I sometimes sit on the back porch and close my eyes and dream what heaven might be like. For those of us who love the sport of Scuba, heaven might be diving without equipment and without a surface interval. Swimming in a liquid environment with the rest of God’s creation. The aquatic life would come right up to us and we could talk to each other. Well, until then, I will have to settle for scuba diving in quarries, lakes, and oceans. For a landlocked diver, scuba diving means more quarries and lakes. For me Dutch Springs is an acceptable dive to the oceans.

 

On August 4, 2007 my friends from the Westsylvania Divers and myself made the three and a half hour drive to Dutch Springs. Like most watering holes in Pennsylvania, Dutch is an old quarry. We go here because no where in Pennsylvania is the water clearer and the amenities for divers so sublime. There are a lot of unique items placed on the floor of the quarry; boats, cranes, planes, and in the water column is a helicopter. Dutch really is the Hershey Park, the Disney World, and the Cedar Point for divers.

 

We left Mike’s Scuba, my store in Altoona Pennsylvania, at 6:30am. We made Dutch Springs a little after 10am. When we get there we unload the gear, sit on the hillside, plan our dive, get geared up and enter the water. That sounds simple but it is very time consuming. The best part of the trip is underwater and thanks to the purchase of an underwater camera you can now see what a quarry in Pennsylvania looks like. The second best part of the dive is what we call the surface interval. The time spent on the surface between dives. You think there are a lot of stories here at StoryTrax? You should try spending a surface interval with divers who just exited the water.

 

So after a day of diving and fun we load up the gear. Head for home but with a quick stop for dinner. We arrive at our own homes tired but fulfilled. On August 4, 2007 it was a great day diving at Dutch Springs Quarry. Temperatures were perfect, the viz underwater was great, the hanging out with my friends at the Westsylvania Divers was priceless.

 

This first video represented our first dive. We swim from the submerged platforms at about 30 feet to a depth of a little over 60 feet. At the end of the rope is an old boat. The boat has been stripped out inside and allows us to penetrate with little effort. Inside the boat we share our dive with a large trout. He really did not like us being there but we enjoyed seeing him. Divers typically watch depth, note temperature, and remember viz. On this dive  (63 feet, 52 degrees, and 30 foot of viz).

 

This video represents our second dive. We just completed an 1.5 hour surface interval. We did a short surface swim to a bouy. Under the bouy was a trolley. Again the interior was stripped out of the trolley which allowed for easy penetration. this dive was about 60 feet, 52 degree water temp, and viz was less than 15 feet). You will notice a slight difference in the viz on this dive. We who dive in Central Pennsylvania are called Muck Divers. Why? Well we typically dive places with less than 10 feet of viz. So 15 feet of viz and more is great.  Enjoy the dive.

 

 

Check out some of my other stories about diving. SCUBA STORIES