Trip report Gilboa/White Star/Portage

September 10-12

Well, we finally made it to the Ohio quarries. After the first trip scheduled in July failed, we were afraid we would not get to dive the Ohio quarries in 2004. Turns out September is a great time to dive them. Many of the divers normally present were elsewhere despite near perfect conditions. The three of us started off our dive weekend at Gilboa at noon on Friday. Typically this is the most crowded of the quarries on the weekends, so we try to get our dives in before the crowds of students come and muck it up. We had easily 30 feet of visibility in the shallow areas. The big rainbow trout, smallmouth bass, and bluegills were as hungry as ever. Whatever you bring down to feed them: peas, bread, fish pellets, makes no difference. They will eat anything remotely organic. I even had a few big trout try to munch on my camera handles a couple of times. We got some great video of feeding frenzies each time a bag of food was opened. The waiver mentions the hazard of “zealous fish”. They are not kidding. A 5-pound trout moving full speed can pack quite a wallop when it hits you square in the mask. The temp was a comfortable 70F on the surface, but still was a bone chilling 44F at the tubes at 60ft. We didn’t bother trying to dive the deep side.

We spent time feeding the fish at the bus, then poked around the plane, the boats, cars, tree house, and gas tubes. There are a few more diver toys in the quarry, most notable is a 25 foot sailboat. Unfortunately, the helicopter is still just sitting in the parking lot. Every year we keep hoping it will find its way into the quarry, but it never does. Each year the zebra mussels cover more and more of the hard surfaces of the quarry. I wonder what it will look like in 10 years.

We decided to camp at Portage quarry since they now have a limited number of electric campsites. The site was fine except they still only have pit toilets. We were able to camp right near the quarry which made diving easy. Just a short stroll across the road and you are at your entry point. Being camped right next to the beach also had some definite advantages scenery-wise. The camping is relatively cheap at $4 per person per night. Then you add on the quarry entry fee of $4 per person per day. Then you add on $10 per person per day to dive. Still not too bad compared to the rates at other local campgrounds.

This year we decided to dive White Star on Saturday instead of Portage Quarry. There were quite a few divers there, but the visibility was still quite good. Probably 20 feet. If you looked up the gravel chute from the bottom, you could see daylight at the other end. For the first time, we could see the block structure at the top of the gravel chute from the quarry wall. We actually found some fish, too. A few bass, some small perch, and some gigantic goldfish were seen in the middle of the quarry. The quarry is swarming with crayfish which indicates the general lack of predators in the quarry. Nowhere else do you see crayfish brazenly sitting out on top of a rock in the open. As we saw at Gilboa, the zebra mussels cover much of the rocks and dead trees. The temp was in the 70s at the surface and a balmy 59F below the thermocline. White Star needs to put a few more diver toys in their quarry. A great percentage is just seaweed beds.

We saved Portage Quarry until Sunday. We were a bit worried that the vis would be trashed by all the students on Saturday, but again, we were pleasantly surprised by how good the vis was. Above the thermocline it was realistically 40 feet. A few areas near the bottom at about 50 feet were silted out. Much was due to the large carp rooting around in the mud for food. Many of the structures could be seen from just below the surface. The entire bus, for example, could be clearly seen from the top of the wall. Normally you find the bus by bumping into it as you exit the silo. The temp below the thermocline was in the mid- upper 50s. Much nicer than the 40s we typically get down deep. They were in the process of placing a few more vehicles in the quarry while we were there. They had put a Pontiac (Sunbird, I think) off the west wall and were sinking a van near the west platform as we were leaving.

The Ohio quarry pilgrimage makes for a long 3-day weekend, but the diving can be really good. We had a very enjoyable few days camping and diving. Hopefully next year we can get a few more divers along to enjoy the good conditions we experienced.