Flooded quarries near Alabaster, AL?

[bamamedic]

My new ambulance partner mentioned that in his teen years, he swam at several flooded quarries somewhere in the Alabaster area (and one in the Tuscaloosa area!). From what he remembered, he said they seemed pretty large and were deep enough that he could not see the bottom. He gave me directions...which I promptly forgot but it wouldn't be a problem to get him to write them down for me. Has anyone else heard of these quarries? Assuming they are divable (is "divable" even a word? ) is there anything I would need to know about diving a "wild" (LOL) quarry?

 

[Britt]

Just a few suggestions:

Get written permission from the property owner to dive, and to conduct your tests.

Dive dry and if possible, use a FFM, there might be contaminants in the water.

Take only what you need on the dive, a bulky BCD and 50 pounds of extra toys wont help a bit if all you need is the z-knife that is stuck behind the camera, that is attached to the strap that holds your bug bag, that has you signal mirror on it, that is folded inside of your line arrow bag, that is...

Do a drive by... get a small boat and a depth finder to check the depths and obstacles. Make a map of the quarry before jumping in and hoping for the best. a good DF can let you know what to expect on the bottom other than silt, etc.

Get water samples done if possible. Preferably a few at different depths just in case it is contaminated and the thermocline, or other 'cline keeps it separated.

Make sure everyone is experienced before you jump in the water, it may be cold, black water, full of fishing lines, snakes, etc. Make sure your team is prepared before you start and everyone knows what to do, who to call, how to direct EMS, and everything else in case of an emergency.

Dont take a chance on getting hurt to find out what is at the bottom.

Those are just a few of the things I go over before hitting a virgin quarry or dive site.

Sorry if I left anything out, which I am sure I did. Hope it helps

 

[bamamedic]

Thanks, Britt! Lots of stuff I didn't even think about....

 

[tstonedvr]

The closest I've every come to dying while diving was checking out a quarry..Me and Doc found a quarry at the edge of TN, got in touch with the owner and took off....it was a old one with ten foot walls all the way around but for one spot where the trucks came out....it was in a cow pasture and the cows used this spot for water, we noticed they didn't go in very far as cows tend to like to wade in, it was winter so we suited up in dry-suits and twins and off we go...it was OK at first then without warning it became a mud pit from Hell with tree limbs and the occasional rock, we turned around and the mud was past the knees and on full suction, Doc lost a fin, it was a massive struggle to make it back in,I'll never have a heart attack because that was my chance , my heart rate must have been 500...I got my tanks off and went back to help Doc who was having a horrible time of it, and thinking the whole time I hope his heart holds out as he has had some issues in the past, he made it... the cows looked at us like you stupid humans...so Britt's advice is spot on....we ain't been back.....

 

[BNow0707]

Check out google maps or if you can download the google earth software. I just took a quick glance and there are several quarries right around alabaster. Some appear to still be active even though partially flooded. Some appear to be abandoned. Look for blue or teal colored water. Most of the "natural waters" are greenish or brown colored. If you get on the map look at ABWA and you'll see the water color to look for. I have found several diveable quarries this way. And be sure to research what was mined from these quarries as some may be potentially hazardous.