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Welcome to Fantasy Lake Scuba Park
Pricing for certified divers is $15 a day, required at sign in, and parking is available all around the lake. Non-certified divers are required to dive with a certified dive instructor, and non-divers may enter the park only when accompanied by certified divers for $5 a day per person. Overnight camping is also available for divers and their party members by pre-arranged scheduling. What is Fantasy Lake?   Fantasy Lake was originally a rock quarry from which many tons of local granite was removed. This helped create the dramatic cliffs surrounding several sides of the lake. The quarry and many surrounding acres of country side were then purchased by the present owners, who allowed the quarry to be filled with fresh water and fish and later allowed several wrecks to be sunk at various locations in the quarry to help divers hone their navigation skills and explore the freshwater ecosystem that has rapidly reclaimed most of the sites of interest under the lake. Aside from a sunken glass-bottomed boat, a mini-car, and an old public transit bus, there are also many relics from the quarry days still left at the bottom of the lake. Most notable of the pre-lake quarry remnants is a giant rock crusher compartment, which is housed inside a structure of metal beams at one of the lowest points in the lake. The gears alone are several times larger than a man, and make for an interesting exploratory subject. Fantasy Lake Ecosystem
Fishing is not allowed in the lake, however camping is allowed and diving is encouraged. Diving Fantasy Lake  Depending on the weather and the number of other divers passing through your route underwater, visibility can range from a crystal clear blue-green 25 feet to about ten feet (very green.) As in the ocean, the best way to see more lake is to spend less time kicking up sand. Walk-in ramps provide easy access to the lake from several points along the shore. Floating buoys mark many of the sites of interest under the lake, and underwater platforms are also available for training purposes. The water is clean and the shore is uncluttered. Several artists and local dive groups have also decorated some of the larger granite boulders with dive and sea-life paintings. These boulders mark the dive ramps from the hilly drive around the shore. |
Fantasy Lake is surrounded by the beautiful, wide open Rolesville country side. The shore is grassy and sandy with special wooden dive decks for changing and storing dive equipment for divers. Picnic tables are also provided, although like other parks, your trash should leave when you leave. The surrounding area around the park is filled with pine and oak trees, and also a few palms at the front of the park and near the water. In the summer the lake is usually warm and full of fish, and snack food and drinks are purchasable at the front office for refueling between dives.
Fantasy Lake contains a variety of large and small freshwater fish, soft and various other freshwater plant and sea life. Spongy orange algae is by far the most common and can be found just a few feet below the water. The large boulders and sandy lake floor left by the quarry serve as a habitat to still more organisms, and the habitat above water is generally warm and hospitable, with mild Winters and long Spring and Summer months. When diving in any environment, it's good to bring water with you. This is especially important during the hot Carolina Summer months when the temperatures generally stay in the 80's and 90's from morning on through sunset. Even in cold dives, divers perspire and can quickly lose fluids.
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