White Star Quarry, Gibsonburg, Ohio

By Divers for Divers

By Linda Lee Walden

White Star is another one of those ubiquitous limestone quarries that pock the landscape of the Midwestern and Eastern United States. Many of them, if deep enough, serve as ready-made local scuba destinations. Those few with special characteristics are visited by thousands of divers a year from all over the region, or even the world.

White Star Quarry is one of the special ones, with several distinguishing features, including central location, easy accessibility, adequate depth, convenient facilities and great atmosphere.

The quarry is surrounded by the 800-acre White Star Park, owned and operated as a year-round recreational facility by Sandusky County, Ohio. That county borders the heavily traveled corridor between Toledo, 30 miles (48 km) northwest, and Cleveland, just over an hour to the east.

Via the Ohio Turnpike or Interstate 75, divers can conveniently reach White Star from Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ontario, Canada, as well as from most of Ohio. Park records also indicate visits by divers from France, Germany and New Zealand. More than half of the estimated 14,000 divers who visited White Star during the 2004 season were scuba students.

Operated by the White Star Quarry Company as a source of limestone for road building until the 1950s, the open pit filled with water after mining stopped. Although it was reopened in the '60s and '70s, the quarry and more than 200 acres of surrounding land were acquired by the State of Ohio in 1975 and finally taken over by Sandusky County, which developed the park with federal Land and Water Conservation Fund money. Gradually the park was expanded to its present size.

The lake itself covers 15 acres, with an average depth of 40 feet (12 m). Unlike other quarries dug into hilly terrain, the land here is flat, so no sheer-cut walls overshadow the spring-fed lake. Its shores are ringed by a mature forest of cottonwood, maple and walnut trees, adding to the atmosphere of rural serenity.

Scuba divers have been permitted to use White Star Quarry since 1980. Over the years, dive clubs and scuba centers have placed a number of man-made features in the lake for divers to enjoy. In 1991 the Sandusky Park District granted its first on-site dive concession; in 1996 the present operation, Quarry Divers Inc., took over. Concession owner Jeff Watkins, an avid diver himself, works with regional dive groups to place and maintain numerous underwater attractions.

The most prominent underwater features are the three double training platforms constructed of pressure-treated wood. Suspended at 20 feet (6 m) by large barrels floating on the surface, the paired platforms each measure 8 feet by 12 feet (2.4 m by 3.7 m) with 6 feet (2 m) in between. These allow six classes to conduct skill evaluations simultaneously.

The lake also offers some unusual underwater sights, a sheriff's car with lights, a traffic light, an old-style telephone booth with doors, a hay wagon, a bicycle and a motorcycle. Then, of course, there is the usual assortment of trucks and small boats.

The central area of the lake reaches a depth of 50 feet (15 m). At the crusher pits near the northeast corner of the lake, however, the bottom is almost 80 feet (24 m) deep. When the quarry was working, the limestone was pulverized in the pits and sent via a tunnel up to a concrete block structure for extraction. Divers may descend into the pits, but the tunnel is strictly off limits.

The lake is stocked, and a variety of freshwater fish can be seen, including bluegill, bullhead, catfish, bass, trout, yellow perch and pike. Divers also spot turtles, crayfish, the occasional koi and zebra mussels. Much of the bottom is covered with "grass" and the silt tends to settle quickly.

Another distinctive feature of White Star Quarry is the ease of water entry and exit. The access road to the bottom of the quarry is only a few steps from the gravel parking lot. The road is wide and gently sloping with a sand bottom at the water entry. Divers can conveniently walk in and don fins in water shallow enough to stand in.

Divers can also perform deep-water entries at two additional entry areas. One is a concrete pad adjacent to a second parking area. By doing a giant stride from this entry point, divers descend near the crusher pits. A third entry spot is from a low, natural rock ledge behind the concession building.

Visibility in the lake is good for a quarry, 20-30 feet (6-9 m), but has been said to occasionally increase to a spectacular 100 feet (30 m) in the early spring. Water temperature rises to the mid-70s Fahrenheit, (20s Celsius) by the end of summer, with mid-60s F (high teens C) at depth.

Two large gravel areas provide plenty of parking close to the entry areas, but on summer weekends both lots can be packed. A park ranger patrols several times a day and is available for questions and assistance.

The concession building is an attractive wooden structure that serves three purposes. Under the single roof are the concessions on one side, a central open area with picnic tables and two changing rooms on the opposite side.

The concession side features a kiosk run by Quarry Divers. It sells snacks, "save a dive" supplies, T-shirts, batteries, and other items. Quarry Divers also rents weights and tanks and maintains a gear rental inventory.

Its primary business, however, is air fills. The storage system consists of a mobile trailer containing a 5,000-psi compressor and 12 large 4,500-psi storage bottles. There are also two 19,000-cubic-foot high-pressure air storage tanks permanently mounted next to the concession building. Tanks can be filled four at a time in about five minutes. Plans call for nitrox to be available as well.

Permanent latrines as well as several porta-potties flank the parking lots. Several water spigots and an ample number of tables are provided in the shaded gearing-up area. Socializing is an important part of the White Star experience and dive groups often set up their own portable shelters and grills for an after-dive picnic.

Traveling divers can spend the weekend in the White Star Park campground. Just across Ohio Route 300 from the quarry, it consists of more than 40 sites, about half of which include an on-site electric hookup. Nondivers can enjoy the nature preserve, walking trails, volleyball and horseshoes. On the other side of the quarry from the scuba area is a swimming beach. Fishing is permitted, as are nonpower boats.

While emergency services have not been needed for diving injuries, should they be called upon the response time is less than five minutes. The nearest Sandusky County EMS base is inside White Star Park; divers pass it as they drive through the entrance. The nearest recompression chamber is in Toledo, 40 minutes by road or 15 minutes by helicopter. A local hospital is 15 miles (24 km) away in Fremont. Cell phone service is reliable.

The charge for diving is $10 per day on the honor system, or a season pass can be purchased for $120. Envelopes and a collection pipe are provided to deposit the daily fee. Insured scuba instructors dive free, with or without a class. There is no charge for nondivers.

White Star Park is open year-round, but the diving season is April 1 through December 1, from 8 a.m. to sunset. Night dives can be arranged through Quarry Divers. The dive concession is open weekends and holidays.

For more information, contact Quarry Divers at (419) 637-7911 or the Sandusky County Park District at (419) 637-2900 or visit www.scpd-parks.org