Willow Springs?

[Buoyant1]

Anyone dive there? I'm thinking of checking it out this summer and wondered what it's like.

Thanks!

 

[Viscya]

Anyone dive there? I'm thinking of checking it out this summer and wondered what it's like.

Thanks!

It's kind of shallow. I went there last spring to do some checkouts. The vis was short, but there had been a lot or rain. I perfer Walbank, and Bainbridge. They are deeper, and have better vis. If WS is local, then by stop in, it has some good diving.

 

[Jonny_Rocket]

If Buoyant1 is in Hershey, then he is probably about the same distance to both Bainbridge and Willow. I recently had a chance to dive both. Willow was nice. Laid back. You can leave your gear right at the water and not have to worry about someone walking away with it. The vis was only about 10 feet, sometimes less. I think we maxed out at like 42 feet and I was told "you can hit 55 feet with a shovel". Bainbridge was a cool place as well. What I liked about it is there are still buildings there above water from when it was an operational quarry. The vis was better in shallower water, between 20 and 30 feet, but the bottom seemed to kick up pretty easy. Once you hit about 40 feet the water turned a greenish color, then at like 70 feet you lost just about all light and the water turned almost black. If you are going to be diving there I'd definatly bring a light. It's very easy to hit 100 feet there, and I'm told it gets as deep as 120 feet. The one thing that is worth considering is that there aren't any ropes from attraction to attraction, so good navigation skills are a must.

If you haven't, head over to www.wreckvalley.com and sign up for the forum. We plan most of gatherings there now, and if you're looking for a dive buddy that would be a great place to start.

 

[darylm74]

I finished off my advanced class at Bainbridge at the beginning of October this past year for Splash Water Sports's (in Pittsburgh) Haunted Halloween there. The dive I needed was a deep dive and we road piggyback on scooters out to the dive point. We dropped in around one of the platforms which I believe was around 61 feet and then a cabin cruiser that was 85 feet. I thought the visibility was best at 85 feet than anything I had experienced at shallower depths, though there had been a ton of rain at that time. There was also plenty of light though I carried my lights with me since I didn't know what to expect. The big thing about bainbridge is it was cold. Thank goodness for drysuits. The college kids that were in wetsuits there froze.

 

[Jonny_Rocket]

I was just fine wet last weekend at Bainbridge. A little nipply on the safety stop, but it wasn't that bad.

The water level was also MUCH higher than normal... the changing shed at access A had water about a foot up it.

 

[Buoyant1]

OMG..The water was up THAT far?

I did my OW there in October, and I'm planning on doing more diving this summer to get better at it...that's why I was asking about Willow Springs. The depth doesn't sound bad for me since I'm still a newbie, 42 feet suits me fine for now! How about the temps there?

In Oct. it wasn't bad with a 3mm at BSC, but the thermocline got you at about 30 feet (not to mention when we were down by the dolphin statue where, I'm told, the spring feeds the quarry)

I'm almost inclined to think I'll be needing a 7mm if I stay up here and plan to dive!

 

[Jonny_Rocket]

Well, Willow on New Year's Day was about 46-48 no thermocline. I was diving 6.5mm one piece, 5 mil hood, and 6.5 mil gloves and I was fine. Surface temps were in the 50s.

At Bainbridge on the 9th, I was wearing the same exposure gear. The surface temp was colder, upper 30s maybe lower 40s. Water temps were between 43 and 46, again with no thermocline. We did a dive to about 25 feet just tooling around for a half hour. Then, after about a half hour surface interval, we did the deep platform (which was at about 70 feet) to the big boat (about 95 feet) to try to find the barn. After about a 30 minute down time we started our ascent. We did 3 minutes at 50 feet and 4 minutes at 15 feet. At the second stop I started getting chilly... but then again so did Frank and Dan who were diving dry.

I think a thick wetsuit is a MUST for around here.

 

[grouchyturtle]

I'd save up for the drysuit if you're planning on diving around here.

You'll be more comfortable and you're season will run all year.

 

[darylm74]

Ultimately it is going to be how the cold effects you. I agree with grunzster, a drysuit is the way to go but that is just our personal opinions. I can handle cold weather quite well, the weather where I went to college was similiar to here in Pittsburgh, but I'm still a southern boy and prefer a bit more warmth when the temps start dropping. Ultimately if you can handle diving wet then you'll be ok. I'd just make sure you had plenty of mm's on there. I have a 7mm jumpsuit that I bought before my drysuit but I wouldn't think of going now without a 3mm vest over the top of that........though that still gives me the shivers.

 

[wscdive]

Have you ever tried dutch springs? I did my original cert at willow a long time ago and used to use bainbridge alot for certs. In recent years Dutch Springs has gotten so clear(zebra mussels) that it just doesnt make sense to dive anywhere else unless you need limited vis for a class. You can get to 100' and some days have 75'vis. They are more restrictive at Dutch about rules and safety but ive never had a problem and like the fact that there are safety personnel everywhere. Some good attractions too (that you can actually see! )