Destination Quarrys

[Buoyant1]

erpa: The best way to desensitize yourself to catfish is to eat as many as possible. Eventually, due to the old "you are what you eat" paradigm, you become one with catfishness. As catfish aren't afraid of catfish, you're cured!

I'd recommend a good southern-style all-you-can-eat (and then some) fish fry.

(Either that, or get back to what really makes diving worthwhile. *Any* quarry becomes a destination when ScubUNO is involved. )

MMMM...I had some blackened catfish the other night...good stuff!!!

Just dive with a pack of tartar sauce taped to your hood, they'll stay away!

 

[Paco]

Lake Wazee near Black River Falls, Wisconsin was an open-pit iron quarry until the 1980's when it was allowed to fill in. There is some wall diving, fish cribs, underwater trees (Shirwood Forest), the aforementioned wreck, and there are dive training platforms at various depths. Visibility is probably among the best of the inland lakes around. It is believed to be 350' deep. Because it was an iron quarry, don't trust your compass at all sites.

 

[EnronX]

I'll second Lake Rawlings near Richmond, VA. If you get there early in the morning the visibility can be quite stunning for such a large quarry(I've seen from 30-50 feet). A few movies have been filmed here b/c of the high quality....Off the top of my head they have a bus, a dozen or so boats and a "wall" that drops from 20 to ~60 feet that is pretty cool.

 

[Ice9]

Wow! That looks like my kinda' quarry!

 

[EnronX]

yeah unfortunately they only include the cutie on Wednesday...ya know, it being hump-day and all

This year I heard they will be providing scooters for rental...only $25 a day is a pretty good deal

 

[DougK]

I completely understand the orginial poster. Quarrys are not a place I like to dive. I did my training at Bainbridge, Pa and have not been back since. On one dive my instructor told me to follow and I lost him in 15 seconds -- the water was that murky. My wife and I agree if this was all diving was about we would have passed. Thankfully the ocean is a different story, we like the diving in the Keys and Caribean.

We discovered Lake Rawlings in Eastern Va, south of Petersburg on Interstate 85. And while it is 5-6 hours away we go there. It is the only quarry I have seen that you can stand on a bluff and see divers underwater.

Rawlings is not a destination otherwise, as it sits out in the rural woods away from any real town, only one hotel nearby and the hotel has the only real resturant. Like all quarrys it has stuff -- boat, bus, etc. but it has vis. and a good amount.

While it is not a high caliber destination otherwise it is the best quarry I have dove in.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Erparamedic, now is the time to dive at Haigh to face the cat fish. The water on Sunday was 40 degrees they hardly move. I poked one with my finger :no to see if it was alive. Ummm yup he is alive. If you need a buddy for haigh PM me.

Hey! That's not nice! It's a real fear! (I emailed you! LOL)

I prefer diving at quarries with a rock/silt bottom. I don't like the grassy/mossy bottomes. Catfish hide in that stuff! :11:

 

[erparamedic]

Erparamedic, now is the time to dive at Haigh to face the cat fish. The water on Sunday was 40 degrees they hardly move. I poked one with my finger :no to see if it was alive. Ummm yup he is alive. If you need a buddy for haigh PM me.

LOL If I had a drysuit, I'd be there! It's definitely on my "to visit" list for this summer! I'll definitely PM you when Rod and I come up! Thanks for the buddy offer!

 

[TheHobster]

That is just toooooooo funny Jamie! Were you terrorized as a kid or something? What would you do if you came upon a catfish underwater? If this is a true fear, you will want to be careful diving at Haigh. You see them quite a bit there. In the summer there is usually a whole bunch of them, almost a school even though I know they are solitary fish, hanging out underneath the deep side entry platforms. Pretty cool to just hang there at the end of the dive and watch them, but if you're afraid of them ... that wouldn't be so cool.

Gilboa catfish are big - from dock 5 go left into the trees and almost every dive I have seen at least one, and one time in the corner probably a dozen +

Now for the fun part. The INdy Dive Club Quarribean Tour this year inlcudes natural Springs, Blue Springs, France Park in Logansport, IN, Haigh, Mermet, Portage, and a couple Great Lakes

one i would like to do is the one in WV that is at a power plant