach that depth.

I do have pictures but there are not very clear. As you've made it to the pit area, return and stay on the southern wall and keep swimming West. The 2 cars will be about half the distance to the cove before the southern wall opens to allow you to swim south. If you reach a wall infront of you facing west, you've passed the cars. That's the 'cove' wall. The car's wall is very sheer, and possibly the best wall at Dutch. Please pass on not to salvage any of those cars ... unlike the other 'attractions' these cars fell a long time ago ... one car has a rock jammed on the accelerator. Its got all its parts intact.

~ 600' directly south from the Pennisula entrance.
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/addressimage.aspx?t=1&s=10&lon=-75.3562915215507&lat=40.682077208149&alon=-75.35634330&alat=40.68475807878&w=2&ref=A%7c4733+Hanoverville+Rd%2c+Bethlehem%2c+PA+18020

The van is in the edge of the cove. If you swim past the wall going west and head to the very edge of the quarry, there is at least one van there .. I haven't seen the other van, but it gives me ideas.

Either of these wrecks is a long swim, so enjoy!

I found that the best way to do the cove is to surface swim to the south wall from the penninsula, drop down to @ 25-30', and start heading west. As long as you dont make too many deep descents, an AL 80 should get you back to the exit on the west side of the penninsula. Not really a dive for a new diver as it is a really long swim. Takes approximately @ 1hr. to do. GREAT DIVE !!!

 

[Saturation]

I found that the best way to do the cove is to surface swim to the south wall from the penninsula, drop down to @ 25-30', and start heading west. As long as you dont make too many deep descents, an AL 80 should get you back to the exit on the west side of the penninsula. Not really a dive for a new diver as it is a really long swim. Takes approximately @ 1hr. to do. GREAT DIVE !!!

Good exercise, good dive, good approach! Just having started the NJ dive season in 5' of vis and 38-48F, Dutch's 50-80' of vis is such a contrast.

 

[IzzyTahil]

Those are great pictures of the area near the pit! That's Dutch's deepest point, about 110' ... but as you may have found it tapers into a cone and only your arm will reach that depth.

I do have pictures but there are not very clear. As you've made it to the pit area, return and stay on the southern wall and keep swimming West. The 2 cars will be about half the distance to the cove before the southern wall opens to allow you to swim south. If you reach a wall infront of you facing west, you've passed the cars. That's the 'cove' wall. The car's wall is very sheer, and possibly the best wall at Dutch. Please pass on not to salvage any of those cars ... unlike the other 'attractions' these cars fell a long time ago ... one car has a rock jammed on the accelerator. Its got all its parts intact.

~ 600' directly south from the Pennisula entrance.
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/addressimage.aspx?t=1&s=10&lon=-75.3562915215507&lat=40.682077208149&alon=-75.35634330&alat=40.68475807878&w=2&ref=A%7c4733+Hanoverville+Rd%2c+Bethlehem%2c+PA+18020

The van is in the edge of the cove. If you swim past the wall going west and head to the very edge of the quarry, there is at least one van there .. I haven't seen the other van, but it gives me ideas.

Either of these wrecks is a long swim, so enjoy!

No one has been able to give us particulars like yours and I was starting to doubt they existed. Thanks for the info!! We will go looking for it

 

[Saturation]

No one has been able to give us particulars like yours and I was starting to doubt they existed. Thanks for the info!! We will go looking for it

Enjoy, the van we saw had the roof caved in from falling off the cliff. The pictures are not very good but this gives an idea.

 

[VTernovski]

thanks Saturation!

and so, who said Dutch is boring?

 

[Saturation]

thanks Saturation!

and so, who said Dutch is boring?

Welcome, there's always something interesting happening, and it changes with season and water temp ... and the same can be said of the ocean too.

Our friend was testing his new high end camera so these images are better ...

The green algae once covered the northern walls near the cove, its been clearing since the summer started, so its not as vivid green as this ....

Another pic of the 'other cars' on the southern wall ...

 

[diverbrian]

Let me just say that I wish that I had read this thread. I started to see a little of the quarry and had to go home (note the state of residence, LOL). I will say that the quarry here that I consider equivalent as far as uses is much cheaper to dive. I have a hundred and seventy-five dollars invested into a year's pass up here. His normal rates are $12.00/ day but you can treat the place like a live-aboard once you check in. There isn't any of this restricted hours for diving stuff that I noticed at Dutch.

All of the negatives having been said, I was actually starting to enjoy Dutch when I left as I was five dives into my trip and finally getting a chance to navigate it. My dive buddies had AL80's (and more importantly were testing out new drysuits) so much past the Cessna in the middle of the quarry wasn't happening. I never did get to see that chopper. I just felt that it was pricey for what it was. If I lived in your neck of the woods, I would have the season pass which is actually about the same price as the one that I have here.