Fantasy Lake Adventure Park

Fantasy Lake Adventure Park (FLAP) is a dedicated water activities quarry located in Rolesville, NC. This quarry is unique in the fact it was an “unplanned” closure. It opened in the 1800’s and was an active quarry until, in 1950, they hit a massive spring while digging and had to immediately abandon the quarry. Being an “unfinished quarry”, most of the topography runs “away” from the opening meaning less silt, leaves, pine straw, runoff & debris clouding the water.

In 1980, the quarry was purchased by Doye Sherrill who turned it into a dedicated scuba diving location and began the process of adding different attractions into the water. Multiple boats, 2 planes, lots of cars, a bus, the original rock crusher and much, much more.

The quarry was purchased again in 2022 and given a complete facelift as well as opening the largest Wibit (water adventure course) in North America. The park now has 2 distinct sections; the scuba park & the adventure park.

Fantasy Lake is approximately 35 minutes from our dive shop and where we train many of our students for Open Water, Advanced, Navigation, Search & Recovery, Night, Solo and many of our other courses.

Recommended experience & equipment

FLAP is well known in the area for great diving regardless of your skill level. The overall underwater landscape is flat and above 40′ whixh is deep enough to blow bubbles, but shallow enough to not require much advance preparation. Many of the local (and not so local) dive shops use it for training purposes & outings. In general most areas are great for new or beginning divers. There are numerous obvious overhead environments for divers certified to explore, but most are “wreck” based.

Equipment Recommendations:

There’s only a few weeks a year where most divers can go without a wetsuit, so plan on bringing one.
Flashlights may or may not be needed, depending on your depth, time of year and dive plan.
Definitely bring water as while there is running water in the bathrooms, it’s not easy to fill bottles.
If you plan on making a day out of it, plan on bringing lunch. During the summer, there is a food truck at the Wibit entrrance.
Sunscreen is advised. There is a lot of overhead cover but, during the busy times, it may be in short supply.
Bring as many tanks as you think you’ll need as there is no compressor on site.

Things to know:

DIVERS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DIVE UNDERNEATH THE WIBITS (North section of the quarry). Doing so will result in your immediate (and possibly permanent) removal from the park.
This is a VERY popular destination in the summer. So plan on arriving early if you want good parking.
Your scuba day pass grants access to the full park, but the Wibit, Lounge seating and other amenities are not included.
Purchase your day pass and sign your waiver on their website before arriving (it saves you a lot of time and helps their staff move cars quickly).
The entrance lanes may be marked for scuba or adventure park; chose wisely (the adventure park is a timed ticket).
The majority of the underwater life is friendly (mostly Blue Gill & Bass, with a few HUGE Koi fish), but territorial if you get too close.
There is no fishing, swimming or snorkeling allowed in the entire park.
DO NOT SPEED on on 401 or the secondary roads in the area.

Amenities

Fantasy Lake Adventure Park is one of the most amenity rich quarries we know of. Below is a partial list of the features you can expect to see.

Paved Roads
Bathrooms with running water
Port a johns in convenient locations throughout the scuba park
Showers
Dedicated changing rooms
3 easy entry areas into the water
Multiple shelters (1st come, 1st serve unless one has been reserved).
Multiple underwater training platforms
Visible lines run to “most” underwater attractions
Most attractions are connected to Buoys (see below)
Boat simulator
When the adventure (Wibit) park is open, there is usually a food truck on the weekends you can visit.
Online ticketing & waivers

What to expect

TEMPERATURE

While we dive year round, we know that not everyone loves the cold water. One of the most frequently asked questions we receive about FLAP is “what is the water temperature”? The temperature map shown is the “average” temperature charted over a few years. While this is NEVER a guarantee, it should help to better prepare you for the water. There are no “bubblers” in Fantasy Lake meaning the visbility is better, but you should expect thermoclines when you dive. Their location varies throughout the year but, in general, the below holds true:

Spring – 1st Thermocline around 15′, 2nd thermocline around 30′
Summer – 1st Thermocline drops to around 20-25′. 2nd thermocline is around 35-40′.
Fall – 1st Thermocline is between 15-20′, 2nd thermocline is around 30-35′.
Winter – 1st thermocline (at the surface, lol), 2nd thermocline around 10′.

Click here to report your current Fantasy Lake Adventure Park water temperatures.

Attractions

Since 1980, the owners, passionate divers, and friends of the dive community have worked to add scuba diving attractions into the quarry. The majority of these attractions have been donated, procured or serve as a tribute to those in the dive community. As such, it really is an underwater playground.

Please refer the map and headings of the main attractions. Triangle Dive Shop is currently working on a project to accurately map & label the updated layout. In 2022, the Triangle Dive Shop staff, along with the owners son and other instructors, took on the large task of running new, high visbility, propylene line creating 2 “circuits” around the quarry. We are still in the process of mapping these lines.

*PLEASE NOTE: There is no dive shop or compressor on site.

Attractions of note:

3 Easy entry areas (steps, dock (with steps to the side) and the “beach”.
All scuba entrances are asto-turfed to help with sediment.
5 training platforms at depths ranging from 20′ – 30′.
The original rock crusher from the 1950’s quarry operation.
A basketball “court” (yes, we play basketball underwater).
2 planes
A “Huey” helicopter
Multiple boats (including a “yacht” sunk by Mr Beast).
City bus
A buddha (if you know, you know).
Lots of other areas to explore and find stuff.

Buoy Map

The quarry is constantly being updated with attractions, having current attractions repositioned and the buoys realigned.

Generally speaking, the higher the buoy #, the deeper the attraction. There are a few attractions that do NOT have numbered buoys. One is the “deep hole” located on the northwest “corner” of the quarry. It is marked with a faded red buoy.

Unmarked locations:

“Car graveyard” – This is the location of “Al’s car”. Navigate to the # 7 buoy and follow the line which runs W. This will bring you to multiple sunken cars that are NOT on the map.
“Deep Hole” – If you are feeling adventurous, once you reach “Al’s car” (car graveyard), look for a line that heads S. That will take you to the deep hole where, we believe, they hit the spring when blasting. Take note, the water at the bottom (78′ deep) is in the mid 40’s year round (but usually crystal clear).

Visibility, Composition & Depth

As with many quarries, the weather has a large impact on the water clarity. This quarry is EXTREMELY popular with experienced & new scuba divers. The more divers in the water, the more the water clarity is distubred. If you want great visibility, we recommend arriving and entering the water as early as you can.

VISIBILITY

In the winter, expect visibility to range from 5-10′ in the shallows, it’s better deep.
During late Spring & summer, the water starts to clear. We have seen better than 50’+ at times.
In late summer, as the air cools, the visibility “flips”, returning the murky deep water back to the shallows.

COMPOSITION
The majority of the quarry has a sandy bottom which is hard to disturb. However, there are areas of silt which will immediately cloud visibility by a misplaced fin kick. These areas are generally closer to the walls but it varies.

DEPTH

The majority of the quarry is 40′ or shallower. Many of the “training areas are in 20-25′ of water. If you review the depth map, you’ll see 2 large holes, with a smaller hole on the SE corner. The deepest part of the quarry is the red dot in the South end, with a depth of around 78′. Please note, if you plan on venturing into these deeper areas, the water tends to be in the mid 40’s year round so you’ll want proper exposure protection & dive lights.