Dutch Springs - (At least) Limited opening for 2022

[rob.mwpropane]

Exactly. Dutch Springs wasn't about the diving, it was about the community. It was about driving out there on a whim, after a blowout or just on a nice fall day, and knowing that you were going to find your friends there. Hanging out, diving a little, cooking, camping, shooting the breeze. It was so special.

I guess it will be useful for training, so there is that. I wish the new owner's good luck, but I can't imagine ever going there again...

Magical.. last year taking the kids there in the camper, night diving, sitting around a fire laughing... magical

 

[mdwalter]

Exactly. Dutch Springs wasn't about the diving, it was about the community. It was about driving out there on a whim, after a blowout or just on a nice fall day, and knowing that you were going to find your friends there. Hanging out, diving a little, cooking, camping, shooting the breeze. It was so special.

I guess it will be useful for training, so there is that. I wish the new owner's good luck, but I can't imagine ever going there again...

In some ways it will be exactly what it once was - a place where diving takes place and not much else. In the early days there were no fancy bath houses, running water, store, snack bar, or fancy bar codes for entry. And until sometime early this millennium, there was no "AquaPark" or jungle gym or slidy wires, and thus no screaming kids running about disturbing the peace. It was a place to enjoy diving in relative peace, and my hope is it will return to that some day in some way. It will be a bit annoying for a while with the "must be with an insured dive pro" rules, but eventually we can expect that actual divers will be able to go there and enjoy diving once again like they did back in the 20th century. The scenary may have changed, but under the water it is still basically the same haven from the world it has always been. Camping? Yeah, probably not, since there is no longer room for that on-site, but you can always make a reservation at Evergreen Lake and make the 10 mile trek down to the quarry from there for diving. There are also 7 or 8 more campgrounds within 20 miles of "Lake Hydra" Cooking... well, stop by my house on the other side of town; the kids are grown and moved out, but she's still cooking enough for an army. Shooting the breeze - there may still be some of that to be had, but my motto has always been "dive more, talk (and post) less" so I'll stop now.

 

[doctormike]

In some ways it will be exactly what it once was - a place where diving takes place and not much else. In the early days there were no fancy bath houses, running water, store, snack bar, or fancy bar codes for entry. And until sometime early this millennium, there was no "AquaPark" or jungle gym or slidy wires, and thus no screaming kids running about disturbing the peace. It was a place to enjoy diving in relative peace, and my hope is it will return to that some day in some way. It will be a bit annoying for a while with the "must be with an insured dive pro" rules, but eventually we can expect that actual divers will be able to go there and enjoy diving once again like they did back in the 20th century. The scenary may have changed, but under the water it is still basically the same haven from the world it has always been. Camping? Yeah, probably not, since there is no longer room for that on-site, but you can always make a reservation at Evergreen Lake and make the 10 mile trek down to the quarry from there for diving. There are also 7 or 8 more campgrounds within 20 miles of "Lake Hydra" Cooking... well, stop by my house on the other side of town; the kids are grown and moved out, but she's still cooking enough for an army. Shooting the breeze - there may still be some of that to be had, but my motto has always been "dive more, talk (and post) less" so I'll stop now.

Nah, that's the point I was making. Dutch wasn't about snack bars or the bath houses. And I rarely even noticed the Aqua Park.

It was a place where you could randomly show up on the spur of the moment, hang out, chew the fat, meet old friends, make new ones and just dive.

Now it's a training facility. It's completely different. If you are saying that you think that those rules will change someday, that's great. And I'm not saying that a training facility isn't useful for some people.

But I won't be back if those rules don't change.