Willow Springs 7/21/07 (brief)

[wvjohn]

Went up to WS with my son yesterday. Met up with some folks from SB who were super!

Didn't get much diving in, because of the usual newb equipment problems, and my son couldn't clear below about 15 feet. Nonetheless, we had a great time poking around the edge of the lake, and he was able to go through the tunnel to the caboose where he claimed he saw the biggest bass in north america.

Location: South central PA, sort of near Hersheypark
Staff: Checkin and dive shop staff were very efficient, laid back, and friendly. My sone had to rent a 7 mil and we were out of there in 7 minutes. They have fills.
Facility: Very nice - there were a bunch of classes down on the docks so we went down by the little cabin. You could park within 20 feet of the water which was very nice. Lots of attractions roped together all over the quarry. Separate swimming and fishing areas. Plenty of picnic tables, portapotties, etc. Overall feel was very relaxed, family style place. Probably an old sacred grove. People we met were all really nice and helpful and just there to relax and have some fun. Really ideal for newbs, though there were quite a few people near us playing with doubles and stage bottles. Compared to the times I've been to Millbrook, it seemed almost empty, but the folks with us said it was the most crowded they'd seen it.
Viz/Temp. Viz was not great 10-15, apparently it was a little better in other parts of the lake. The only attraction I went down to, caboose in about 40' was in the siltiest part and I managed to achieve zero viz there trying to look in the windows
Temp was high 70s on the surface and 62 on the bottom. Thermocline was at ~20 ft and had plenty of pucker power.

I'll be back.

 

[JayJudge]

Hey John, glad you liked it. However, you left a cooler- we now have it, so we'll have to work out how to get it to you.
To add to John' s report, Trailer Trash Scuba members were doing our usual local place, Willow. Vis was awesome for there, aside from a few spots.
-J

 

[Mountain Dog]

Awww, I wish I had known you guys were there. So were we! We came in Saturday morning and camped on the east end over night. We were the only ones over there.

We actually did our first dive on the east end. Viz was, well, let me put it this way. As we dropped below the surface I looked at my wrist computer to make sure it was doing it's thing, and I couldn't see my hand. We were diving a 3-person team, and although my buddies were only about three feet away from me, they might as well have been on the next planet. But I did find one of them, and when we joined hands to stay together we promptly ran head first into the quarry wall. At that point we decided to surface and find LadyDog. She was already bobbing around on top. We decided to surface swim to the tanker truck bouy and try again. Viz was better there - maybe 3 feet. We did the rest of the dive, essentially, blind. But it was good practice for maintaining buddy contact, navigation, neutral bouyancy without visual reference, and using all of our senses, not just sight.

After that, we decided to hit the other end. The viz, as you know, was a bit better.

In all, we did 5 dives saturday and sunday. This was our first time at Willow. Topside, we found the place to be excellent in every respect. Below the surface the place is loaded with toys. But they really need to work on the viz problem. In terms of viz, Rawlings has it all over Willow. That's too bad because I like Willow better in a lot of other respects. We'll be back!

Mountain Dog

 

[JayJudge]

Yeah, Tom and Joya are working on the vis thing-researching cures....As for toys I think it has it all over most other quarries. We came by your campsite- the 2 guys in the Ford Ranger. That end (with the ladder to nowhere) is the least traveled. We camped by the Quest-and as for our group, we are generally easy to spot-beat up Dodge truck, and most of us dive doubles, Sunday I actually took my rerigged deco bottle with me for playing around. I am not sure when we will be going again, I just got back from NC-report to follow.........
-Jay

 

[Sea Spartan]

how is the big boat wreck, the explorer i beleive its called?

is it worth seeing?

is bad vis too?

i have been to willow springs but never dove there, but the ship has atracted my attention

 

[Lone Wolf]

Hey John, glad you liked it. However, you left a cooler- we now have it, so we'll have to work out how to get it to you.
To add to John' s report, Trailer Trash Scuba members were doing our usual local place, Willow. Vis was awesome for there, aside from a few spots.
-J

Glad you could get out, wish you had let me know would have been good to dive with you. Sort of makes a guy feel unwanted. No joke, glad you had a good time!

 

[JayJudge]

Hey Joe- the thread is 2 years old! As for the recent poster's questions vis at willow is in the 5-20 ft range depending recent weather and student activity. The big boat is called the quest- 72ft long I believe. Hope that helps

 

[Lone Wolf]

Ok, I'm doing this on an iPhone, so I didn't catch it. Just thought you were being antisocial. You really do need to get out!!

 

[wvjohn]

Hey guys,

That and the lake at greenbriar are the only places I can seem to get #1 son into the water. He's pretty much in a use it of lose it situation. I was down in the keys in March and did some diving, but I guess the stars just weren't in their right alignment. I was tired and kind of "fluey" , got seasick on the first day (awful chop at the dive site), and ended up passing on a chance to dive the Spiegel because I didn't feel I should be going deep in a lot of current feeling funky.

Joe - I saw somewhere (lol) on the web that there was going to be a firewalking seminar this summer in either WV or Va - can't find it at the moment - I was going to ask Corinne (sp?) about it - maybe she's aware of it. I'll dig around and find the link this weekend and PM it to you.

John

 

[Lone Wolf]

sounds great, if yo want to get out just let me know.