raven397
Registered
Hi all,
my lady friend and I were recently visiting pals who had a week at a time-share near Harrisonburg, VA, so I naturally checked out local dive opportunities.
I found a shop in Harrisonburg, Kathy's Scuba, at www.kathysscuba.com They do open water courses at James Madison Univ in town there. I connected with owners Kathy and Paul Delaney, who were most friendly and helpful. they were doing open water cert dives on Sunday, Oct 2, at a local quarry, and they found me an experienced dive buddy.
the site, Blackwell Quarry, was not the greatest. visibility was about 8 to 10 feet, and water temps 64 F. Jeff, my dive buddy, was a great guy to get wet with.
Owner Paul suggested a trip to Mt. Storm, WV, a cooling lake for a large coal-fired power plant. I got connected with BJ, a guy who lives close to Mt. Storm Lake. info at Scuba at Mount Storm, WV. mtstorm This is an unusual site. at full operation, the plant sucks 234K gallons per minute from the lake into the cooling pipes, and puts it out at 105 F.
BJ indicated that a few days earlier, there was viz of 25 feet, but the plant must have been running allout, since it seemed to be about 5 to 7 feet on our dives on Oct. 2. lots of catfish, and the water temp was 74 F.
I would not have driven from Ohio to this area for diving, but being already there, the chance to get in 4 dives was cool. note also that Mt. Storm is an altitude dive, since elevation is 3265 feet.
Kathys Scuba is a great shop, and the local divers are most friendly.
my lady friend and I were recently visiting pals who had a week at a time-share near Harrisonburg, VA, so I naturally checked out local dive opportunities.
I found a shop in Harrisonburg, Kathy's Scuba, at www.kathysscuba.com They do open water courses at James Madison Univ in town there. I connected with owners Kathy and Paul Delaney, who were most friendly and helpful. they were doing open water cert dives on Sunday, Oct 2, at a local quarry, and they found me an experienced dive buddy.
the site, Blackwell Quarry, was not the greatest. visibility was about 8 to 10 feet, and water temps 64 F. Jeff, my dive buddy, was a great guy to get wet with.
Owner Paul suggested a trip to Mt. Storm, WV, a cooling lake for a large coal-fired power plant. I got connected with BJ, a guy who lives close to Mt. Storm Lake. info at Scuba at Mount Storm, WV. mtstorm This is an unusual site. at full operation, the plant sucks 234K gallons per minute from the lake into the cooling pipes, and puts it out at 105 F.
BJ indicated that a few days earlier, there was viz of 25 feet, but the plant must have been running allout, since it seemed to be about 5 to 7 feet on our dives on Oct. 2. lots of catfish, and the water temp was 74 F.
I would not have driven from Ohio to this area for diving, but being already there, the chance to get in 4 dives was cool. note also that Mt. Storm is an altitude dive, since elevation is 3265 feet.
Kathys Scuba is a great shop, and the local divers are most friendly.