> Wow, there seem to be a lot of scuba divers hanging around this forum now. I've heard how flooded quarries are popular dive sites in the UK, and I think I've heard of Stoney Cove (I used to read a lot of overseas dive magazines in a previous job). What's the visibility like in a quarry?
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> I did my open water course at Goat Island Marine Reserve, a little bit north of Auckland. It was infuriating. I'd been there snorkelling several times, and the water had been lovely and clear, with big fish all over the place. I was looking forward to doing the dive course there and seeing more of the area. Nah. Our dive course picked the *wrong* day to go. The water was choppy enough to make me queasy, and when we got to the bottom, the visibility was about zero. It was like diving in soup. Plus there was a *strong* current ripping through, so we had to do our buoyancy tests, mask clears etc while clinging frantically to seaweed so we didn't disappear into the distance the instant we let go.
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> I knew how cool diving *could* be, since I worked for a diving magazine, but I often wonder how many people on the course ever continued after that first experience of it.

Well, the vis in Stoney was upwards of 10 metres. The top of the tugboat is 15m down and at one point you could see it from the surface. A marked contrast to my open water cert dives. I had about as much vis as you did although as it was a lake I had no current to contend with. But mask clearing was interesting as it didn't seem to make much difference whether I was wearing it or not! I am jealous of my brother who learnt NAUI while he was holidaying in Australia and dived on the GB reef. Talk about clear water!

Beasty