Akron diving!

[DrSteve]

Hi Guys,

There is the possibility we will relocate from the quite pleasant VA Beach area to Akron. What's the diving like around there? OK so I know it'll all be lake stuff. Is there any diving in Lake Erie? What is there to see? I got bored of the blue gills and wide mouthed bass at our local quarry after 2 dives...please tell me there is more to it than that!

Cheers!

 

[ClevelandDiver]

There are quite a few really nice wrecks in Lake Erie, but not a lot of Dive Charters that I am aware of. Out of Cleveland you can go out with Discovery Dive Charters http://www.discoverydive.com. There are also a few fishing charters out of the Port Clinton area west of Cleveland. Check out http://www.ocssdi.org/diveohio.htm for more info on dive charters quarries etc. Here is a link to a local dive shop as well http://www.deepsixspecialists.com/index.htm.

 

[DrSteve]

Thanks!

 

[diver_paula]

Steve,

I don't know the answer to your question but just saw a post regarding a new dive shop in the Akron area. The post is in the Grand Openings forum under gear. Here's the link in case you didn't catch the post.... http://www.scubaboard.com/t84832-.html

Paula

 

[ClevelandDiver]

Thanks!

Dr. Steve,

Ironically enough, I was told yesterday that I might be transfered from Cleveland to Richmond VA sometime this year. Any knowledge you can share about local diving would be great. I already know about lake rawlings, but not much else. I consider local anything within a 3 hour drive.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[DrSteve]

Dr. Steve,

Ironically enough, I was told yesterday that I might be transfered from Cleveland to Richmond VA sometime this year. Any knowledge you can share about local diving would be great. I already know about lake rawlings, but not much else. I consider local anything within a 3 hour drive.

Thanks,

Mike

Hey Mike!

We have some good diving around here. Lake Rawlings is your standard lake, boring as hell and expect to get some kind of skin rash after any diving there. Avoid it! But on the plus side out of VA Beach there are at least 3 dive shops (plus an independant dive boat) which run trips (they start at 45 for a 2 tank dive to the tower reef/gulf hustler/santore - about 1h out of the dock). There are other deeper wrecks which are more like 3-4h out (they range in price up to 110). The vis this summer was 10-15 feet - we saw a loggerhead and an ocean sunfish (mula mula) on one dive. VA Beach is about 100 miles from Richmond.

Out of Nags Head the conditions are a lot more variable. There are some decent shore dives (3 of them - Carl Gerhard and the Kazykstikes and the tug) but only if the weather is good due to the sandy bottom. Nags Head is in NC and about 1-2h from the VA beach area. There's also some good diving a bit off from Nags Head like U571 (a dive I wold love to do) which is less weather dependant than in shore.

Going south into deeper NC is Moorehead City which has near tropical conditions. I've never dived out of there - but it looks sweet and everyone raves about it.

I think you'll have fun. Would be worth getting a 95+ tank unless you have gills.

So what can I expect form the great lakes? Is a dry suit a must?

Steve

 

[ClevelandDiver]

Steve,

Thanks for the info. I am good to go on the tanks, I bought a pair of PST E8-130s this summer. I had to have them shipped from Florida, but it was worth it.

The great lakes have some of the best preserved ship wrecks anywhere and Lake Eries shallow depth puts a large number of them within the recreational limit. There are very well preserved wooden ships from the 1800s as well as some fairly large freighters. The zebra mussels have been a mixed blessing to us, they have greatly improved visibility, but now cover most of the wrecks. I have been to some wrecks diving with osprey charters out of NY where visibility was easily 70 feet at the bottom.

A drysuit is definitely a good idea in the great lakes. I have dove a 7mil wetsuit in water down to 45 degrees in lake erie at various depths. It was fine down to about 70-80 feet, but the compression of the wetsuit really reduces its insulating properties in deeper water. The biggest problem I had was with my hands and switching to a 5mil glove really helped a lot.

I just got a drysuit from divetank.com this winter and I have been testing it out in the quarries, while I wait for lake charters to start up again. With the proper undergarments I was comfortable in 40 degree water, and the surface intervals are a picnic compared to freezing in my wetsuit.

I highly recommend divetank.com for getting a drysuit, they have a great guarantee on fitment and great prices. I tried to work something out with my local dive shop, but they could not come close on price or guaranting the fit.

Mike

 

[foneguy]

also we have 3 quarrys. whitestar, portage and gilboa i like portage and whitestar, havent gone to gilboa yet

 

[DrSteve]

Well Mike, no relocation to Cleveland or Akron for me (at least not in the immediate future). Still searching for a new job...

Anyway, if you do end up down in VA, send me an email and we can dive sometime.

Steve

 

[dmax tim]

Gilboa is a pretty good pit.
over 100' in deep part and the water has close to 80' visibility depending on who's playing around.
We camp there and do some diving.