Madison Quarry

[Britt]

Britt,

The last two weekends have been GREAT! I love having the quarry all to myself (my group).

I guess everyone else is afraid to get wet in the rain? ;-)

When do you start teaching the PADI Parking Lot Dive Specialty?

See you this weekend!!!!

Regards,
Ltstanfo

Dont get carried away, Im sure you will have some others to share with soon.

I was thinking more technical... I think I can get TDI to approve an car diving course, they approved overhead in caves, overhead in wrecks, so why not a course to teach people to dive under cars? That is an overhead environment, right?

We will be open on Monday (Memorial Day) too. Military and Vets get in for $15 on Monday.

 

[bigDave]

So how is the vis, and what are the temps running?

Thanks,
David

 

[Britt]

I haven't been in the water in a few weeks but I was told it was warming up nicely, about the mid seventies.

I was told that vis is about 15-20 ft. but it seems like it was clearer when I was standing on the dock Wednesday.

Dont quote me on this info though. I will know more this weekend when everyone goes diving. Im hoping I may be able to get a few dives too.

 

[mike_s]

I haven't been in the water in a few weeks but I was told it was warming up nicely, about the mid seventies.

.

ha! maybe on the top it's in the 70's....

I'm betting it's still in the 60's or upper 50's on the bottom.

 

[lrterry]

We did Madison last week. Viz was good to very good, surface temp was about 75, when you get to about 30' it gets rather cool, but we had a blast getting wet again. We will be there again this weekend.

 

[mike_s]

We made it out there for their Thursday afternoon/night dive on the 2nd. had a great time

the water has receeded enough that all of the "front parking lot" is dry and you can park there and use the docks. The "rear" parking area and the road back to it are all still flooded. (but plenty of parking in the front area.)

water temps on the bottom are still a little chilly, but manageable. We got 61f on the first dive and 62f on the second dive.

I expect the temps will be up towards 70 by the end of July and perhaps a little over 70f by August.

folks wanting to dive there need to make sure to hit it this year as no telling if the waterboard will allow it to open next year.

 

[lottinala]

We made it out there for their Thursday afternoon/night dive on the 2nd. had a great time

the water has receeded enough that all of the "front parking lot" is dry and you can park there and use the docks. The "rear" parking area and the road back to it are all still flooded. (but plenty of parking in the front area.)

water temps on the bottom are still a little chilly, but manageable. We got 61f on the first dive and 62f on the second dive.

I expect the temps will be up towards 70 by the end of July and perhaps a little over 70f by August.

folks wanting to dive there need to make sure to hit it this year as no telling if the waterboard will allow it to open next year.

so are they talking about closing it up again, as soon as my son gets his dive card i think we will try and make it cause it a good place for him to get some dive time in before he hits the salt water.

 

[mike_s]

so are they talking about closing it up again, as soon as my son gets his dive card i think we will try and make it cause it a good place for him to get some dive time in before he hits the salt water.

Britt here on SB runs the dive operation at the quarry, but the Madison Waterboard owns the quarry/land.

The Waterboard only issues a short term lease for the year as a dive operation. When they finally get ADEM (Alabama Dept Environmental Management) approval to use it as a water source or as a water storage facility, it will likely have negative consequences on allowing divers there.

so my reccomendation it do "dive it often" this year in case it's not open next year. Then if it does open next year, do the same as it might not be open the year after that.

It's a great resource to have in our "own backyard". we need to use it.

 

[lrterry]

I agree with Mike, for people in middle, southern TN, and North Alabama this is a very good quarry to dive. Britt has worked hard to get this back open for us and we are very lucky to have it. We did a July Fourth dive and viz was very good. Like Mike the bottom temp is 62 but is warming up. Water has gone back and the west parking lot is good to park.

Lottinala, my youngest son just got his C card and has 8 dives at the quarry now. We are going to the gulf next week to do some jettie dives and hopefully a boat dive.

Come on out to Madison!

 

[tibbs14]

Me and friend want to practice rolling our Kayaks tomorrow. Are kayaks permitted in the quarry? Would it be 20 bucks per person? Thanks.