Closing of Millbrook Quarry and "The" Dive Shop in Northern VA

[stuartv]

You are not going to be able to do AN/DP in a 55 ft deep quarry. If it's through TDI the cert is good to 150 ft. A minimum of 6 dives are required and at least two must be in excess of 100 ft. If Millbrook only went to 95 you'd have to go somewhere else for at last two of those dives. When I teach it I do seven dives minimum with 4 of them in excess of 100 ft. At least two are in the 120-130 range so it does limit my choices. Fortunately I have Gilboa only 4 hours away.

I never said we were going to do ALL our training dives there. We are going to do a fair number of training dives, though (already done 5 training dives and there are 5 or 6 more dive DAYS scheduled), and some of them were going to be at Millbrook.

 

[TravisD]

I'm in the middle of a tech class right now for AN/DP. We had training weekends scheduled at Millbrook for next weekend (the 17th and 18th) and in November. We are now trying to figure out where to go and considering Hyde's. We would need doubles filled at the end of the day on Saturday. Is there anywhere close by where we could get that done?

Undersea Outfitters is about 15 minutes from Hydes - they bank 50% Nitrox IIRC, and can do air fills of course. No booster or Helium - not sure where you'd go for those. Should be open until 5-ish on Saturday, and if you talk to Laird I'm sure arrangements can be made if you're going to be there later than that.

 

[ScubaGirlInVA]

UPDATE on Millbrook Quarry in Broad Run, VA:
The latest news here locally is that the quarry lease will be negotiated with a new managing dive shop. Most likely local divers will see a re-opening of Millbrook for the 2016 season.

Too soon for any details, such as season passes, entry prices, who will be managing, when opening day would be, etc.

 

[bankyf]

You are not going to be able to do AN/DP in a 55 ft deep quarry. If it's through TDI the cert is good to 150 ft. A minimum of 6 dives are required and at least two must be in excess of 100 ft. If Millbrook only went to 95 you'd have to go somewhere else for at last two of those dives. When I teach it I do seven dives minimum with 4 of them in excess of 100 ft. At least two are in the 120-130 range so it does limit my choices. Fortunately I have Gilboa only 4 hours away.

It was my understanding that instructors could apply to TDI for an exemption to use Millbrook at 95 feet due to a lack of other suitable training areas within a reasonable distance. I suppose I could have been lied to, technically making one of my certs invalid...

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I am not aware of that. I'll check but don't see the point to doing it. Those classes are not recreational. They are tech classes. Tech classes are expensive. It's the expected price you pay for going that route. Reasonable distance? For one of my students last year an 8 hour drive with 5 nights in paid lodging on top of the 650 dollar tuition plus food, etc was reasonable. People travel internationally to get the training. The reasonable distance excuse doesn't hold water. One does what they have to in order to meet standards or you don't offer the class.

 

[tursiops]

We used to go to Mt Storm in WV to do the >110 ft dives for AN/DP. It was dark and murky down there, and felt like 300 ft! I miss that place.....

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I've hit 125 at storm in the trench. Not easy to find and the loose silt is at least 4-5ft deep on the bottom. Measured.

 

[AustinV]

Hopefully it gets worked out. I live about 5 miles from that quarry and was supposed to get certified locally in August, a change to my work schedule forced me to delay it. Now I'm shooting to get certified this coming April, hopefully they have it ironed out by then so I'll be watching this thread and talking to my local shop as needed.

 

[telemonster]

I was looking around about lake clarification. I haven't been to Millbrook but heard the story about the killing of the Zebra Mussels and it seemed logical. After Rawlings but before Pheonix I started poking around the internet looking for stagnant water clarification and found there are these systems that are basically a shore mounted compressor that drives bubbles up (similar to simple aquariums) and that turns the water around which helps. Would something like that along with fresh water clams help clear the thing up?

Depending on the summer I frequent Rawl^H^H^H^HPheonix but now live further away so Millbrook seems to be more convenient.

With regards to stores, when it comes to brick and mortar the rent is too high. All these landlords want all this money meanwhile it's much cheaper to sell online. And people at home are too busy paying their landlords be it rent or mortgage so often trying to make their money go as far as possible. Too much money going into real estate rest of economy suffers.

 

[mmadiver]

Good news, Coral Edge Adventures acquired the lease to Millbrook. They've started a crowd funding project to help raise funds for a number of improvements - https://www.rockethub.com/projects/...-s-1-scuba-diving-destination#description-tab

"Millbrook Quarry will also be the regions most environmentally progressive SCUBA diving destination with these improvements planned for this winter/spring season:

• improved drainage control to limit direct runoff into the lake
• water filtration using a gravity filtration system that will also act as a warming method to help lower the thermocline, and employing bio-media techniques used in aquaculturing systems, by early summer
• grasses will be planted and gravel added to make the ingress/egress points safer for divers
• restroom facilities will be added to make it more convenient for divers
• more access to the lake on more days and weekends including this winter
• camping will be available on select weekends.
• emergency services improvements to make the quarry safer for all users"

Looks like they'll be opening it back up this winter too.

BTW - I'm not affiliated with Coral Edge, just a customer.