White Star Tunnel

[Rooster1]

I thought I would post here cuz lots of you folk from Ohio here. I just found out that the tunnel at WhiteStar is open and I have not done it yet. whiteStar doesn't excite me much just the shaft, but now that I know that the tunnel is open I want to do the dive. Soooooo does anyone here know exactly how long the tunnel is?? I heard a couple of hundred feet but I am not sure.

 

[netmage]

Rooster1 once bubbled...
I thought I would post here cuz lots of you folk from Ohio here. I just found out that the tunnel at WhiteStar is open and I have not done it yet. whiteStar doesn't excite me much just the shaft, but now that I know that the tunnel is open I want to do the dive. Soooooo does anyone here know exactly how long the tunnel is?? I heard a couple of hundred feet but I am not sure.

Hey Rooster1, I just checked the Park District's website (http://www.scpd-parks.org/whitestar.htm) and it says the tunnel is still off-limits... Where did you hear/findout otherwise...? I'm getting bored with Gilboa this summer and will likely be giving Portage & Whitestar more visits.

My bro knows an instructor that dove it - your correct, I hear it snakes around a few hundred feet or so... Definately not someplace you'd be able to get halfway and still see light out both ends - so prolly best to keep this for the folks trained in overhead enviroments.

 

[Rooster1]

netmage once bubbled...


Hey Rooster1, I just checked the Park District's website (http://www.scpd-parks.org/whitestar.htm) and it says the tunnel is still off-limits... Where did you hear/findout otherwise...? I'm getting bored with Gilboa this summer and will likely be giving Portage & Whitestar more visits.

My bro knows an instructor that dove it - your correct, I hear it snakes around a few hundred feet or so... Definately not someplace you'd be able to get halfway and still see light out both ends - so prolly best to keep this for the folks trained in overhead enviroments.

My buddies were there on Sunday, I was supposed to go with them but I stayed back cuz I had things to do. They were at the entrance and said they could see the light at the other side but didn't go because one of them had a light with a dead battery. I heard it was off limits but I thought it was closed in. From what they tell me you have to go into the little house to access the tunnel

 

[diver_paula]

The crusher pit tunnel at White Star Quarry is deemed 'off limits' but is accessible. From what I understand the park district decided it was more dangerous to block it off because it would be more dangerous for those divers that would go in anyway.

It does not 'snake' around. It is square (Maybe non-square but definitely rectangular). The angle is like a genlty sloping giant sliding board.

The 'house' that was mentioned is at the bottom of the tunnel. But it can be accessed at the top, too. Gotta get out either way.

If you decide to go in you should have a dive light with you. You can't see from one end to the other. & there may be other divers you would 'bump' into.

There isn't as much to see at White Star as Gilboa but it has it's good points. The water stays clearer than Gilboa. It does get silty but it settles down fairly quickly. There are boats, a Frito Lay truck, a motorcycle, the crusher pit (deepest spot in the quarry I believe), a police car, refridgerator, a flat bed trailor, bicycle, a buoyancy course (plastic piping formed into diamond shapes floating at different depths), and a couple very nice platforms. There are some 'hills' of rocks that are good practice for buoyancy. The two entries are nice. & it's a shorter drive for me!


Hope that helps.
Paula

 

[Big-t-2538]

The tunnel at Whitestar is a "no-allowable-entry" from either side...

You can see through it from the crusher pit to the top of the tower and vice versa. There is enough room for a team of three to huddle side by side by side at both the top of the tower and at the bootom of the crusher pit.

This is all I am saying in an on-line forum

 

[wrecNcaver]

Rooster1 once bubbled...
I thought I would post here cuz lots of you folk from Ohio here. I just found out that the tunnel at WhiteStar is open and I have not done it yet. whiteStar doesn't excite me much just the shaft, but now that I know that the tunnel is open I want to do the dive. Soooooo does anyone here know exactly how long the tunnel is?? I heard a couple of hundred feet but I am not sure.

For those who dive Whitestar the tunnel is still "off limits". Now with that said, it is open at both ends. If you read the rules, anyone caught in the tunnel will be banned from diving at Whitestar. It is a straight concrete tunnel maybe 70 feet long starts at about 70 feet and ends in one of the concrete bunkers at about 30-35 feet. IF YOU ARE NOT OVERHEAD CERTIFIED, you have no business in the tunnel. It looks deceptively easy but several OW and AOW divers have had near misses as fatalities. This tunnel use to be part of the conveyor system that moved the linestone out of the bottom of the quarry. It just is not worth diving since the park has made it off limits. (BTW, I dove it years ago when it was still open to divers)

 

[Rooster1]

Dove the tunnel today.

We dove the tunnel at White Star today. It starts at 70 feet and ends at 45 feet at the shaft. We went through it 3 times. Once from the 45 feet to the 70 feet. It is only about 70 to 100 feet long and is really an interesting dive. The air at the top of the tunnel rushes up along the cement to the other end. The vis was so bad in there that our lights were useless. Vis was about 5 feet and dark. All you needed to do was follow the wall out. Takes about 2-3 minutes to get out.

 

[Big O]

Been there, done that, didn't buy the t shirt and wouldn't buy it if they had it for sale.

Rooster1 and WreckNCaver pretty much summed it up.

Straight, about 70 feet long, square, Id guess about 5' by 5'.

Go in the little shack, and come out in the bottom of the crusher at about 73 feet, or go in the crusher and come out at the shack at say 50 foot.

Its not for everybody. Take a light and a back-up. Also stay tight with your buddy, and a pony, doubles is advised.

So Iv'e been told anyways. I have never went thru it since its against the rules.

Dave

 

[dok407]

Just got an email yesterday from Rich Synowiec with the "Scuba Concessions" there which read as follows ...

"The tunnel has been off limits since late 1998 and it is considered trespassing to dive the tunnel since. This summer I petitioned the parks board of directors to allow permits to be issued to dive the tunnel on days when the scuba concession is manned. In May of 2007 we were able to open the tunnel on weekends when the diver and his buddy filled out a permit to dive (similar to the deep side profile at gilboa) and wore the dated tag while diving. This satisfied the park district.

The current policy is that the tunnel continues to be off limits unless you are wearing the tag that is issued to you by the scuba concession. No permits will be issued for the remainder of 2007 but January 1st we will be down at the quarry and the first weekends of January, February and March."

Hope that clears up any confussion! -Adam-