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Dutch Springs: The Pennsylvania Caribbean

Dutch Springs: The Pennsylvania Caribbean

Written by Leisure Pro Staff
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Published on January 15, 2016

All divers dream of traveling to far away places with palm trees and blue water. Most people could only do one or two trips a year. So how do you keep up your diving skills? The answer is to dive locally. Some divers are lucky and live in an area with world-class diving, but this is not always obvious.

For divers that are in the NYC area there is excellent wreck diving right off our coast. This cold and beautiful green water with occasional low vis diving takes some time to get used to, but once hooked it is fascinating. It is important to practice dive skills in a somewhat controlled environment before jumping off a New York coast boat. Just like all other NYC activities: If you could make it here you could make it anywhere!

About 90 miles from NYC and 70 miles from Philadelphia is a playground for scuba divers. Dutch Springs, a limestone quarry, attracts northeast scuba divers to train, practice, try new gear and socialize.

But it wasn’t always a diving spot. Back in 1933, the National Portland Cement Company purchased a number of farms. They used the land to mine limestone and manufacture cement. As the mining operation continued, the quarry began to fill with water. For the remainder of the quarry’s operational life, water had to be continuously pumped out. When National Portland Cement shut down in the 1970s, the pumps stopped pumping and the quarry turned into a 47-acre lake. In 1980, Stu Schooley purchased the land and turned it into a place for divers. The spring-fed freshwater lake is 100’ deep in some areas, but most of the attractions are located in 20 to 60’ underwater.

Dutch Springs, sometimes known as the Pennsylvania Caribbean, has gone through many changes since the 80s. Platforms were built for instructors to safely teach students skills including buoyancy and trim in a controlled environment. Over the years many items have been sunk for divers to play on. Besides boats there is a school bus, tanker, crane, cars, trucks, and a number of planes. The pump house and blasting station left over from the days of a working limestone quarry are now underwater. These attractions are perfect for practicing underwater photography and video.

The centerpiece of the quarry is a Sikorsky H-37 helicopter, sunk in November 1995. It measures 88’ long, 27’ wide, and 22’ high. It is suspended in the water with the top at about 25’ deep and the bottom at 55’. You can see the floats supporting the helicopter from the surface, but there aren’t any lines underwater attaching it to the platforms or other underwater attractions. Because of its size and lack of lines, some divers refer to the Sikorsky as the Andrea Doria of Dutch Springs; a reference to the sunken ocean liner in 250 feet of water known as the Mount Everest of wreck diving. The outside of the helicopter is a real treat to dive around and the interior is fun to swim through.

The plan is to move the helicopter to the area between the boat on the student side and the tanker. This will take place before April 2016. A Challenger 600 airplane will be replacing the Helicopter in its current location. This new attraction has a 45’ wing span and is 65’ long. When Dutch Springs got the plane it was already stripped of all the resalable items including engines, gauges, and seats.

The staff went down to prep the plane for shipping, by removing the tail and cutting the wing in half. They have since welded the wing back together and continued to clean the plane of insulation, wires, and other debris. Reattaching the wings, fabricate landing gear and reattaching the tail still has to be completed.

A number of years ago, visibility greatly improved thanks to zebra mussels, who are filter feeders by nature, entering the quarry. Before they arrived vis was 5 to 20’ at best. Now it could range from 20 to way over 60’. The bottom is very silty, so it is important that divers have good buoyancy and trim or the vis could quickly be brought down to 5 or 10’.

Many local wreck divers thumb their nose up at diving Dutch. They prefer to dive the challenging offshore shipwrecks. Practicing at Dutch does help you become a better diver so you could handle offshore conditions. When weather prevents the boats from leaving port, divers can still get their nitrogen fix at Dutch.

The atmosphere at Dutch is always social and welcoming. Getting ready to dive you always-meet old and new friends. It does not matter why you come to Dutch you will always have a warm enjoyable experience in the Pennsylvania Caribbean.

Need to Know

Getting There

Dutch Springs is located at 4733 Hanoverville Road, Bethlehem, PA off Rt. 191 North

When to Go

  • Open from the middle of April to the week before Thanksgiving
  • Instructors can make appointments to bring students year round

Conditions

  • Air temps can be in the 40s or 50s during April, and November and in the 90s during July and August
  • Water temps are around 40 to 50° F -Visibility is between 20 and 60’

Price Tag

  • Admission for divers is $40 daily
  • Saturday night dives $10
  • Camping $15 per person each night
  • Season passes are available
  • Scuba instructors with current certification card and current liability insurance are free

Facilities

  • Heated changing and restrooms
  • Camping
  • Food
  • Tank rentals
  • Fill station supplying air and nitrox

Guest article submission by Olga Torrey.

Leisure Pro Staff

Leisure Pro Staff

Marketing Director for LeisurePro