Portroe Quarry

loctite

Hey, just wondering does anyone know what the deal is with Portroe quarry...
I know the owners didn't mind people using it a while back and then there was a period of not allowing anyone in.... anyone know what the deal is with it at the minute???

Seawolf

Unfortunately, despite some continued discrete diving over the last 2 years been done, the deeper 52M quarry has now been put beyond diver access. I am aware of some diver visits, that were been made to the rear Quarry ..mostly tekkies,rebreather and cave divers, but, the owner has now, for some reason has ended that.
Something has changed, that appears to have encouraged owner to make the rear Quarry inaccessible. I am still trying to understand why it was made impossible to access anymore so if anyone can shed some light on it, well it would be helpful to know.

What has changed:
A machine has dug a number of trenchs along the walk in path to the water's edge.
Unfortunately this wonderful all weather resource is no longer available.

It's a pity!! as there are 2 potential all weather diving resources available that are effectively going to waste. The potential to turn the sites into a Stony cove is very real.

murrayp4

Probably fears an accident on the property which the land owner may be found liable for. btw, an Irish Stoneycove is a nice idea

loctite

I've never dived there myself but I've heard it is supposed to be fairly spectacular...... It's a real shame. It would be great to have a good inland dive spot that could accommodate diving all year round...

portroe10

We had to block access to the quarry's for insurance reasons, also a lot of garbage was being thrown all over the place every weekend. At the moment I am checking to see what we can do about opening up the quarry's as a dive site. Does anyone know how many people would be interested in diving there if we made it accessable to divers?

Benny-c

portroe10 wrote: »

We had to block access to the quarry's for insurance reasons, also a lot of garbage was being thrown all over the place every weekend. At the moment I am checking to see what we can do about opening up the quarry's as a dive site. Does anyone know how many people would be interested in diving there if we made it accessable to divers?

ME..:D

loctite

Hey Portroe,

I'd say there would be a huge amount of interest in diving in the quarry.

A big problem with diving and dive training in Ireland is obviously the winter sea conditions. There are a handful of locations in Ireland that would provide all year round diving conditions and Portroe would be one of them.

I'd say you would have a huge amount of interest from all local CFT clubs in the Munster region for regular use and the same with PADI centres. As a previous PADI resort manager, I would have killed to have guaranteed good conditions to complete courses on a regular schedule.

I think you could be on to a winner. Then facilities at the site, e.g. air fills, food, showers accommodation?... check out http://www.stoneycove.com/ . Would be great to see such a resource put to use and get people to use it responsibly and respect the area.

portroe10

Thanks for the reply Loctite and thanks for the link to Stoney Cove, we would love to see Portroe Quarry look like that some day. I am meeting with a solicitor in a few weeks to see what we need to do to allow divers back in and to cover ourselves from any lawsuits. I hope to have some answers by the end of December. Do you have any idea how many people used to dive there and could there be an increase if it was made more accessable?

seadeuce

Please look at the following links:

http://www.40fathomgrotto.com/

and

http://40fathomgrotto.com/pdfs/map_grotto.pdf



These are from a commercial site I've had the pleasure of diving in before the current renovations took place.

As you will see there is much planning to go in to such a project.
Being aquainted with Portroe it would be my fear that a rush job may open it to commercial gain, but long-term may stunt its potential.


There are many examples in the UK, and indeed on the continent.


Best of luck with the project. I, and many others, would use the facility - as before - for pleasure, not commercial gain.

Feel free to PM me if you need more info



Seadeuce

robertpatterson

A good few of us used the deeper quarry for the last two years
Wed definitely use it again if we were allowed

yankinlk

I'd like to echo previous posters hope for a great resource such as the portroe quarry. It would be great to have a place close to home for mid week diving all year! It would also be ideal for when the weather acts up and makes west coast diving dicey...say all of July and August for example!

Seawolf

There has always been a hope for divers to use Portroe when weather conditions at sea. Considering Irish weather patterns, i believe the Irish Diving clubs, PADI and other commercial and private individuals would benefit from using Portroe. I and other would love to see it available for use once more and certainly would attract all year round usage.

Cetainly the shallower 37M Older is the most attractive option while the Deeper 52M+ Quarry should be restricted to technical Diving grades. I believe it poses more hazards.

I was aware some years ago that commercial agents from Dublin use to travel to provide training all year round in the shallower quarry in Portroe, so I imagine, that divers will gladly contribute their support to enable them to dive continually and maintain their skill and training levels.

I imagine that Divers all over Irleand and the UK would travel to use the facility.

Fingers crossed, I think the links will provide some direction as regards development. I look forward to the opportunity to dive there once again.

Silverfazer2000

I’m sure the diving clubs would be delighted to see the quarry opened up to the diving public again, back in the 80/90’all you needed to gain access was to get the key from the shop, the majority of the local clubs Limerick, Aughinish, Lough Derg, Ennis, Buren and quite a lot of the Dublin and Cork clubs used to travel to Portroe as did the Navy and Garda divers as well as some technical diving organisations. From what I remember Limerick SAC used to hold barbeques there, they built the platform in the main quarry, sadly all that remains in the steel tubing now.
It’s a fascistic resource much better than storey cove as it tiered and quite safe for all levels of experience. Its banned by CFT for at least 4 years now.

However the question around public liability will always be a contentious one especially if someone gets injured on the property.
Fingers crossed thought as I love the quarry and can’t wait to be able to dive there again.

I would be delighted to site down and discuss the possabilities of reopening the quarry to divers. You can contact me at [EMAIL="ciaran_enright@ dell.com"]ciaran_enright@dell.com[/EMAIL].
I'd particulary intrested in the history of the quarry and would be delighted to add it to our website www.limericksubaqua. com.

loctite

portroe10 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Loctite and thanks for the link to Stoney Cove, we would love to see Portroe Quarry look like that some day. I am meeting with a solicitor in a few weeks to see what we need to do to allow divers back in and to cover ourselves from any lawsuits. I hope to have some answers by the end of December. Do you have any idea how many people used to dive there and could there be an increase if it was made more accessable?

I think you can already gauge the interest by the number of posts!

I have never dived Portroe myself, but a lot of my friends have and I am aware that a lot of commercial enterprises have also in the past.

As for how many people would dive there if made accessible, I couldn't give an honest answer. But, as I have said in a previous post, there is a severe shortage of year round dive sites, and from a commercial dive centre perspective, this would be a fantastic resource. It would allow for all year round training, and diving making businesses far more viable during the winter months (and with our weathe,r the summers too)

Again I have to re-iterate, I have never dived the quarry, so i don't know what the depths are (that is if there are shallower depths for beginner etc) and what courses would be suitable to be held there. But the fact that you have another quarry that is in excess of 50 metres will also be a major attraction to technical divers and would provide an almost unheard of (definitely in this country) level of conditions, and providing such depths would allow for both training and pleasure dives for these types of divers.

I do feel that it is a great opportunity, I don't know what resources are available to you but maybe a market survey could be carried out, but I do believe that this has some great potential from what I have heard from visiting divers...

If you want contacts for clubs within the region or dive centres drop me a pm and I'll hook you up!!

999/112

Dived in both quarries, the shallower one on a regular basis when it was "open". Many years ago, I even did a C.F.T. exam there due to poor weather/sea conditions.
I'll be back if it opens up again.:)

Peace

portroe10 wrote: »

We had to block access to the quarry's for insurance reasons, also a lot of garbage was being thrown all over the place every weekend. At the moment I am checking to see what we can do about opening up the quarry's as a dive site. Does anyone know how many people would be interested in diving there if we made it accessable to divers?

Hi Portroe,

I think you can see that there would be a reasonable demand for using the quarry if you were to develop it with adequate facilities onsite.

I know for a fact that it would be invaluable in terms of technical training. I have seen entire courses where an instructor had been brought over from the UK being blown out when our 'summer' turns a bit nasty and makes accessing the deeper wrecks impossible/unsafe. This reason is why quarries over in the UK are popular as it allows divers to get their courses completed without concern over storms. Also divers who lay off over the winter months can get skilled up again without the risk & cost of booking onto boat dives. Personally it take me 3+ dives after the winter lay off to get my myself and my equipment back into dive mode. Doing this in a relatively controlled environment, such as a quarry, would be much more appealing than doing it off a rhib in the open ocean.

truebluesac

hello portroe . firstly thank you for trying to resolve this situation .

portroe is a fantastic dive site i personally have dived both sites and love them both . i have carried out many dives in the deep site to "freshen up" before deep sea dives have been under taken .

i have dived here only with my deep techie buddies . and in saying that there are between 10 and 15 of us . i know of at least another 30 techies that have dived here and that is only scraping the surface .

i am a diving officer and instructor of a diving club which means i am responsible for the planning of all the diving of the club . there are 35 active divers in our club . i would without reservation plan dives to your facilaty if it where re opened to the public .

i am sure that CFT would allow you to attend as an invited guest to there 2 Annual meetings to try resiolve this with the irish divin community . the diving community are by and large a great bunch of lads . with no concerns for legal action . but you do have to cover yourself .

the development of the site could be done in conjunction with the diving community . and even finacially contributed to or aided in .

if you would like to talk to CFT's excutive commity . or to get an honest point of view i would love to talk . this really has the potential to be a fantastic venture for yourselfs . and the potential to be an amazeing all year round diving location

smcmullan

Some more feedback here: http://forum.technicaldiving.ie/index.php?topic=1740.0

Pepijn

Hi Portroe,

I see you already have a lot of enthusiastic feedback about opening up the quarry again, but I thought I'd indicate our interest as well.

I am the diving officer of the University of Limerick Sub-Aqua Club (50+ members) and our problem has always been to find access to all weather diving. Having a dive site like your quarry nearby would be invaluable to us!!

Hence, we would welcome the re-opening of the quarry! I'm sure we would dive the quarry on an almost weekly basis. Every year we have to turn students away as we simply cannot train them, mostly due to the relatively rough conditions on the west coast. With the quarry as a safe training location, that problem would be largely solved!

All the best,

Pepijn

RogerViking

hi portroe .
i have dived the deeper quarry in the past it was a spelend inland dive site. i would dive there again if i could and would be willing to pay to do so. im sure cft would help out in any way they could too.

roger

Tec Diver

Hi all,
I dived the shallower quarry when it was open a good few times. It was great for trainee divers. There wouldn't need to be any accomodation on site, as there are plenty of excellent B&Bs in the area. But a gravelled area to park, a compressor and a sheltered area with tea/coffee would be excellent.

yankinlk

Access through a gate with a lock would be good start. We should be able to demonstrate that we divers can safely use the site and to protect the owners interests as well.

portroe10

I just spoke to Keith Singleton at CFT and will be meeting with him and someone from the insurance company that they use in about three weeks. If I can open up the quarrys it will be a business and I will be there every day. All of the money collected will go into improving the site, eg. building platforms, shelters, parking area, safe access to the water, insurance, etc.,......hopefully making it a great and safe diving site.

Benny-c

portroe10 wrote: »

I just spoke to Keith Singleton at CFT and will be meeting with him and someone from the insurance company that they use in about three weeks. If I can open up the quarrys it will be a business and I will be there every day. All of the money collected will go into improving the site, eg. building platforms, shelters, parking area, safe access to the water, insurance, etc.,......hopefully making it a great and safe diving site.

Great news

portroe10

I am trying to come up with a plan to see if it viable for me to open up the quarry's for divers and need to see how many divers would want to use it, try spreading the word to all of the dive clubs so that I can get some feed back from them, thanks.

yankinlk

Believe me, news this good is spreading through the community like wild fire! I sent you a PM with more info/encouragement.

scubaH

Brillant dont be afraid to take the next step:)

scubagit

Hi Portroe. Might I suggest setting up a facebook page for the quarry as a way of gauging interest? Wont cost you a penny and will give you a good idea how much interest is out there.
personally, it sounds like a winner to me!!

MattyLimsac

Hows it going Portroe.

What you're doing is great and I'm behind you, as I'm sure every other diver in the country is, 100%.

It would be great to see such a fantastic resource opened up for diving whether it was developed or not.

I'm sure you can see by now that the interest in opening up the quarry is overwhelming and that you won't have any shortage of divers wanting to use the site. As mentioned already, CFT has quite a few thousand members, not to mention the other bodies, PADI, BSAC, SAA etc. I personally would use the quarry at least a couple of times a week and possibly more during the winter and would have no problem in paying to do so. I know many divers that would be of the same opinion.

With my job I regularly travel to the UK and always take the opportunity to take in a couple of dives. There are 2 inland sites that I use, both in North Wales. The first one is a developed dive centre called Vivian (This place has been mentioned in a previous thread). Like Portroe it is a disused slate quarry in the Snowdonia National Park and has been developed specifically for divers. John, the chap who runs it has a small shop with a compressor and a pre-fab as a changing room. The quarry itself has a set of wooden steps leading down to a wooden platform from where the divers enter and exit the water. Inside the quarry at a depth of 6m are 2 submerged platforms constructed from scaffold and steel grating for training purposes. The max depth of the quarry is 18m and there are various buoyed shot-lines dotted about the place. It is a very simple, yet affective setup that could be adopted at Portroe without costing the earth. John does charge a small fee - £5 initial registration and £5 for a days diving.

The second site I use is also a disused slate quarry called Dorothea Quarry, not far from Vivian. Like Portroe, this quarry is privately owned and like Portroe the owner has also prohibited diving in it. However due to the large amount of divers that use it, the owner has unofficially "turned a blind eye" to its use, so much so that a space has been cleared for use as a carpark, a roadway from the carpark down to the waters-edge and a concrete platform/staging area for divers to kit-up on has been constructed!! There are also buoyed shot-lines for various depths (not sure if the owner did this or enthusiastic divers). Other than the access to the site, there are no other facilities here. The depth of Dorothea ranges from 2m at entry down to 100m+

As you can see one site is developed, the other is not, yet both are crammed with divers all year round.

With regards to the development Portroe, I believe that initially, all that would be required to dive the quarry would be your (the owners) permission and reasonable access to the waters-edge. I also believe that divers would be willing to pay for this.

Best of luck with this project, all have our fingers crossed:D

Matt

tedshredsonfire

Hi portoe,

to add another dimension i have often freedived in another quarry in chepstow on the wlesh english border. The club there were allowed set up a raft with lines etc and the centre has developed slowly as money has come in with new pontoons and setting up area. a prefab unit serves as several classrooms that are rented out so clubs can do their theory and another acts as changing rooms.
I'd suggest a visit to it if you can and are serios about running it as a business. it would mean having a filling station on site, o2 and maybe even the dive shop down the road. along with diving revenue having a cafe that serves bacon sambos will bring in a lot more.
The freedive club runs courses as well as the scuba clubs and pay for use of the quarry and the classroom. The club also hosts an annual competition which brings in more revenue with 20 or so people staying and eating locally. If you have the space a natural add on would be a small campsite during the summer.

Both of the centres below have sunk features at different depths so a trainee can see something at a depth that suits their ability. I'd suggest a visit is a must and will get the contact names for the ndac if you want. Can't remember their names but are very nice people and I'm sure would be full of advice having been there done that etc.

http://www.ndac.co.uk
http://www.vobster.com

I have no doubt cft would be very helpful with any queries and if I can be of any help give me a pm and i'll pass on my number

portroe10

We are working hard at the moment to see if we can open up the quarries as Irelands best inland dive location and would like to know if there are experienced divers out there willing to give up a little time advising us on what needs to be done to open this up. Also, anyone who is a business owner who can also advise us would be appreciated.

truebluesac

i would love to help

pm sent

tedshredsonfire

+1 pm sent

wrecks1971

Always wanted to dive there,heard alot about it over the years from alot of divers. I`d use it a couple of times a year with a bunch of mates. Looking forward to diving there one day. The best of luck with your plans wish you well. I`ll keep on eye on this thread.:)

portroe10

Thank you for all of the replys. I have spoken to a few a you will be getting in contact with the rest of you in the next couple of days. I believe that with your help my family and I can get this accomplished.

portroe10

Unfortunatly for the last couple of weeks a couple of clowns who read these blogs have been trying to get involved with this project and they have the potential to ruin the whole thing. Hopefully with your assistance we can get this accomplished, I will keep everyone posted. Thanks for all the help.

truebluesac

as said portroe in PM's get a small group of divers who are known and respected within their comunities and work with them . there are a few ****heads out there . but most divers are decent people .

hope all works out for you your future business and for all us divers

Seawolf

Portroe10,
Hi, there,
As per our recent Phone conversation, I have contacted a number of people in the region to get help and a support team for you. I have contacted Keith Singleton from CFT and he is raising THe request formerly through CFT Executive. He has suggested that you can contact him to discuss any issues with him directly.

I have asked for help from 2 persons who have experience of attending Stony Cove and other Diving Quaries in Wales for there set guidelines.

Off hand I will try to contact you via Email directly to make some basic suggestions regarding the site. I want to re iterate that there are a core of people that a re willing to assist and offer adivise, hopefully, unbiased to get your venture off the ground..

portroe10

I want to thank everyone who tried to help, the diving community is full of good people. I really wanted to make this work and looked forward to getting to know all of you. Thank you.

MattyLimsac

Hi Portroe.:)

I take it that you're unable to go ahead with the project then?

What were the mitigating circumstances?

Well, thanks for trying, would have been great if it had come to fruition.

Best of luck.

Matt

portroe10

Unfortunately the plan to open the quarries as a dive centre has come to an end. After I started blogging on here about trying to open the quarries as a dive centre a guy who owns a dive shop in Dublin and a friend of his tried to get involved. I did not trust them from the start, especially after I heard comments from them, such as, "technical divers are idiots, they are dangerous", and "CFT is a stupid organization". These guys convinced some members of my family that we could not proceed with this project without their help and demanded 50% ownership of the new dive centre. I do not believe that we needed them and with the assistance from the Irish diving community we could have opened up a great dive centre. Because of this the bank will probably foreclose on the land later this year. I guess diving will happen there again since no one will be there to stop anyone.

whosedaddy?

Oh man. that is very sad to hear.

Don't know the details (obviously), but why can't you tell the two to sod off and continue on your own / with help of the genuine support you are getting?

truebluesac

every walk of life has ass holes . its a real pity that this project hasnt gone ahead . as a CFT and a technical diver . there are more of us to keep their bussniess open and it doesnt stop them taking our money .

as a diver who started with PADI . its a great principle in theory but then again so is communisum .:D

hope you can change the minds of your family . you dont need any body . you just need abit of advice . b ut you actually dont need anybody .

joeKel73

Not that you've a better idea what's involved why not start afresh with a clearer plan. You definately don't need any particular people, absolutely no need to get involved with people you can't work with. There'll be plenty of free advice offered to you from divers if and when you need it.

Peace

Hi Portroe,

Sorry to hear that you feel that the venture is not viable. I understand exactly what you mean by too many people getting involved and some of those people having underlying motives.

Hopefully you will be able to proceed with the project and an inland training/practce site is badly needed. You should see from the support you got on here and on technicaldiving.ie that most divers would find a use for this site.

Portroe1

I am a director and company secretary of the company which owns the Quarry site at Portroe.

We have been in very positive discussions with interested parties, who we actively sought as partners, with a view to developing the quarries as an inland diving centre.

Portroe10 is an member of our family who lives abroad and does not represent all the directors. As in any developing business plan, not all members will be in agreement with the best way to proceed. Unfortunately statements have been made on these public forms which do not reflect the majority of the board. Some statements are erroneous and potentially litigious and are jeopardising our future plans This is not helpful for anybody. We would ask that everyone holds back on their comments until we are in a position to reveal the full facts.

We thank you for the level of support we have seen on these notices, it is appreciated.

Peace

Right lads - i'm locking the thread until this all gets sorted out.