France Park July 15-16, 2006

[Ber Rabbit]

Howdy Friends!
Hubby and I as well as a few others are going to be at France Park in Logansport, IN July 15-16 for some diving and camping. We'll probably get up there Friday evening and start diving when the pool opens on Saturday. I'd love to get a chance to see old friends and make some new ones so if you're available come dive/camp with us! We'll probably be in my husband's white Chevy extended cab/short bed pickup. If you can't find the truck I'm easy to pick out in the water, I'll bring my bunny ears hood!
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[Ber Rabbit]

France Park website. Download the waiver from the Diving Den website and fill it out early to expedite the sign-in process.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[Dean810]

Darn! I'll be out of town Rabbit! Kind of wanted an excuse to see what France Park is like too!

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I'm bummed too! My daughter has a soccer tournament that weekend. I'd have loved to have joined you.

 

[cstreu1026]

Hmmmm I may have to try and and make it out. I am trying to get my butt back in the water more often (its been 2 years ). How far is it from Dayton and what's the ater temp. like this time of year?

 

[Ber Rabbit]

It's about an hour and a half north of Indianapolis. Since they raised the highway speed limit to 70mph in Indiana I can get to Indy in about an hour and a half from Brookville. Probably 3-3.5 hours depending on how you drive

We dove the same weekend last year and the surface temp was 81 degrees while below the thermocline was 76 degrees. I wore my full 3mm suit last year and was comfy so you KNOW the water was warm (I was whining about the cold water in Ginnie Springs while wearing a 1/4" suit--about 6.5mm in March).
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[cstreu1026]

hmmmm I think I may have to give it a shot.

For some reason though I was thinking that place was closer though.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

You're probably thinking of Natural Springs Resort in New Paris, OH which used to be called France Park Lake. That France Park/France Park Lake name thing led to a lot of confusion for me. Natural Springs is just inside the Ohio border off of I-70/US 40.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[cstreu1026]

Ahhh that must be the place. I was originally suppose to do my OW check out dives there before they got moved to Gilboa way back when.

So whats that place like? I may have to try both.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Natural Springs is a great place for camping. Right now the algae bloom is in full swing and the visibility in the quarry is about 6 feet. Most of the quarry is about 18 feet deep with a trench at the far side that goes to about 25 feet. There are a few attractions (boats/cars/computer) but navigating the quarry isn't as easy as finding stuff at Gilboa, I think there's only 1 rope connecting a few attractions and metal hiding in the bottom of the quarry can make compass navigation interesting in some spots. You also have to make sure you don't end up in the swimming area and it's really hard to tell where that is when you're underwater. I was up there a couple weeks ago and the water was about 73 degrees so that was nice.

The camping area has a lot of nice amenities including a store and a small pool in addition to the quarry swimming area. Diving is $16 per day but that includes an air fill. Unfortunately the fill station is only open on weekends but I believe you can keep your fill receipt all season if you happen to dive during the week.
Ber :lilbunny: