Jim,
A couple of the quarries I go to occasionally have gone to $15 per day
per person.  I think Rawlings, Fantasy Lake and Bluestone are all around
that figure.  I don't know if liability insurance has gone up or what
the story is.

I agree with you about the food.  It would be nice but I think it is
probably more of a bother than a profit maker for the site operator.
They are focusing on diving and probably don't want the bother of
dealing with health dept regulations in regards to food preparations.
The only site I have been to that offered hot prepared food like that
was Ginnie Springs.  The rest just have vending machines or packaged snacks.

Andy

 You're lucky I'm bored and stuck in Kingman.

 Here's the best parts of the quarries I've been to...

 Loch Low Minn Quarry

 http://www.lochlow-minn.com/loch_low_minn.htm

 Takes orders for generic lunch (i.e., half chicken, two sides, roll, soda,
$5.00), has above ground pool for non divers, does not allow children under
16 unless certified.

 Has training platforms and a depth of about 70 ffw, with statues and boats
and stuff salted around.

 Has walk in beach and dock.

 They have a couple small rental cabins, and camping space.

 Fill station, some rental gear, no shop to speak of.

 Martha's Quarry

 http://www.marthasquarry.com/

 Martha's has a cool thing.

 Dude has his dive shop and compressor in a school bus, and takes them home
at night.

 Might be a good idea if you're just starting out.

 It has a pretty cool original crusher facility underwater.

 This is one of the best quarries, and it has virtually no overhead, or
other redeeming factors.

 Blount Avenue Quarry

 No URL- sneak dive

 Has bodies in it, and an enormous crane. 221ffw

 May or may not be hard to duplicate.

 Gilboa Quarry

 http://www.divegilboa.com/

 Has decent underwater percundis, many camp sites, good chowline.

 Canadians tend to slum there.

 Many entrance points.

 Madison Aquatic Park- closed

 http://rockdivers.com/

 They had a titan missile and an F-4 Phantom, hard to beat.

 They had extensive dock platforms that went underwater- great training
site.

 They had a decent shop, but that's gonna be risky at a quarry.

 Dutch Springs Quarry

 http://www.dutchsprings.com/

 It was okay, kinda crowded, and it's haunted by a dried up dive
poltergeist.

 I've been to others, but that about covers it.

 Bert D&C has the fine print.

 And don't charge non-divers an entry fee, in my opinion it will kill more
business that generate revenue.

 One thing I would recommend that I haven't noticed is a decent generic
classroom for instructors to rent.

 ps, to save on the inevitable lawsuit later, make sure you have a
functional, designated helipad.