For the past five years, George Carter has taught thousands how to scuba dive at John Hyde Quarry, but he doesn?t know whether the property?s new owner ? Carroll County ? will sink his operation.
“It could go away, and I?d really hate to see that happen,” Carter recently said as he walked along the quarry outside New Windsor. “I?ll be saddened if we?re not able to continue.”
Carter, a retired commander of Baltimore County police?s Underwater Recovery Team, has instructed divers on how to venture underwater at the 6-acre quarry since he started leasing it from Peggy Conrad and her family in 2002.
Since then, he has put gravel on a dirt path, installed wooden steps and added a dock to provide better access to the lake, which formed after limestone miners dug through the water table.
The quarry, 50 feet at its deepest, is the state?s only freshwater diving facility. The Chesapeake Search Dogs, state police and Anne Arundel County?s rescue dive team train there.
Before it opened, divers from Maryland had to travel to other states for inland diving.
“That?s a spot near and dear to every divers? heart around here,” said Laird Brown, who co-owns Undersea Outfitters in Finksburg with Carter.
Following last week?s news reports about the county buying the quarry to use as a water source, several people called the dive shop to ask whether they could still dive there.
“I had to say, ?I don?t know,?” Carter said.
The Maryland Department of the Environment recommends that no recreational activities take place at the quarry when water is being pumped to avoid contamination, but Carroll must decide whether to permit diving, MDE spokesman Robert Ballinger said.
Public Works Director Michael Evans said he wasn?t aware of the diving operation.
Carroll has not formalized any plans for water pumping, he said, but the divers should contact the county to open a dialogue about the future of the quarry.
