Yea man, I’m always on the lookout for new buddies. Tough to find people who want to go out and do the stuff that isn’t pay to play.

I wouldn’t have guessed anyone would either, which made it a ’must do’. :-) I thought it was worth the trek. It’s only about a quarter mile up that trail from the dirt road below it if you have access to get up there, right near that round building there is a little spot to park a single car in the trees. Carry the gear if you go, don’t bother with a dolly, that was worthless on that trail. All in all I think it took maybe 20 minutes to made two trips with gear each. Not too bad. We did have my girlfriend with for some extra help though. Always nice to have topside support and to watch over gear bags, keep a fire stoked, what have you. There isn’t much to see, although I was chasing some fish (trout - native) and my buddy was pulling things out of the muck, some curious things coming out of that muck. It’s an ’adventure’, few have it in their dive logs, if any have it (before us), so that makes it worth it to me. Plus this is a place I have been going to my entire life, so to see thoughts and curiosities come full circle now in my adulthood was a lot of fun!

Yeah, I’ll have to do it this fall or next spring, I can get access to about a 5 min walk to the hole, might do it just cause someone else did haha! Any other oddball spots you have dived in the area? I’ve been toying with doing quite a few oddball places around here. (I live in Pine Grove)

I did a dive at the York Haven Dam (dam that backs up the water around 3 mile island) but I don’t recommend that one. Very dark, you couldn’t see the surface light after 7 feet (we found 18 feet max depth), and even with very powerful lights you couldn’t see more than a foot in front of the light. Then there are the currents, when you drift out too far from the dam, you get caught in the flow of the race leading to the hydro units. In the dark if you drift off the bottom, with that current draw you get some nice vertigo. Then there is the fact that I never contacted anyone about permission, just found a legal way in (no signs saying ’no’), just planned it and did it. http://aslongasimalive.wordpress.com/2011/09/01/diving-the-s...na-river-unscripted/

I have a few other ideas in the works. One is the Pequea creek. It seems to be pretty clear, I am referring to where it empties into the Susquehanna, other than that it is too shallow. I have paddled up in there with friends from the nearest boat launch, and the water looks green, but when you stick a paddle down in, you can see it well. I want to paddle up into there, to where it get’s too shallow, then basically ’drift’ dive back out. My girlfriend is excellent surface support (she kayaks), there are houses around there and boat docks, so you need to watch for water traffic. There could be some things down there that have been lost over the years. It’s hard to find divers, who are also kayakers, AND want to do something like that. Risk seeing nothing that is. There is also a quarry that I know of that is supposed to have a cave about 70 feet down one of the walls. I located the quarry from some old geological survey books and google maps, I need to find who owns it and get permission. I am not cave trained and wouldn’t go in it, but would like to see it, and have a friend who is cave certed (teaches it also). So those are some ideas I have been kicking around the last year or so. I would be interested in anything you have as well! I live in Palmyra, I get over to Pine Grove occasionally to hop in the Swatty, or Sweet Arrow Lake, kayaking for both, not diving. Good to meet you!

Whitewater kayak at all as well? I do some rec kayaking but been spending more time in my creeker lately. Have a cabin up in the PA Gorge and there’s a few nice holes on the Pine Creek I’ve had my eye on, even ran across a diver a few years back in one of them. There’s a few potential spots around and about. Hard part is finding stuff with visibility!

Oh, and at this point it looks like Oct 5th and friend and I might go up to Schubert’s to get a dive in. I need to get something in since I didn’t get out much this year as end of the month I’m doing a cruise and getting in a two tank day in the Grand Caymans.

That’s awesome! I’d offer to join you on the 5th but I have my kids that weekend. I have never done a dive in the ocean, really afraid it would ruin cold water diving for me, ha ha. Yea, I am with you on the visibility, it’s tough to find around here. I don’t do any whitewater, not that I wouldn’t, just haven’t, other than a few accidental ones. There is a train bridge on the Susquehanna down below TMI that play boaters go to. We were doing an 18 mile run, only the 2nd time my gal was on the river, and for all the research I did on the stretch I had never found anything telling me about that bridge. There are standing 3 to 4 foot waves, maybe 3 or 4 in a row, easily manageable, but daunting for a newbie. I was screaming directions at her the whole way through it, poor gal, I get her into some stuff once in a while. :-) Pine creek: Always wanted to go there. I had spent some time researching what it would take time wise, to run pine creek starting at the beginning of the gorge, all the way into the Susquehanna, then all the way to Harrisburg. It would take weeks, and while I don’t have that kind of time, sure is fun to plan and look into if the day ever arises. I had no idea there were spots you could dive in Pine though, that sounds really interesting. I’m guessing the water is pretty clear then.

We do a few float and camp trips a year up there. To do just the gorge in the spring can be run in one long day, but normally we split it and camp at the halfway point and then get out near our cabin. To do just to the susquehanna in the spring is about a week, but the susquehanna is slow up top. A fun place to kayak though is around the little liberty statue near fishing creek when the water is a little higher just to goof around.

Oh and there’s quite a few spots to dive, rattlesnake rock is the one i’m diehard set on doing, the diver i saw there said you can see way back under the rocks and theres huge fish and a beaver now and then (i see them when fishing from the rock itself). The lake up there outside of wellsboro is clear. The one i know is super clear from boating is Beltzville near home too, I always wanted to dive there.

Wow man, Beltzville DOES look really clear! I was just checking it out on google maps, and if you look at the swimming area, you can see clearly the outline of the sand that they put in there. Not only that though, you can also see the sand drift from prior years leading off toward the dam. That water looks really clear! Surprising really.

Oh, so there is a state park with pretty clear water, but scuba diving is prohibited... nice. http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/findapark/beltzville/index.htm

Lame, had to burst my bubble on that one. Locust Lake or Tuscarora I know are approved diving, been a while since I’ve been that way to remember if they are fairly clear.