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. 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 park, but none of the attractions.
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 list of most of their amenities.

Paved Roads
Bathrooms with running water
Porta Johns in convenient locations throughout the scuba park
Showers
Dedicated changing rooms
3 easy entry areas
Multiple shelters
Underwater training platforms
Visible lines run to “most” underwater attractions
Boat simulator
When the adventure (Wibit) park is open, there is a food trucks on the weekends
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 on 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 raning 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.

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.