cold water quarry diving

[graham_s]

Get a drysuit.
Seriously.
Early in my diving career, I was living in North Wales.
We used to dive in quarries in the winter when the sea was too rough to launch the RIB safely.
I dived Dorothea quarry in November, the water temp was about 3 degrees C.
It was snowing when I got out, and my semi-dry froze while I was getting out of it.
The next weekend I bought a drysuit.

 

[ScubaBadger32]

What quarry if you don’t mind me asking?

fantasy lake scuba park

 

[rob.mwpropane]

fantasy lake scuba park

Went there once.. that rock crusher is pretty amazing. The kids playground is... eary. Always thought that would be a good night dive.

I was told new owners now? So no more 24/7 access?

 

[ScubaBadger32]

Went there once.. that rock crusher is pretty amazing. The kids playground is... eary. Always thought that would be a good night dive.

I was told new owners now? So no more 24/7 access?

whats the depth of the rock crusher? havent spent a lot of time over there!

 

[Wathdoc]

I dive at least weekly in UK quarries unless going to the sea. I never see anybody in a wetsuit, but the occasional semi dry. In the winter and early spring the water temp is in the 4-6 degree C. Even with a drysuit you need to keep warm in between dives. Drygloves can be a pain, personally I prefer 5mm mittens and a thick hood until the water warms up a little. I do not get really cold in that set up with 60-80 minute dives like this. So, as others have said, go dry, get decent hood and gloves and stay warm between dives. You are going to feel it I am afraid.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

whats the depth of the rock crusher? havent spent a lot of time over there!

Idk, maybe 30'-40'? I don't think that quarry is all that deep anywhere. My max was 47' and 51'.

I'm not crazy about stuff thrown in quarries after the fact (planes, boats, etc.)... I guess they're ok, but I'd prefer stuff that was apart of the quarry before it filled in. That rock crusher was right up my alley. I've never seen one underwater like that. And then go figure, on the drive home from NC we saw one in operation at a quarry. It's just a massive piece of very cool engineering.

I was told that part is usually crappy viz, but we had 20'-25' that day. We went on a Monday because we got blown out of Morehead.

I dive at least weekly in UK quarries unless going to the sea. I never see anybody in a wetsuit, but the occasional semi dry. In the winter and early spring the water temp is in the 4-6 degree C. Even with a drysuit you need to keep warm in between dives. Drygloves can be a pain, personally I prefer 5mm mittens and a thick hood until the water warms up a little. I do not get really cold in that set up with 60-80 minute dives like this. So, as others have said, go dry, get decent hood and gloves and stay warm between dives. You are going to feel it I am afraid.

I think it's nuts but here in Maryland most people on the boat going for oysters are wet or semi dry. All the times I went this year and only once did I see someone else dry. 38F, I'm not sure how they do it. After 30 minutes they're all shivering though.... no thanks.

 

[Imla]

Define "Cold"....
Personally I'm a Drysuit or rashguard kinda person.
5mm sounds way too cold...

 

[GreggS]

whats the depth of the rock crusher? havent spent a lot of time over there!

The top of the crusher is about 30-32 ft. but I've dropped inside it to around 45 feet or so. But it is dark down inside it. Most of the "sites" to visit are not more than around 30-36 ft deep but there are areas that go down to around 80 feet. There is a glass bottom boat sitting at 60 ft.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

The top of the crusher is about 30-32 ft. but I've dropped inside it to around 45 feet or so. But it is dark down inside it. Most of the "sites" to visit are not more than around 30-36 ft deep but there are areas that go down to around 80 feet. There is a glass bottom boat sitting at 60 ft.

I just remember thinking the crusher was pretty awesome. It's dark inside, but that's what lights are for. I don't think I saw the glass bottom boat.

It was a nice Monday, we had the whole place to ourselves. No one else was even there. Just put your $20 in the box and go diving...

We tried to drop down over the ledge and follow the line from Elvis's grave.. had to turn around as someone in the group got kind of anxious.. any idea what's at the end of that line? I always wondered... I also wonder why there's "fog" right off the edge of the "cliff".. Viz was 30', but I dropped down into it and viz dropped to ~ 4' at best.

edit: I take it back, viz was more like 20' at best, just looked at some pictures

 

[GreggS]

I just remember thinking the crusher was pretty awesome. It's dark inside, but that's what lights are for. I don't think I saw the glass bottom boat.

It was a nice Monday, we had the whole place to ourselves. No one else was even there. Just put your $20 in the box and go diving...

We tried to drop down over the ledge and follow the line from Elvis's grave.. had to turn around as someone in the group got kind of anxious.. any idea what's at the end of that line? I always wondered... I also wonder why there's "fog" right off the edge of the "cliff".. Viz was 30', but I dropped down into it and viz dropped to ~ 4' at best.

I don't know what is at the end of the rope. Don't know that I've seen that one. Did you hit a thermocline after dropping off the edge? I've seen water get real dark and viz drop greatly once hitting a thermocline.

At one quarry I dive a lot, the average bottom is at 40 feet except for the pit that drops to around 65. Used to, at just over 40 feet, the thermocline was so severe that you could put your mask on the line between water levels and see 10 feet or so out of the top of your mask and the bottom part would be completely black. And it was cold, too. You could instantly feel about a10-15° difference Even with a light, you couldn't see more than 12-15". But now, they've installed aerators in the pit and at other areas of the quarry and the temps are the same from top to bottom. It's still dark in the pit, but the flashlight beam goes a bit further than it used to.