Dorothea visitor numbers and future in jeopardy

[JonG]

I'm slowly getting drawn into working with the committee at Dorothea, principally as a media officer to promote the facility, but members of the NWTD may be aware that even allowing for the effects of Covid, visitor numbers are low and in the absence of an increase in utilisation to cover the costs associated with running the "centre", it may be lost to divers again sadly.

I'm just wondering if those who are close enough to it are not frequenting it for any obvious reason, whether any low or no cost changes would increase the chances of people visiting?

I also believe that there may be some myths about access, in so far that guests of club members can dive for a limited number of visits if they have the required qualification levels.

Instructors can also use the facility for training visits, given the platform upon which the club and access is structured.

We are considering whether project based diving in line with Project Baseline, including, survey, photogrammetry, stills and video capture etc. with a demonstrable purpose might stimulate interest.

Line condition surveys, line replacement programmes, submarine line links between artefacts and POI are also possibilities.

In the interests of full disclosure in the 90s I was at Dorothea weekly across the winter, but more recently my main focus inland has been the mines where we have a similar program of project work underway. I need to address this personally and with more freedom of movement now permissible I envisage this will be easier due to being able to increase the volumes of dives I do per annum.

Happy to take any input on what could be done to improve matters to encourage higher visitor numbers. It is after all a UNESCO site now.....kind of.

[bottle maker]

What is required qualification wise to dive there? Are there any facilities and what does it presently cost?

Graham

[JonG]

Should find most details on here Graham:

https://www.nwtd.co.uk/

Facility wise there's a portaloo, erm a secure car park.....lots of water and more slate than somewhere with lots of slate.

[Energy58]

Duplicate post deleted

[Energy58]

I didn't know that it had reopened - last I saw was that it was closed "forever" which may be an issue for those of us not active in the NW diving mileu. I know it used to be a top destination for divers around Manchester.

I just did a Google search - "Dorothea Quarry Diving" has 3 pages of doom and gloom death reports before you (eventually) get to the NWTD website and "Dorothea Diving" doesn't find the NWTD on the first 10 pages after which I gave up looking (which itself is quite impressive) so a bit of SEO and maybe a change to the domain name might drive a bit more traffic - I just checked and "dorothea-diving.co.uk" is available so for about £20 and a few minutes work you could probably shoot up the search rankings. Not sure I would ever have searched for NWTD if I didn't know to look.

Can't see that the £25 membership is going to be much of a deterrent compared to other places - driving to Weymouth for a dive for me is about £80 in fuel alone!

[gobfish1]

Just having a couple of low Tek divers running the gaff and can and can't do list sort of killed it the bsac no solo bollox plus a feeking burger van lol .

We used to go for a nice steak and a salad after a 90m dive lol ..

It's a shame as used to be one hell of a place to dive and meet / see guys at the top of there game . Times change Tek ant what it used to be it ant new no more . Not curring edge the egos are all old or dead . Tis what it is m8 . Hope it pick up all the same .

Big number for dotty are long gone . Along with all the old gurus that would turn up with the latest in New dive kit and Tek. It's not the 90 s no more . I remember it being hard to get a parking spot some weekends .

Maybe stick a few under water habitat s in and get a few stunt dives doing some thing interesting may pull in a few more .

[JonG]

No burger van Steve, but you can dive solo if your qualifications support it. I agree though that the frontier element of the 90s has long gone but it would be a shame to lose the resource, it's quite unique given the absence of owner added attractions, plus the amount of industrial heritage that still resides in the depths.

To open it up again the existing set up was pretty much the only option but does impose some restrictions.

I'd take it over NDAC living in the NW any day.

[gobfish1]

Maybe someone needs to combat the doom and gloom stuff. That's been posted in the news over the years . stoney has had plenty of boddy bags but seem to have better PR.

There is a long list of news worthy divers that practiced and worked on there set up at dotty over the year it's been used .
Stanton and mallard starfish enterprise
Lads from the Carpathian dives big name stunt diver lol mark the gladiator to name a few . 90 % of the the Tek instructors back all did there first 100m stunt dive at dotty
Seen my first CCR scrb adv bov vr3 stu / ndy with his DIY death boxs. And lot more
Dotty has produced a lot of positive s also.
Stoney just the burger van . As above the burger van is a insult to divers lol


Hope you can help to turn the place round .

[jamesp]

UNESCO site!

Look at the list of unesco world heritage site, they all celebrate the creative side of humanity; Machu Picchu, Taj Mahal.

North Wales, post industrial waste land.

The main attraction of Dotty, was the lack of "organisation" on site.
Never been asked for a mix ticket on a charter boat.

[M-J-J]

I am a member, have been since just after it re-opened under NWTD. I had dived there before so had an appreciation of what I was getting for my fees and faff so was happy to do it. All my dealings with NWTD have been great. The 'toilet' is un-useable, but that is due to the disgusting condition it is left in by those who visit (I am not blaming divers, it could be walkers etc as well). The place is incredible.

If I hadn't visited prior to the re-opening then I would need to sign up to BSAC, associate with NWTD as a club, then arrange documents and cards to be sent, then arrange a visit and pay a premium to access it only between 10 - 4. I cannot get gas within a couple of hours driving (that is if Vivian is open) and trimix is further still, CCR not so much of a problem (if you have spare 3s or banked gas), but it is a big factor for the OC people. The first visit after the change cost north of £150 (vast majority being BSAC fees so may not apply to all). When you can get into other quarries for £20 all in, have facilities, gas, be there from open to close etc ... unless you really know Dorothea that is one big leap of faith to spend that money to find out for someone who hasn't been.

I love the place, it isn't just the water and what is in it, but the surrounding buildings/walks etc the entire venue is beautiful. The main issues are the slightly (compared to rocking up at NDAC) convoluted sign up process, cost for an occasional visit looks high, gas access and of course the 'facilities' which are important for some. All can be overcome with some forward planning but people won't make that effort in the main without knowing the benefits.

What you have described is exactly what we need Jon, video, survey, promotion days. Build a buzz which will get new people to make the effort to come and see for themselves. I would be gutted if it were lost yet again and would be happy to contribute time over and underwater to help with the promotion of the site to prevent that happening.

I will volunteer myself to run an Instagram page for the site if that is a kickstart?