Wazee

[john j]

Get a scooter!

I have had discussions about marking the 320 foot spot with a buoy but the argument against that idea seemed to be that if it was marked, it might tempt inexperienced people to try doing very deep bounce dives and there could be an accident.  There is actually quite a lot of that kind of thing going on at the 150 foot ledge where the garden globe is.  Some inexperienced people, without redundant equipment, doing bounce dives.  That is also why the buoy at Sherwood Forest that was at 190 feet was removed by local divers (not me).  On that buoy line, there had been reports of inexpereinced or untrained divers following the line down to 160+ feet and getting into a little trouble because they weren't looking at their depth gauges until they were way down there.  They just followed the line down and figured they would stop when they hit the bottom, not realizing how deep it was.  I personally wouldn't blame the bouy line for that kind of thing, I would blame the diver.   While I can understand the reasoning some people have for not wanting a buoy at 320 feet, I am also a strong believer in the idea that everyone needs to be responsible for themselves and if a diver knowingly goes far beyond his training and experience, then that's his choice and the rest of us shouldn't have to be responsible for that.  Of course, the argument will next proceed along the lines of the hazards to the people who have to recover or resuce the person who went down the line and went too deep and so on.  It's one of those liability/safety arguments that is hard to win if you are not on the side of the conservatives.  I'm sure you are well aware of this kind of stuff.  I think a buoy at 320 feet would be very useful to technical divers, but I suspect the park would have it removed for the reasons I mentioned above.  But, a submerged buoy, not visible from shore, maybe 10 feet under the surface....well that might be something to think about. 

If it was up to me, I'd have lots more buoys at Wazee because it is such a good place to train for technical diving.