How to start the exploration of a new dive site

[emoreira]

Hi, there is a 800 acre property that was sold near the city where I live.
The property, mainly open field has a flooded open sky quarry of something like 160 acre and (though still not measured) up to 80 feet depth. The grave was opened more than 50 years ago to extract stones to build a highway road.
The property will be used to build a closed country with high value houses.
The lake will be used for water sports (no motor) and diving will be one of the possibilities, besides canoe, small sail, windsurf, kate-surf, and so.
I was invited to see the lake, and as the waters seem to be very, very clean (the people around the lake say that the waters can be drunk) I've asked permision to snorkel. Visibility was around 10 to 13 feet, though the day before was raining and that day it was a little windy, making small, but notorious waves in the surface.
No one has dived this lake before. As it's so old, no one can tell the whole story of this place.
The questions I would like to ask.
How should I start scuba exploring the lake in a safe way so as to start offering this place as a diving resort.
What considerations should I have to start a business offering scuba in this lake ?
I'm AOWD, if I rent only gear and facilities, is it required to have a DM and/or a rescue diver working with me ? I understand that if I'm going to offer scuba guide I must have a DM working with me.
Legislation here related to scuba diving is more or less unexisting. Only the local equivalent to the US Coast Guard (Prefectura Naval Argentina) has little to do with this activity, but as this lake is inside a private property, there is no jurisdiction over this place.
I will appreciatte your comments.
To the moderator : if this is not the right place for this thread, feel free to move to the adequate sub forum.

 

[fire_diver]

How should you explore it? Get a buddy and start diving. Take large slate and make notes of depth and location of equipment, or interesting spots.

As for using it for your personal dive business, you should contact local lawyers. Private property or not, there are standards you be expected to hold to. Also, you will have to work out something with the property owner. If it's not "public" it belongs to somebody. You can't just go open a business anywhere you want.

Lastly, I think the term you are looking for is "quarry", not "grave".

 

[emoreira]

How should you explore it? Get a buddy and start diving. Take large slate and make notes of depth and location of equipment, or interesting spots.

As for using it for your personal dive business, you should contact local lawyers. Private property or not, there are standards you be expected to hold to. Also, you will have to work out something with the property owner. If it's not "public" it belongs to somebody. You can't just go open a business anywhere you want.

Lastly, I think the term you are looking for is "quarry", not "grave".

Thanks, as you surely understand, my mother language is spanish, and I try to do my best to post here.
I'm working together with the new owner of the property to start the diving business.

 

[TSandM]

Well, for exploring the lake, as said, you need a buddy and a dive plan. You'll want to find out things like bottom composition (some lakes have such deep and thick mud on the bottom that they aren't fun or sometimes aren't even feasible to dive), depth contour of the bottom, and any hazards that might remain from the quarrying operation (machinery, cables, anything that would entangle or endanger divers).

Developing a quarry as a dive destination is probably a bit of a project. You will need to consult local laws about setting up and running a business. To attract divers, you will probably need to create some amenities -- bathrooms, tables for gear, perhaps steps or platforms in the water. You'll need some safety things -- oxygen on site, probably a good idea to have an AED (defibrillator), rapid communication with emergency services. Anyone staffing your operation should probably have at least basic life support training.

You might want to study other quarry-based diving operations, like Dutch Springs in New York, or Gilboa quarry, for ideas on how to operate a dive business in that kind of setting.

 

[fire_diver]

If you have a hard-bottom site, you might want to look for attractions to sink. Divers like to have things to look at beside rock. Busses, planes, helicopters, tanks are all popular in quarries in the states.

Your english seems fine to me, WAY better than my spanish!

 

[Buoyant1]

Well, for exploring the lake, as said, you need a buddy and a dive plan. You'll want to find out things like bottom composition (some lakes have such deep and thick mud on the bottom that they aren't fun or sometimes aren't even feasible to dive), depth contour of the bottom, and any hazards that might remain from the quarrying operation (machinery, cables, anything that would entangle or endanger divers).

Developing a quarry as a dive destination is probably a bit of a project. You will need to consult local laws about setting up and running a business. To attract divers, you will probably need to create some amenities -- bathrooms, tables for gear, perhaps steps or platforms in the water. You'll need some safety things -- oxygen on site, probably a good idea to have an AED (defibrillator), rapid communication with emergency services. Anyone staffing your operation should probably have at least basic life support training.

You might want to study other quarry-based diving operations, like Dutch Springs in New York, or Gilboa quarry, for ideas on how to operate a dive business in that kind of setting.

Don't forget a compass in case you DO see something interesting, you can find it again! But yeah, dive, dive dive!!! Nothing like a potentially virgin quarry to explore!





Btw Lynn, Dutch Springs is in PA (it's just over-run by some of the DNY people)

 

[TSandM]

Thank you for the correction!

And yes, the idea of sinking things to dive around and through is a good one. We have a lovely local underwater park that is composed of things like sunken small boats and concrete blocks and pipes and the like. It's very popular with divers.

 

[Steve50]

I like my drinking water to have better vis

 

[HenrikBP]

If you have access to a handheld GPS, you may be able to use it to map the location of "stuff" in the quarry. I've read about divers putting a GPS in a waterproof box (GPS "On") tied to a reel/spool and go diving. When they find something of interest, they let the GPS float to the surface to let it acquire a satellite fix. Then reel it back down and continue the dive.

Then back on the surface you should be able to retrieve the locations.

Henrik

 

[fire_diver]

If you have access to a handheld GPS, you may be able to use it to map the location of "stuff" in the quarry. I've read about divers putting a GPS in a waterproof box (GPS "On") tied to a reel/spool and go diving. When they find something of interest, they let the GPS float to the surface to let it acquire a satellite fix. Then reel it back down and continue the dive.

Then back on the surface you should be able to retrieve the locations.

Henrik

Poor idea. The waterproof box would have a lot of bouyancy and would be trying to drag you up. Having that bouyant box would make trim a pain in the rear and be an entanglement hazzard. Once on the surface, it can take minutes to get a location fix, and minutes later to get the accuracy down to an acceptable level. You can;t be there to see if it's done or not. Then you have to make your bouyancy much more negative to haul this floating box back down to you.

A better idea would be to carry several inflatable surafce markers, each with it's own real. You can inflate at depth and tie the line off at the object. After you surface you can get an overall picture of where the items are at. You will have to make a second dive to retrieve the markers, but I've never seen making more dives a bad thing.