Titanic

Bluegrass Dive Club
Lexington, Kentucky

The Sinking of the (little) Titanic

On June 26th, 1999, Mike McCann and John Thomson were at the Falling Rock Park to take their Nitrox Certification Dives. Unfortunately, John and Lyn had to leave immediately after the certification dives to attend a wedding in western Kentucky and missed all the action. Sherry and Mike stayed on to do a little practice diving as Sherry had just passed her Open Water Certification the previous weekend.

While there, they stumbled on several members of the Louisville Dive Center planning to sink a small speed boat to give divers something to look at on the bottom of the quarry.

Falling Rock Park is a former rock quarry located just outside of La Grange, Kentucky, in Oldham County. It is owned by the Joe Clark family and has been turned into a dive site which is open on Saturday and Sunday from May through October. Divers pay a fee of $15 per day, Sightseers pay $5 per day. The water is very clean for a quarry with visibility generally around 20+ feet. Water temperature in summer is great even without a wet suit in the top 15 to 20 feet. Below that you hit a thermocline with an immediate 15 degree water temperature drop. I've been told there is a second thermocline at about 40 to 45 feet deep with an additional temperature drop. I took their word for it and didn't seek to verify it! Quite a few fish, all looking to be fed. It's obvious divers have been pampering these fish for some time now.

As it turns out, the LDC uses this quarry almost every weekend during the season and Tom Olympia has acquired several items of interest and sunk them in the quarry. To date there are 4 boats, a motorcycle and a skeleton sitting on a commode. Go figure! I heard a rumor that there is a bus in there but no one from the LDC could confirm this.

Following is a sequence of pictures supplied by the Louisville Dive Center. Click on the picture for an enlargement. Use your browser's back button to return.

	Pat Walker and Mike Drago. Instructors with the Louisville Dive Center out to supervise the "sinking"
	The Titanic in dry dock sliding down the ways
	Launching the Titanic. LDC divers include Jim Keown and Clark Fitch. Others unidentified.
	Must have hit an iceberg - it's sinking fast!
	Going Once!
	Going Twice!
	Gone!
A Few Additional Pictures and Directions to Falling Rock Park The Following Two Shots Give You A Good View of the Quarry
	Sean McCann who took his Open Water Certification the weekend prior to the Titanic sinking
	The New Horizons Diving Center class preparing to enter the water for their final Open Water Certification dives. That's Neil McEachin, NHDC owner operator, waiting for them in the water.
Map of La Grange, Kentucky and Falling Rock Park	Directions from Lexington: - I-64 West to Shelbyville, KY. - State Rd 53 North thru Shelbyville and on to La Grange. Maybe 25 miles or so. - Follow 53 thru town. Turn left on first street after crossing railroad tracks. - Turn right on 4th street. Follow about 3 miles into the country. After you pass Joe Clark's Quarry (active one) you will see Falling Rock Park, retired quarry. Both on your right heading North.