Martha's Quarry

[rfranks1658]

Just wanted to thank everyone for there advice on Martha's quarry. Me and my son met Cameron there on Saturday and did three dives. Here is my opinion for what's is worth. I know everyone has one, lol.
Wow, thats one big quarry!
Why did no one check to see if I had a C card (?) guess anyone can dive here?
Thanks to the gentleman who did check us in because when I told him where we were from and had no local dive shop he charged us the $20 rate.
The viz was fair, for one who had been diving in the TN river lately it was great, lol, was about 10 to 15 feet.
The rockcrusher building was by far the best thing about the quarry. Being able to dive around and in the building with access to surface at all time (seeing daylight) was very cool.
Time spent with my son (priceless) and having a very experienced diver like Cameron was wonderful (very good pre dive checklist)
Would I go back, sure but am bring more exposure protection. Anything below 30' in the main part of quarry was quite cold. Be a great place to bring my dry suit.
But, and they really need to work on this and that is to check for C cards, they are just inviting getting trashed by a lawyer being that lax.
Oh, we did get airfills, I checked out the compressor and its very suspects, like something out of the 50's, plus airfills were $8 and then when you get in the water the 3000 psi goes to 2400 psi, so the air is probably good, but will bring more of my own tanks next time.
Cameron, thanks buddy for a great time, lets dive again soon,
Ray

 

[mike_s]

Why did no one check to see if I had a C card (?) guess anyone can dive here?

I hardly ever get checked for a C card. I think maybe I did one time last year. I haven't been checked at all this year and that includes a liveaboard trip. As long as they've got the liability waiver, they are pretty fairly covered. (Come to think of it, I rarely get asked to fill those out anymore either!

Oh, we did get airfills, I checked out the compressor and its very suspects, like something out of the 50's, plus airfills were $8 and then when you get in the water the 3000 psi goes to 2400 psi, so the air is probably good, but will bring more of my own tanks next time.

In the long ago past, I heard some not positive comments from a lot of people about their air quality. But that was long ago... They've since moved their compressor from the back of a school bus to the building. But still I carry my own tanks (but I do that about everywhere now just as a matter of convience).



for a new question... what were water temps? (at what depths?)

 

[rfranks1658]

Water temp at surface was a toasty 82 degrees, and down around 20 was a very nice 78 degrees.
There is a very pronouced thermocline below 30 feet and the temp was around 57-58 degrees.
Cameron was wearing a 5 mm and was very comforable. I was wearing a 3 mm and anything much below 30 feet was very cold to me!

Hope this helps.
I plan to come back and bring my dry suit in the future. Would be a great place for a dry suit dive.
Happy diving,
Ray