Gilboa Quarry - Deep Dive review

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munselln8

Registered
Messages
61
Reaction score
8
Location
Charleston, SC, USA
# of dives
500 - 999
Hey all,
Just thought I would take minute to post up on today's diving at Gilboa. My wife and I (who have done all of our dives together-30 ish) went out to Gilboa today and my wife specifically stated that she wanted to swim over to the north end (deep end) to see if we could spot some paddlefish. I had tried to get her to swim over there before, since someone mentioned the paddlefish liked to hang out around 30', but she would never do it because she knew the mgmt required a dive plan and approvals before going over there. So, I told her: "Listen this guy, Mike, I hear he is really strict and hardly let's anyone go over to the deep side"...this I had heard here on the boards. I had even heard some straight "tirades" about what a jerk he is for not letting "highly qualified" divers dive the deep end.
But she wanted to try it so when we got there we filled out our "deep dive" profiles and were told we would have to run them by Mike for approvals (apparently he has sole authority to approve or deny diving on the north side of the quarry).
At this point we see Mike...He has been busting his *ss filling tanks at the fill station. I mean, literally, he is filling 12 tanks at a time and has 16 more lined up waiting. So, we wait until he gets the next 12 tanks set up and we introduce ourselves.
Now, at this point I should outline our "deep dive" profile. We planned on descending to the platforms then swimming out to the tubes and dropping to around 40', then travelling due north for 4 minutes and then NE for 4 minutes before reversing our path; returning to the platform to do some OOA and SMB deployment drills during our safety stop. Total Dive time: 35 min... Max Depth: 40'.
Immediately Mike said...."well, I already have some concerns...." He talked about our number of dives, the depth on the deep end, our gear (which is good, but not totally suited for "real" deep diving)...He also asked us a lot of questions: How many dives have you done together? How is your Bouyancy? What if your reg free flows? What should your buddy arrangement look like?
All the while he seemed genuinely concerned that we should be safe at the end of the day. we answered all of his questions and, in the end, he approved our dive profile for the deep end. I kept thinking that he was gonna go off on us and deny the profile (since I had read the negative write-ups on this forum), but all the while he was respectful, yet concerned. Polite, yet very honest. He didn't like the number of dives in our log, he DID like that we had dived all of them together, He didn't....etc...etc...
I guess the point is...I felt like Mike did nothing less than I would have done to try my best to ensure that I was paying due diligence in keeping all of my souls safe. I am having a hard time reconciling all of the negativity I have read here on the board with the experience I had today...Mike just seemed like a really good guy who, yeah, has to worry about insurance companies and liabilities, etc...but also a guy who said, several times, that he had to be able to "go to sleep at night" knowing he did everything he could to keep his divers safe.
In the end we DID see our paddlefish. Two of them actually, or maybe the same one twice. But mostly I wanted to give Mike a big "Thumbs Up" for being concerned, critical and polite all at the same time. Thanks Mike! We had a great dive!
 
Thanks for the well written trip report. I have dived there frequently in the past 4 years. Have had a season pass for the last two. But on the rare occasion I dive the deep side, I have to give Gilboa a dive plan.

At first, the rules bothered me. Not anymore. Although I have a couple of buds who find them problematic.

I am glad you had a great time. And saw the paddlefish. I have yet to see em.

I will be meeting a dive bud in a few hours at Gilboa. He has never been there and I will be interested in hearing his impressions.
 
I was there last weekend and did a couple of my AOW dives. This was my second trip there and we had a great time diving. I did the two training dives and then my buddy and I went down to the tubes and swam just on the north side of the wall back up to the area of the big set of platforms. I really like swimming along the wall over the deeep water.

I did meet Mike this trip and he seems to me to be a good enough guy, but a bit rough around the edges. If you need warm fuzzies then he might disappoint you a bit. My only critique of Gilboa quarry is the lack of maintenance on the "docks." some of them were closed die to broken boards.

My buddy wants to go back so I think we are going to try to hit the meet-n-greet.

cheers
Jerry
 
My buddy wants to go back so I think we are going to try to hit the meet-n-greet.

Jerry,

Would love for you and your buddy to show up for Meet and Greet! Its always a great time with lots of other divers to meet. Many of my dive trips have been planned at Meet and Greets.

Hope to see you there,
Mike (not Gilboa Mike) :)
 

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