Quarry trained Divers

[RussR]

Quarry divers are the same as all divers. Maybe more representive of the "Walmart" effect on diving, but generally you will find the same cross reference of divers - some good, some great - some not so great

 

[vondo]

Boy, this unnamed poster seems like a real idiot!

Oh wait, that was me! This was taken a bit out of context, I am reluctant to become an instructor because I'm not comfortable with the responsibility of training someone in a quarry knowing they will immediately be heading out in the ocean. They are two very different diving places to dive. ... It is my problem with the responsibility, not that I don't think anyone who dives quarry's can't dive in saltwater.

Well, let me say this about that:

I'm guessing you do more than the typical instructor. I was one of those quarry divers who went off to the tropics for my first dives. I wasn't comfortable diving in the ocean without a more experienced buddy. But then I wouldn't have been comfortable going to the quarry without a more experienced buddy either. I don't think my comfort level had anything to do with the ocean. And, I'd been on boats, in waves, etc. many times before starting to dive too. So the ocean was different but less challenging (IMO).

I guess what I'm saying is that I think being trained in a quarry is not a handicap for going to the ocean. And if your students are going to a non-US tropical destination they will probably have a DM in the water with them or even as a buddy. I guess I would suggest to your students that they let the operator, captain, and DM know that they are new and that if they are concerned at all to make sure a DM dives with them at first, even if it means hiring one in a place like the Keys.

 

[RJP]

Jersey isn't all seasick, there are Lake Atlantic days.

Shhhhhh....

The boats are crowded enough as it is!

 

[Buoyant1]

Buoyant1, That sounds about like what my buddies and I do. We usally skip out at noon on Friday (During the Summer) to get to the quarry before the students slit it up on Saturday. In the Spring and Fall Saturdays and Sundays since the crowds are smaller. I dove 7mm, hood, gloves then found a great deal on a drysuit.

My local quarry (Bainbridge, PA) has Wednesday night diving which is usually about 20-30 divers tops during peak season, September we had about 10 or so if that. Viz is a bit better and it breaks up the week rather nicely! (and since my weekends are usually booked, it gets me out diving!) Weekends it appears to be steady, but not crazy.

The "not so local" quarry (Dutch Springs) appears busy no matter WHEN you go there! We went Oct 29th and it was in the mid-high 40's and VERY windy and the place was JAMMED!

 

[MikeFerrara]

I am a quarry diver at heart. I learned to dive in a quarry, and 90% of my dives have been in a quarry, where it's low vis and dark... green or brown water (mostly green), and full of algea. Once you dip 8-10 feet (at most) under the surface, you can no longer see the surface thru the algal blooms! Once the students have been in the water, vis drops to about 2'.
Haigh and Blue springs can both be pretty good

That said, when I am able to get to the ocean (Florida) for some boat diving, it's so nice to see blue water and tropical fish! Turtles and sharks and rays, oh my! Love it! And, it's so much easier to dive than the quarries. Even fighting a rippin' current, I found it more fun than the quarry. It's nice when I can see where I'm going!

I think people make the vis in our local quarries sound a lot worse than it really is. No doubt some quarries get pretty bad in the peak algea times like mid-summer or when the sulfer clouds move into the deths we're diving but all and all the vis in the In. Oh. and Il quarries is pretty good on average.

Gilboa is almost always fantastic until the shallows are messsed up by crowds.
I have video taken in France park when the vis was literally almost unlimited...100 ft?...you could look down the roadbed like looking down a city street and from the bus, you could see the truck by moving just a few feet in that direction. It's not at all unusual to have vis in the 30 ft range and it only drops below 10 ft at the worst times.

I think there's a couple of reasons people make it sound so bad. First, most people dive the wuarries at the worst times (July and August) and second, the bottom is often silty and it's the divers who bring the bad vis...ie they silt it up.

If you want to see bad vis, dive some of our natural lakes, rivers or resevoirs...brail diving.

Down deep the quarries are always cold and they can be deep but aside from that they're pretty easy diving. On average, I don't see vis being bad enough to add to the difficulty.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Mike, I think we are trying to make sure only talk about the very worst conditions If you read back every diver from NJ should weigh about 92 lbs since they get seasick and loose their lunch on every boat trip.

I think people make the vis in our local quarries sound a lot worse than it really is. No doubt some quarries get pretty bad in the peak algea times like mid-summer or when the sulfer clouds move into the deths we're diving but all and all the vis in the In.

 

[edjohnson66]

Ok in Defense of New Jersey Diving I have had days where it is as flat as a lake there, I have had days where I had 70 foot of viz. Usually the viz does run between 5-15 foot. Between October and Novemeber water temps in the high 50's low 60's. Most of the dive boat will cancel when the seas are bad (but more likely cancel because the winds are too high) Yes sometimes you get caught out there and the seas change. But in my opinion nothing beats the coast off New Jersey

 

[ApexLongimanus]

Ok in Defense of New Jersey Diving I have had days where it is as flat as a lake there, I have had days where I had 70 foot of viz. Usually the viz does run between 5-15 foot. Between October and Novemeber water temps in the high 50's low 60's. Most of the dive boat will cancel when the seas are bad (but more likely cancel because the winds are too high) Yes sometimes you get caught out there and the seas change. But in my opinion nothing beats the coast off New Jersey

I totally agree! There is awesome diving. Vis can be a hit or miss.

 

[DBailey]

Personally, I feel that the students that leave the quarry after my class are better equipped to handle everything in warm water diving.

Due to the rarely warm water in the quarry, the students have completed their mask skills in colder warm where the shock of the cold water actually pushes some student towards panic. I am confident that in warmer water they won't have that issue; however, I wonder if any of them are scarred by the incident.

During weight belt remove and replace, many of them are using 20+ pounds of lead. Yes, over the course of the weekend, I am shaving off weight from their weight belts as they become less anxious in the water. I am confident that once they get to warm waters are are wearing much thinner wetsuits and less lead that they can remove and replace their weights with easy.

Mask, BC, belt, etc. skills are all completed with gloves during most of the year. Once the student has the dexterity of their fingers only on the warmer water, I am confident that they will have an easier time with the skill.

During the exporation portions of the dive in 10 feet or less of visibilty, they learn the value of good buddy skills and monitoring.

This applies more to the AOW Navigation and Nav. Specialty, but when the OW students actually navigate correctly in 10 feet of visibilty, I am confident that they have grasped the concept of a compass instead of the 75ft visibilty student "peeking" to see if he/she is headed the correct direction.

I have had more students return to the shop and say that they had a blast diving in warm waters and that it was much easier than their training dives in the quarry.

Now for the disclaimer:

I feel that for someone that does a large number of quarry dives and then goes to the ocean without respecting the change in conditions, is asking for trouble. In a quarry, you are in the relative safe confines of a small lake. Help is a short surface swim or a quick boat ride away. Ocean (and Great Lake) diving doesn't offer that safety net.

If you respect the change in conditions and plan accordingly, then I can't ask for anything more.

 

[SwimJim]

Well, most any rubber stamped dufus can dive in warm water. Diving off a cattle boat in Mexico under the eye of a dive master ain't really a challange now is it? Quarries in the midwest offer colder water and low viz. Thats the next step up. A little more of a challange. I dive Lake Michigan. That can offer seas that have gotten seasoned salt water skippers seasick. Add in near freezing temps, horizontal anchor lines and it gets a little more interesting. Now, I've never personally dived New Jersey, but, what it sounds like the average trip to a wreck is twenty miles. Lake Michigan is about five or ten. Brackish damn salt water instead of fresh. Probably about the same viz and temps. I think the title goes to Jersey. Not even a close call. I'd like to dive jersey sometime. A quarry in Ohio??? ROFL. No thanks. Just my two cents

Jim