BDankanich
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New to the area, any divers out there around the Frederick MD area? Looking for some new dive buddies. SDI/TDI trained, looking to get up to Juturna before we get froze out.
Frederick MD area divers
- Thread starter BDankanich
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Hmmm, that might be tricky. As far as I know, Juturna is not open until next Spring.
Yeah, Juturna hasn’t opened yet, they’re still setting up the infrastructure from what I understand, but haven’t seen an update in a while. As far as I know they’re shooting for Spring 2022.
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BDankanich
Registered
Ok so scratch Juturna, anyone have any other suggestions?
I went down to Lake Phoenix a few weekends ago, water was still nice. I'm in Loudoun County VA so my trip would be about 20 minutes shorter or so than yours, it's a drive but it's diveable. I'm looking forward to Juturna opening as well based on how close it is.
Lake Pheonix is only open by appointment for the winter so check their website before you make the drive down.
I live in Richmond and had not heard of Juturna so researched it a little bit. Looks like they will run a fairly restrictive park. Three of their "rules" below caught my attention.
- No solo diving (even with a certification).
- All divers diving deeper than 100’ must notify Juturna Springs in writing.
- No dives deeper than 100’ unless diver uses a standard technical diving configuration approved by the Juturna Springs staff. No independent Backmount doubles for dives deeper than 100’.
Not sure what is driving the no solo diving, whether they have an insurance issue. And the no 100' with a "technical diving configuration" is pretty odd, would seem to preclude courses like PADI Deep specialty which is generally not taught in doubles.
I was told their insurer will not allow solo diving under any circumstances. I'd assume depth limitations are insurance related too, but it's just assumption, I have never had to carry a policy of that type and deal with that.
I know my local quarry up here used to offer night diving. They had to quit because their insurer wanted an extra 2-3k a year(?) to cover it. It just wasn't worth it for the limited number of people who he expected to take advantage of that. He doesn't allow ice diving for the same reason. They wanted more to cover that.
It's really a shame. I hope JS comes around. We had Bainbridge (that I never got to), Hydes, and now Dutch all close down.
All those "rules" are for insurance purposes. I'm not saying not to follow them, I'm saying I can't imagine how they'd enforce some of them without driving people off? Look at everyone's dc as they exit? "101'...you're outa here!!!", lol.
Is it also somewhat more understandable that they'll have more rules being that deep? Dutch is what ~ 109' after it rains? 200' is pretty deep. Makes sense the ins. company wants some type of cutoff for rec / tec people, yeah? Just asking.
All those "rules" are for insurance purposes. I'm not saying not to follow them, I'm saying I can't imagine how they'd enforce some of them without driving people off? Look at everyone's dc as they exit? "101'...you're outa here!!!", lol.
Is it also somewhat more understandable that they'll have more rules being that deep? Dutch is what ~ 109' after it rains? 200' is pretty deep. Makes sense the ins. company wants some type of cutoff for rec / tec people, yeah? Just asking.
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