Blue Water Park — Local services in Pelham

I had never previously dived fresh water, so my expectations for this place were pretty low. The only reason I was here was for my 10-year-old's check out dives. It's relatively close and the instructor recommended this place.

I was pleasantly surprised. It's a neat little operation totally geared to the divers. Good rental set up for those that need it, lots of overhead cover, and there are two entry points with sizable docks and lots of space. They have the smaller 63 cubic foot tanks available for junior divers.

This was a good place for check out dives too. There are underwater platforms for exercises and they have lots of shallow ~25" dives, with some interesting things to see - a plane, cars, toilets. There are deeper dives too, but junior divers have depth limits so we didn't explore those.

The water wasn't bad. We dove in mid-September and it was 74 degrees at ~25 foot depth. I wore a 5 mm suit, but could totally do fine with a 3 mm. That will depend on how well you handle colder water. I understand from talking to other divers there it's substantially colder past 30 foot.

We did hit a thermocline, or spring tap, on one dive as we navigated toward the sunken plane underwater. That was pretty cold, but as soon as we moved out of it, it was fine again.

The one catch is that there's pretty big hill. So you walk down to the entry point with your gear, and walk up, which takes some effort. It's not a big deal for the average adult. I was worried about my daughter slipping and falling on the walk, but she did fine.

We will definitely go back. It's good place -- controlled environment -- for junior or new open water divers to get some repetitions and...

This is a great dive spot in Alabama! I did a dry suit certification here with SDI out of Huntsville, and came back for some other recreational open water dives with friends. This was my second quarry and it’s much clearer than the first I went to, but most of my dive experience is in the Florida springs so I would not personally call this clear water lol. Visibility was better in the morning and in general ranged from about 8-15 feet.

I dove with a 3mm even in June because the thermocline is pretty intense; it was a little too warm with the wetsuit at the surface but a little too cold below 40ish feet so I hovered around 30-35 feet. Admission fee and rentals are reasonably priced.

Access points are on either side of the quarry down a steep paved incline. There’s docks with shallow platforms for gearing up as well as some platforms at deeper levels for training. It wasn’t too busy the days I was there but during training weekends I’ve heard the viz gets horrible and it’s packed. Things to see include old cars, boats, and a small plane among other things, and there’s some catfish and other small...

I have taught and helped conduct scuba classes all across the United States and also in the Caribbean. This is one of the best if not the best to conduct training. First time here conducting a class but certainly will not be the last. The 2 shop staff were extremely helpful and friendly and it was only one of their first days! Dive pools are extremely helpful at the 8-10 ft range and training platforms are very spacious! Seems like a tremendous amount of thought was put into everything and there was plenty for my students to see! Also descent lines were on most of the underwater structures. Really minimized this PADI...