For some, Pennsylvania means contented cows and candy bars. For others, it's Steelers, Pirates and Iron City Beer. But for a significant number of divers, there are places in Pennsylvania that mark the genesis of a lifestyle as well as great places to keep skills fresh.

Premier among these places are the 50 azure acres of Dutch Springs (http://www.dutch springs.com), a PADI recreational facility near Bethlehem.

When divers visit Dutch Springs today, they are actually diving what used to be farmland. National Portland Cement purchased the land to operate a limestone quarry for its nearby cement plant. Seepage was a problem right up until 1970, when the quarry closed. Ten years later, the quarry — 100 feet deep in spots — filled with water. Divers began flocking in to look at remnants such as the cement company's long-quieted pumps. The pumps have since been joined underwater by a number of other objects, including a diamond reef system, a school bus, a tanker truck, a trolley car, a fire truck, a gigantic Sikorski H-37 helicopter (known to Dutch regulars as The Chopper) and several other items, including the newest addition to Dutch Springs' underwater transportation museum: a high-wing Cessna monoplane. In addition to providing visual relief, the various objects are invaluable assets for in-quarry training — diving that ranges from basic open-water excursions to wreck-diving penetration techniques.

The quarry is also home to rainbow trout, largemouth bass, bluegills, perch and even the occasional Japanese koi and paroled goldfish. Zebra mussels have also found their way into Dutch Springs, where the most significant impact of their presence has been a boost in visibility. It's little wonder that divers who trained here often come back to keep skills fresh or just to have a good time with friends they've known for years.

For surface intervals (and for nondiving family and friends), Dutch Springs offers an Aqua Park and — new for 2006 — the Sky Challenge, a rock wall and ropes course two stories high. Another inland destination for would-be and current northern divers is Bainbridge Scuba Center (http://www.divebsc.com), a PADI recreational facility near Bainbridge. It's so popular with area divers that, like Dutch Springs, it offers annual memberships as well as entry by daily admission. Bainbridge Scuba Center is located on a 27-acre spring-fed lake, up to 120 feet deep in places, that offers access to areas catering to different levels of training. Underwater training platforms, sunken trucks, boats, a bus, a motorcycle, tanks, concrete-pipe swim-throughs and even a dolphin statue are strategically placed to add variety to every dive . From May through October, Pennsylvania's quarries are often the site of last-minute tune-up dives, as adventurers from all over the world head to Lake Erie and its world-class wreck diving. Among the wreck sites accessible from Pennsylvania ports are those of the S.K. Martin (a wooden coaler lost in the Great Storm of 1912), the Dean Richmond (an inverted but completely intact twin-screw wooden steamer in 110 feet of water) and the Phillip D. Amour, which is remarkably intact for a shallow-water (30-foot) shipwreck. Pennsylvania's still a great place to go for candy bars and professional sports. But if you visit, be sure to pack your dive gear.

MUST DIVE 1. Dutch Springs 2. Bainbridge Scuba Center 3. The S.K. Martin (Lake Erie) 4. The Dean Richmond (Lake Erie) 5. The Phillip D. Amour (Lake Erie)