Diving in Nashville

[scubabrandon]

OK here is a question. I have a Dive Skin, I can just buy a top piece and a head cover to go over my skin and I should be ok to dive Martha' soon or will it still be too cold to dive with that stuff?

 

[mike_s]

OK here is a question. I have a Dive Skin, I can just buy a top piece and a head cover to go over my skin and I should be ok to dive Martha' soon or will it still be too cold to dive with that stuff?

Not sure what you mean by top piece. You mean the top of a "farmer john" or just a vest?

Regardless, you're gonna want a "real" wetsuit for there. I'd say a 5mm. Maybe in August you could get away with a 3mm.


Last time I was there I dove it just in a 3mm shortie and I froze my butt off. Needless to say we didn't get very deep and stayed mostly around the buildings not going much deeper than 30 feet because we all had on shorties.

Historically it's takes getting into the summer (July/August) to really warm up quarry water. But the advantage of that is that it stays warm into sept or the first of October.

 

[scubabrandon]

Thanks thats the answer I was looking for. I'll probably just rent a 5mm from my dive shop.

 

[vodolaz]

Basically what Mike_s said: Early in the season, it's primarily drysuit or heavy wetsuit season. Below the thermocline, temps are a steady 50-55F and you'll need a hood and gloves. You can rent a 7mm and gear from the quarry dive shop or at Scuba Supply on Donelson Pike. A 5mm might be a bit too thin just now.

The quarries in Alabama might be a few degrees warmer, but not enough to make a difference, I'd guess.

 

[scubabrandon]

I am just chomping at the bit to get back in the water...

 

[mike_s]

Basically what Mike_s said: Early in the season, it's primarily drysuit or heavy wetsuit season. Below the thermocline, temps are a steady 50-55F and you'll need a hood and gloves. You can rent a 7mm and gear from the quarry dive shop or at Scuba Supply on Donelson Pike. A 5mm might be a bit too thin just now.

The quarries in Alabama might be a few degrees warmer, but not enough to make a difference, I'd guess.

Actually, the quarry in Huntsville is quite a bit warmer, in my humble opinion. But only because it's 1.) much shallower, and 2.) It has a HUGE wall on the north side of the quarry that catches the summer sun and reflects the sun and warms the water.
It gets up to about 86f surface and 76f bottom temp in later summer.
Check out their historical temp logs at http://www.rockdivers.com/ and click on temp log (or direct at http://www.rockdivers.com/water_temperature_log.htm)

I typically dive the HSV quarry in a 5mm top and a dive skin under it in May/June and a 3mm full in July/August. The fall/spring of the year requires the 5mm top and bottom as bottom temps are in the 50's.

The only other quarries I've been to in AL are Bluewater and the one in Moulton and I froze my *** off in those. Bluewater is MUCH colder. Of course it's deeper and larger also.

Hope that helps.

BTW... don't depend on Marhas' quarry to have their "rental bus" onsite. I've been up there before and they didn't have the bus there with the rental suits, compressor, etc. Don't know why it wasn't there, it just wasn't. I was really glad we'd brought our tanks with us.

 

[scubabrandon]

BTW... don't depend on Marhas' quarry to have their "rental bus" onsite. I've been up there before and they didn't have the bus there with the rental suits, compressor, etc. Don't know why it wasn't there, it just wasn't. I was really glad we'd brought our tanks with us.

Thanks for the heads up, I'd rent from Bluewater Scuba anyway. Even when I didnt own my own snow skis I always reanted from my local shop and took them to the mountain. You can get burned real easy by waiting to rent until you get somewhere

 

[vodolaz]

Actually, the quarry in Huntsville is quite a bit warmer, in my humble opinion. But only because it's 1.) much shallower, and 2.) It has a HUGE wall on the north side of the quarry that catches the summer sun and reflects the sun and warms the water.

Sorry, I should have said "The quarries in Alabama might be a few degrees warmer now, but not enough to make a difference, I'd guess."

You're right about the depth making a difference later in the year. Martha's gets into the 80s above the thermocline in summer, but temps in the trench seem to stay at around 55-60F year round. As a drysuit diver, I'm happy with that since I can train for a couple hours at a time without having heatstroke.

 

[vodolaz]

With no OW classes in sight, vis at Martha's on Saturday was above 30' with peaks of 40' plus. Temps were 50F-55F between 10' and 30', good enough for a couple of 70 minute dives.