Blue Stone Dive Resort - review

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Ed Martin

Registered
Messages
16
Reaction score
7
Location
Mooresville, North Carolina
# of dives
100 - 199
I just wanted to post a quick review of Blue Stone Dive Resort in Thomasville, NC. I learned about it here so I thought it was good form to put up some positive comments in return.

I live in Mooresville, NC. Blue Stone is just over an hour's drive. So it's close... but not as close as the PDRA Quarry here in town. I like them both, but Blue Stone is definitely worth the trip.

My son & I have now done 4 dives there over 2 trips in the last month. The water is significantly more clear than PDRA is right now. The usual - it gets even more clear once you get to about 25 feet. Surface temps in the 80's. At the deepest point ("the hole") it was 54 on Sunday.

Lot's of things to explore - a couple of helicopters, several boats, cars, and even a couple of toilets. Everything is well-marked with buoys.

Blue Stone is set up really well. Kind of a rustic campground meets theme park feel. You park at the main building and unload. Plenty of carts for your gear. Friendly staff including Janet, the owner. They have a shop and rental shop - everything you could need. You then load your gear on their tram - which is a retro-fitted luggage tram from an old airport. There are 2 main docks and the tram takes you to either one. The main one is set up really well with bathrooms, full showers, lots of picnic tables with umbrellas and covered cement platform. Really nice.

We've only been there on Sunday. They have training classes but it's never felt over-crowded.

The first time we went, we didn't know what to expect so we just brought our gear. But when we got on the tram, we saw a group that clearly had Blue Stone figured out so on our second trip we followed their lead. We brought a portable grill and cooler and made a really nice day out of it! My wife doesn't dive but they have 2 stand up paddle boards for rent. So she did that while my son & I dove... and we all hung out floating in the sun on a surface break. Afterwards, we sparked up the grill and had a great lunch on the shore before packing back up and heading home.

Blue Stone is only open on weekends. but if you are in NC looking for a quarry dive, I highly recommend it!


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Next time you want to go to Blue Stone, let me know and my wife and I will meet you there if we can. We live 4 miles from there.
 
Thanks for this. I am just getting back into diving after 20 years. Got the family certified this summer and this gives us another spot to dive locally. We are in Moore County, about an hour away.
 
I used to live about 1 hour from Blue Stone but never visited, and it had dropped off my radar. Still close enough to make the drive, and now feeling excited to check it out. Thanks for the reminder!
 
Many thanks for the trip report,,,,I've never heard of this dive location before your report. Pretty cool to see!!
 
For those unfamiliar with Blue Stone, not only is it a great place for recreation diving but it is also one of the premier dive training centers in the southeast, from OW to tech. Groups come from not only NC but from Virginia, Tennessee, and SC to train there.

In addition to the things Ed Martin mentioned, there is a 100 ft concrete pipe "cave", a large PT boat, a couple of airplanes, aa well as several training platforms in the water. There is even a helicopter mounted on the quarry wall well above water level for training water rescue.

Late summer/fall is a great time to dive there. The water is warm tovaround 35 feet and usually viz is at least 25 ft or more.

Again, it is a full service dive center with air/nitrox fills, equipment rentals and sales, and a bunk house. Although it is only open regularly on weekends, they will open during the week for groups of 8 or more by appointment.

If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend it. Entry fee is $20.00/diver per day.
 
Thanks for posting, this looks very interesting, about 2 1/2 hours from me.

If you don't mind me asking, how do you dive it? A big circuit? I was looking at the map. Any underwater pics?
 
It can be a challenge doing a complete circuit, especially on an 80 cf tank, although it is doable. For most people it wouldn't allow for stopping at any of the underwater "attractions" along the way. We usually plan on where we are going to go or what we want to do and then return. Since there are entries at each end of the quarry, you can enter at one end and exit at the other. You can then either go to the main building on the tram to get an air fill and do a return dive or take the tram back to the other end where you started. Lots of options.

Here's a link to their website. http://www.bluestonediveresort.com/ You should find some photos there. You can also search for them on facebook. There are quite a few photos there.
 
My wife and I made the drive today to check out Bluestone, for our first quarry dives. A very enjoyable day with 2 long dives, our experience matches the description provided by Ed Martin and we appreciate that his review led us to visit. Janet and the staff made us feel welcome and were happy to help as needed, I took several extra tanks to have filled. The equipment carts and tram service make moving equipment from vehicle to entry point a breeze. Looking forward to the next visit.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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