scubamiller
Contributor
I recognize that Virginia is no longer the "Deep South", but I did travel there in one day (from Alabama) and had an amazing time at the quarry in Rawlings, Virginia; I recommend that if anyone is travelling up that way and is really interested in seeing something fairly unique and well-maintained, then make the couple-mile detour off of I-85 to Lake Rawlings SCUBA park.
So the place is a dive & camp facility offering tent/RV camping or cabins. There is a full-service Dive SHACK on site with full gear rentals, air fills, tank rentals, NITROX fills/rentals, and much, much more, including training on many different specialties.
The Dive: me and the the wife did two dives each, a 56'/47 min dive followed by a 1:45 SIT to warm up and a 44'/49 min dive to check out the rest of the "attractions". We dove in 3/2 full wetsuit (Me) and 5/4/3 full wetsuit (her), with AL 80's which rent for $17.50/day with free unlimited air refills as long as you keep diving. The Visibility was pretty clear at about 50' down to around the first thermocline at 25' deep, then below that the vis remained around 35' as deep as we went. The max depth for the quarry is 65' on the south side which we never explored.
The temperature: around 60 on the surface, dive 1 was 49 degrees (F) at depth, and dive 2 was a little shallower/warmer at 52 degrees.....very chilly by most standards.
The sunken Attractions: 10 boats, 9 platforms (various depths), 2 buses, 4 cars/vans, an Airplane (Miss Laurie), a Blackhawk helicopter, a computer "Graveyard", a rubble pile, blast hole, a mystery boat, and a UW navigation course. Geocachers will find a cache if they dare to get wet. There are two main docks for "launching" or you can walk in the boat launch area. There are picnic tables (free), grills (Free), and pavilions (which must be reserved for $5) all right on site.
Price(s): too many variations and specials to list, but they have a good website (we found them by the website: www.lakerawlings.com ). We were not able to spend the night due to my work schedule, but we dove the "humpday" special (half price admission ($12.50/day/diver) for diving on Wednesday). There are multi-day, camp/dive specials, military specials and other great deals if you are looking to get wet inshore/freshwater and you are within a day striking distance....I highly recommend checking this out if you want to see something unique & well-maintained.
Dive Safe,
Michael
So the place is a dive & camp facility offering tent/RV camping or cabins. There is a full-service Dive SHACK on site with full gear rentals, air fills, tank rentals, NITROX fills/rentals, and much, much more, including training on many different specialties.
The Dive: me and the the wife did two dives each, a 56'/47 min dive followed by a 1:45 SIT to warm up and a 44'/49 min dive to check out the rest of the "attractions". We dove in 3/2 full wetsuit (Me) and 5/4/3 full wetsuit (her), with AL 80's which rent for $17.50/day with free unlimited air refills as long as you keep diving. The Visibility was pretty clear at about 50' down to around the first thermocline at 25' deep, then below that the vis remained around 35' as deep as we went. The max depth for the quarry is 65' on the south side which we never explored.
The temperature: around 60 on the surface, dive 1 was 49 degrees (F) at depth, and dive 2 was a little shallower/warmer at 52 degrees.....very chilly by most standards.
The sunken Attractions: 10 boats, 9 platforms (various depths), 2 buses, 4 cars/vans, an Airplane (Miss Laurie), a Blackhawk helicopter, a computer "Graveyard", a rubble pile, blast hole, a mystery boat, and a UW navigation course. Geocachers will find a cache if they dare to get wet. There are two main docks for "launching" or you can walk in the boat launch area. There are picnic tables (free), grills (Free), and pavilions (which must be reserved for $5) all right on site.
Price(s): too many variations and specials to list, but they have a good website (we found them by the website: www.lakerawlings.com ). We were not able to spend the night due to my work schedule, but we dove the "humpday" special (half price admission ($12.50/day/diver) for diving on Wednesday). There are multi-day, camp/dive specials, military specials and other great deals if you are looking to get wet inshore/freshwater and you are within a day striking distance....I highly recommend checking this out if you want to see something unique & well-maintained.
Dive Safe,
Michael
