Rock Divers @ Madison Aquatic Park going out of business this weekend...

[rdharbis1]

Oh well, I don't imagine I'll be opening the quarry anytime soon...

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Will it be open without a shop? Kinda like Morrison, kept up by the county, owned by the state, but nobody really runs it, just swim at your own risk kinda thing?

 

[Corigan]

Will it be open without a shop? Kinda like Morrison, kept up by the county, owned by the state, but nobody really runs it, just swim at your own risk kinda thing?

That would be great! Pack your own gas in, rent at dive sports if you need tanks, and have a blast.

Matt

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I wish more spots were like that and.... free!

 

[mike_s]

Will it be open without a shop? Kinda like Morrison, kept up by the county, owned by the state, but nobody really runs it, just swim at your own risk kinda thing?

That would be great. I personally don't need an onsite shop as I never
use their tanks anyway. However, I doubt that the city will just
"leave the gate open". Too many people would trash the place
I'm afraid. But maybe they'll operate it more as a park
than a business. Regardless, I'll be happy if it re-opens even if
it requires payment.

Two other dive shops in/near town used to run their own quarries.
SDI ran one YEARS ago in the Priceville area. It was set up more like
a "club" and didn't have an onsite shop, etc. I think members paid
a flat rate fee and got a key to the gate as part of that. I can't
remember why they closed it down, but it's been closed for I'd guess
slose to 8 to 10 years.

The other local quarry, the Moultan Quarry, was ran by a shop in
the "metropolis" of Tanner, Alabama and they went ouf of business,
so the quarry closed with it..... But it's re-opened this year
by another group. They don't have anything onsite but I talked
to a fellow Scuba-board member who dove there this past weekend
and he said it wasn't that bad. 70f at around 35 feet.
I dove it several years ago and I remember it had a nice 22-25
foot sailboat in it with the mast and sail up and a Greyhound
type bus. I guess I'll be going back out there more often now. heh.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Cool, let us know how the other quarries fair for ya. Never know when I might be up that way with dive gear Its not like there are a ton of options...

 

[philmottrek99and02]

I'd like more information on the Moulton quarry in nearby Tanner. I will soon be back home in Huntsville looking for a place to get wet. Send directions and other information as soon as you can Mike.
Howard

 

[mike_s]

I'd like more information on the Moulton quarry in nearby Tanner. I will soon be back home in Huntsville looking for a place to get wet. Send directions and other information as soon as you can Mike.
Howard

The dive shop in Tanner went out of business 6-8 years ago....
They used to run the quarry... I don't know the name of
the quarry, but people have always called it the Moulton
Quarry because if's located near Moulton.

The quarry is now run by a dive shop in "Center Star, AL".
called The Dive Station. I haven't been out there since
it close the last time, but FloDiver from here on Scubaboard
dove there this past weekend. He said it was $15 entry fee.
He said it was also very primitive at the location. Take anything
you need, but he said they did have tanks for rent there last weekend.
Just don't get your hopes up, they have no facilities there.

The guys who run it are paramedics and/or firemen, so their schedule
might not allow them to open every weekend, so I'd call first to
verify that they will be open.

I'll try to give them a call tomorrow (wednesday) and see what
their current status is, but as of this past weekend, they
were open.

The Dive Station
Kevin Behel at kbmedic71@msn.com or 256-366-2570 and Anthony McGee at MCGEEA8@aol.com or 256-648-9147


As for directions, I don't have them, but we were looking the other day
at work trying to find it from an overhead view and we think that this
is it. Here is the URL. From this you can see the water of the quarry
and then switch to MAP mode to get the country roads off HWY 24.
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=34.451865,-87.386627&spn=0.033081,0.047782&t=h&hl=en

Like I said, I'll try to call them tomorrow to verify the directions and
their operations. Let me know before you come up. There has been
another group of us discussing going out there.

Hope all that helps.

-Mike

 

[Flodiver]

I spoke to Anthony today and he said they were going to have someone there on the weekends, but like Mike said it's probably best to call before you go. I can give rough directions but when Mike talks to them perhaps he can get more accurate directions.

Directions from Elgin Crossroads at Highway 72 in Lauderdale County are:

Highway 101 South (towards Town Creek) to the end of the Highway, I think it dead ends into Old 24. Turn Left, couple of miles and then, right past a service station, (Texaco?) take the first gravel road to the right, down to the first left which is another gravel road. The entrance will be on the right.

I got there about 9:30 and dove to around 2:00. They do have a compressor on site and said they could do Nitrox as well, but the compressor was down and they sent someone to Moulton for a part. As I was leaving they said Nitrox was back up.

They had some tanks for rent and some other "basic gear", just not sure what it was since I didn't need any.

It's a smaller quarry and there are several boats,parts, etc in it. Also several rather aggressive bream latched onto my ear at several times during the dive. I thought I was going to come out looking like Evander Holyfield after his last fight with Mike Tyson - must not have been much food in there lately

Shaun/FloDiver

 

[mike_s]

Well, I gave him a call, but the directions that I got were pretty much
the same as those above that Shaun gave. They included the
phrase "turn off the paved road".... heh.

He did say the gas station you turned right after was a Phillips 66 though.
The entrance is not marked by a sign though. He said look for the
an open gate on the right and a gravel road.

I think I might take a GPS out there in the next few weekends and
get a accurate positioning and also note the County Road sign numbers,
if they aren't completely riddled with bullet holes.


From the directions he gave and using Google Maps, here's what
I came up with.

1.) Take Hwy-24 going WEST until HWY-101
2.) Turn LEFT(South) on HWY-101
3.) Turn LEFT(East) on "Old AL-24"
4.) Turn RIGHT(South) on CR-55 (FYI, CR = Country Road)
5.) Turn LEFT(EAST) on CR-102
6.) Turn RIGHT through open gate into quarry property.

BTW... that puts you at the link above that has the pic of
the quarry in it from the air on Google Maps.

He said they were open starting at around 9am on Saturdays and most
likely right after lunch/church on Sundays. They would be open this
season until the end of October (most likely)