It's time....

[diverbrian]

I see the points here. Some of the issues that I run into:


I would like a place with nitrox fills as my primary tanks are O2 cleaned as are other people around here. A meet and greet isn't worth violating the O2 cleaning on people's tanks to get fills. I know that Whitestar's air fills (having dove there) are not of the "O2 clean" variety.

Also, I would like a place where the diving is as it was in the first meet and greet. By that I mean, if somebody comes in at an odd time, they will still find somebody to dive with. Portage, although I have not been there, may be the answer for that.

Again, could we hear other comments on this? Like I said, putting in the input and letting the "planning group" go over this at the Black Forest Brewery in a couple of weekends may be in order.

 

[netmage]

I would like a place with nitrox fills as my primary tanks are O2 cleaned as are other people around here. A meet and greet isn't worth violating the O2 cleaning on people's tanks to get fills. I know that Whitestar's air fills (having dove there) are not of the "O2 clean" variety.

Also, I would like a place where the diving is as it was in the first meet and greet. By that I mean, if somebody comes in at an odd time, they will still find somebody to dive with. Portage, although I have not been there, may be the answer for that.

Portage does Nitrox via PP fills, so by assumption they pump O2 compatable air.

Portage has loads of camping sites near the water, I'd recommend that da' Michigan Boyz with their trailers camp out early and hornswaggle the entire back side of the quarry. If we can get enough people to commit for the weekend - I wonder if Jeff will reserve it in advance?

No trees, but plenty of open grass for setting up picnic fixins, tents, etc for a ton of people. There will be plenty of trucks around for driving tanks up for fills.

The only downside to Portage is that the underwater attractions are WAY apart., so your in for alot of swimming in open water w/o alot of landmarks/lines to get you grounded if you want to get adventerous.

Either way - I'm in, Portage is a half hour closer for me. I'll have at least one set of doubles, perhaps two, so I'm in for some long dives.

-Tim

 

[Mitten Diver]

I see the points here. Some of the issues that I run into:


I would like a place with nitrox fills as my primary tanks are O2 cleaned as are other people around here. A meet and greet isn't worth violating the O2 cleaning on people's tanks to get fills. I know that Whitestar's air fills (having dove there) are not of the "O2 clean" variety.

Also, I would like a place where the diving is as it was in the first meet and greet. By that I mean, if somebody comes in at an odd time, they will still find somebody to dive with. Portage, although I have not been there, may be the answer for that.

Again, could we hear other comments on this? Like I said, putting in the input and letting the "planning group" go over this at the Black Forest Brewery in a couple of weekends may be in order.

Brian,

I think the easiest way to solve this issue would be for you to upgrade your vehicle to a pulling vehicle, buy an enclosed trailer, compressor, reserve tanks and blending station. Then haul it along with all of the other gear that you shoe horn in to the Mustang. Problem solved you have nitrox and e-grade air for everyone that shows up to the Meet and Greet wherever we go. I can certainally agree that Gilboa is kind of expensive for diving, but I do like diving there as it offers a nice variety for all involved.

Chartering sounds like a good idea to me, but does make it tough for all of us to be able to get together at one time and mix in different types of dives. I really enjoyed the night dive last time and could appreciate the controlled atmosphere of the quarry for that application as it was my first night dive.

Mitten Diver

 

[diverbrian]

Brian,

I think the easiest way to solve this issue would be for you to upgrade your vehicle to a pulling vehicle, buy an enclosed trailer, compressor, reserve tanks and blending station. Then haul it along with all of the other gear that you shoe horn in to the Mustang. Problem solved you have nitrox and e-grade air for everyone that shows up to the Meet and Greet wherever we go. I can certainally agree that Gilboa is kind of expensive for diving, but I do like diving there as it offers a nice variety for all involved.

Chartering sounds like a good idea to me, but does make it tough for all of us to be able to get together at one time and mix in different types of dives. I really enjoyed the night dive last time and could appreciate the controlled atmosphere of the quarry for that application as it was my first night dive.

Mitten Diver

Thanks,

You have just listed the reasons for my personal preference of Gilboa for a mixed group of divers. The reasons that I didn't mention chartering right off are mentioned in this post as well, although most of the wrecks in Sanilac are appropriate for a mixed group. Portage sounds all right for this if people don't want to pay the money for Gilboa. Or depending on how many people show up, I could try to "buy a boat" and go the charter route. I just don't want to see anyone left out.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

I'd be up for a run to Portage since I haven't been there in ages.
Ber

 

[diver_paula]

In Northeastern Ohio, I recommend Portage. It is the most family friendly.

Advantages over Gilboa: Price, sunken items are not roped together so there is a greater variety of paths taken and there is a swimming area for non-divers. & volleyball if that interests anyone.

Advantages over Whitestar: Swimming is close to the divers as opposed to the opposite side of the quarry. The camping surrounds the quarry instead of being on across the street / needed to drive to.

Advantages over a charter / meeting near Lexington: People can arrive at different times / days. The quarries are more centrally located for the GLWC. Skill and experience levels may not all be high enough for Lexington charters.

Most of the times I've camped at Portage we've camped along the wall in the side past the swimming area. Not the open "no trees" area but the sites along the tree line. We've either entered the water there or driven / walked down to the entrance by the entrance / store.

Air fills? I can't really comment on that as I typically bring enough tanks for the weekend. If not, it's just a couple extra air fills.

& I must agree Gilboa is WAY overpriced. I do dive there a few times a year but camping, etc. adds up. If you recall I arrived late Saturday evening and didn't dive, stayed in someone elses camper, was there on Sunday until 1 or 2pm and didn't dive. Cost? $30! for one single non-diving person.

Paula

p.s. I now have a 10 gallon cast iron kettle and tri-pod if anyone is up for soup, stew, chili or the like.

 

[diverbrian]

I sounds like Portage then. I was supposed to go a couple of weekends ago, but never went as a dive trip to the Straits came in at the last minute.

I did eight dives the last trip. If I brought enough tanks to cover that I would really be overloaded in the car, LOL. But, I should be able to get nitrox fills from the sounds of things, so I will be happy.

 

[CathyS]

In Northeastern Ohio, I recommend Portage. It is the most family friendly.

Advantages over Gilboa: Price, sunken items are not roped together so there is a greater variety of paths taken and there is a swimming area for non-divers. & volleyball if that interests anyone.

Hello, newbie question here. Yesterday I was looking at the Portage website. They've got an article on there from some magazine, which says that Portage does have some ropes across the quarry at 25'. Is that no longer accurate? Being a new diver and somewhat shaky on navigation skills, having some underwater ropes to help guide me along seemed like an attractive feature (although I can see how it would tend to get a lot of people swimming along the same path). It sounds to me like you're saying Portage doesn't have ropes, but Gilboa has ropes strung between the sunken items. I've not yet been to either place and I'm trying to figure out which is better for my first real diving experience.

Cathy

 

[diverbrian]

Gilboa is an excellent place for a beginning diver so long as they follow the rules and stay on the shallow side. With the exception of a couple of items, there are bright poly lines tied off between underwater objects. Even to this day, I do like not needing a compass because natural navigation is easy in there and the actual surface area is small so that if you do get lost it is no big deal.

Portage is unknown to me, but I do know that it is the most shallow of the three quarries in the area with Gilboa's deep end being the deepest by far. That is not a bad thing for a beginning diver as it is less stress when you know that you can't get overly deep to get yourself into trouble.

So... I would say that they both sound good from that perspective and for the rest of us... As the attitude goes, a quarry is basically a quarry. To me, a quarry is practice for a wreck, LOL.

PS... If you want to complain about prices at a quarry, check out Dutch Springs in Pennsylvania. I met somebody there this year for a couple of days and they charge something like $21.00 per day per person with a year's pass being $120.00. Of course, they keep about twenty staff there, too. I definitely understand the "family-friendly" pricing issue, though.

As I said, it sounds like the Meet and Greet (pending a Black Forest meeting to finalize the matter) will be at Portage.

 

[netmage]

Hello, newbie question here. Yesterday I was looking at the Portage website. They've got an article on there from some magazine, which says that Portage does have some ropes across the quarry at 25'. Is that no longer accurate? Being a new diver and somewhat shaky on navigation skills, having some underwater ropes to help guide me along seemed like an attractive feature (although I can see how it would tend to get a lot of people swimming along the same path). It sounds to me like you're saying Portage doesn't have ropes, but Gilboa has ropes strung between the sunken items. I've not yet been to either place and I'm trying to figure out which is better for my first real diving experience.

Cathy

See Brian's note about Gilboa...

At Portage they do have some lines run in certain navigation areas. Look at their quarry map and you'll see a few lines run - but not interconnecting attractions an strung across everything like at Gilboa.