Haigh Quarry
Kankakee , Illinois
Explore Midwest Diving: July 12, 2008

• Find Out More About The Quarry HERE

Haigh Quarry, a spring-fed 12-acre abondoned stone quarry, is located about an hour south of Chicago in triplex of the the Bradley/Bourbonais/Kankakee townships. It naturally gets a lot of students from the Chicago area and from Indiana.

The quarry is well maintained and is a favorite of divers in the upper Midwest. One side of the quarry is deeper, the other is more shallow. Thermoclines on the deep side can be quite chilly.

The site has been very well maintained and is family owned and operated. There are picnic tables, barbecue grills, changing rooms, and even a building with a fireplace! Parking is not a problem here and the parking lots are close to the diving prep areas. The concession stand can grill up a burger, chicken sandwich, brat, or even a veggie burger on the weekends.

The operators are very proud of the 8 varieties of fish in their quarry. You can see bluegill, crappie, bass, paddlefish, catfish, northern, and perch.

You can enter from shore, or from the 2 covered 20x40' docks (great for deep entry). There are 7 shallow platforms around 25 ft. and one platform at 75 ft. if you want to review any skills while diving at Haigh.

Visibility is pretty good. It definitely depends on how many students are there when you go, and if you get in before of after them.

Attractions include a 33 ft cabin cruiser sunk at 43' , fish condos, Marine dump truck at 50', LARC 5 Amphibious vehicle, and various mining and stone crushing equipment.

There are many other hotel options nearby, most offering a discount for Haigh Quarry divers. All the hotels are approximately 15 minutes from the quarry.

Explore Midwest Diving:

• Standard Safe Diving Practices
• Special Event Voluntary Liability Release

As part of the Explore Midwest Diving program, we will be visiting Haigh Quarry on Saturday, July 12, 2008. After you check in with the Haigh Quarry staff, check in with the Midwest Scuba staff. We will have an EZ-Up setup with a large Midwest Scuba banner. The EZ-Up should be setup by 8:00 a.m.

Site briefing information will be provided at the Midwest Scuba EZ-Up.

Each buddy team will be responsible for planning their own diving. Anyone without a buddy will have plenty of time and opportunity to find a buddy for the day's diving.

For those interested, Haigh Quarry is open for night diving. If people are interested in night dives we will leave the EZ-Up in place. There will also be lanterns in the EZ-up to help setup/break down equipment.

Those interested will need to provide their own lights - one primary, one backup and a marker light or lightstick.

If you are interested in visiting Haigh Quarry as part of the Explore Midwest Diving program, please visit the EMD page and RSVP to our staff.

• See the 2005 EMD photo gallery.