Posted by Bill Goodman on September 26, 2001 at 22:16:20:
Unfortunately I don't get to see the shores of California enough, so I dive here in Michigan or the surrounding areas. Here goes.
Driving down to Ohio was uneventful if you don't count the speed trap I got nailed in Ohio. I arrived at the quarry and immediately started looking for my buddies. They were late as usual, but this time they had an excuse. They were in New York helping with the rescue effort. My last dive I did in a quarry was a cold 41F. So I was dressing appropriately. In the process the sun came out and got 10 degrees hotter than what the forcast said it would. Typical. We hurried to finish suiting up since we were filling our drysuits with sweat. We entered the water and discussed where and what we were going to do and proceeded under. At first there wasn't much to look at. Then I noticed the fish. Super size albino goldfish, bluegill, trout and largemouth bass. When I exhaled real slowly I had so many fish around me I couldn't see my buddy. We continued on and passed over a crater of unknown depth (1 of 2), swam thru a forest. This was eerie! We hung a left at the concrete slab and found our objective.The Crusher! This thing was a tower that sloped downward at a 45 degree angle. It was where they took larger rocks and dumped them into this chute, they slid down and these 2 large spiked wheels rolling together would smash them into little rocks. We entered the chute from the top turned to each other to give the ok sign and started down. This tunnel is wide enough for a VW bug to go thru. We came out the bottom into a chamber where the machinery used to be. There is a spiral staircase leading up and out of the chamber. This was a challenge wearing doubles! We called the dive and headed back to the entrance point following the slope of the quarry walls. There are some tunnels in this quarry too, but we stayed out of them. As far as this quarry is concerned it's illegal to dive them. I just wonder if they are natural or from the mining operations. Temp was unseasonably warm 73F.
Hope you enjoyed.
Be safe,
Bill G.