Ahhh... Blue Lagoon.

Ahhh Blue Cove Hideaway... it sounds so magical. I have a love hate relationship with this place, which is why I was very eager to make a blog post about this swimming hole. I was eager to make a post about this because there really isn't a lot of information out there about this place. Right when you type blue cove hideaway into google, all you will see is recent news stories about the owner and some recent accidents. I will get to this later in the post. So I dug a little deeper, and based the post off of my experience and the people I talked to there. It is dangerous and not exactly the cleanest place to swim... so don't go grabbing your swim trunks just yet!! So many people have asked if I recommend going to this place, and I always end up shrugging my shoulders and telling them that it was okay. I don't want to discourage people from going here, I just want people to be aware of the risks that are involved with this swimming hole. Let's start from the beginning. Blue Cove Hideaway is located in Athens, Tennessee. It is about an hour and a half from downtown Chattanooga. It can be kind of hard to find... hence the name hideaway, but now a days there are no secrets with google maps. So if you have the maps app on your iPhone or other smart phone device, you should be able to find the swimming hole with no problem. You will turn down a rural road, which will take you down a long dirt path. The farmlands on this road are very pretty! You will soon come up on tents and a parking lot near by. The swimming hole actually is in fact a rock quarry. It is said to be 200 ft. deep! The rocks were dug up a few years ago to help form the nearby interstate. Once the interstate was completed, the quarry was flooded and the land owner kept is as it was. As time went on the land owner had a hard time keeping kids from sneaking in and swimming in the quarry, and so he decided to open it up to the public for a fee. The fee to swim there is only $5, but I do not know if that is still the price today. I went in the summer of 2016. You will also have to sign a waiver, which basically says whatever happens to you is your fault yada... yada... yada. There is also a sign that warns visitors of the accidents that have occurred there.

Now for the not so fun part. There are been two deaths over the past year that have occurred there. One happened a few weeks before I visited the swimming hole. The swimmer jumped from the same 35 ft platform that me and several others jumped from. I didn't know people had died jumping from the platform, or else I probably wouldn't have jumped at all. Granted while I was there, many teenagers were jumping off the platform doing flips and dives. Please don't do this. Reckless behavior and consumption of alcohol (which is not regulated on the property) could be what is leading to these unfortunate accidents. There are also not any lifeguards on the property. You really are swimming at your own risk. So if you are not a very good swimmer, I would not advise giving this place a visit. I think if you are being safe and cautious, this place is a lot of fun. The only other problem I had with this place was the cleanliness of the water. There is not any way to filtrate this water. So although it looks beautiful, up close it is actually really gross. There is tons of debris and algae looking stuff floating around. For sure don't swim with your mouth open. I felt like I needed to take five showers after swimming here. And now for the adrenaline rush part. So the platform is comparable to an olympic style diving board. Right when I saw it I said to myself, "I am not leaving this place until I jump off that". After jumping from some of the other smaller cliffs, which were actually kinda scary too, I decided I was ready for the big one. Boy was I wrong. I really did not think it was going to be that high! It also didn't help that a girl told me about her friend jumped from the platform that morning and that she left early to go home, because her ribs were black and blue from hitting the water.... ugh. I walked to the edge of the platform with so much confidence, planning to jump right off without thinking... yeah right. I got to the edge and looked over and said to my friend, "Yeah no... never mind I AM NOT DOING THIS." I then backed up slowly with my stomach churning. I kid you not it took me about 15 minutes to build up the courage to jump. I just watched other people jump for a little bit, while my friend constantly nagged me to "just do it." My response to her was always, "Why don't you just do it then...". She wouldn't jump, and she's probably reading this... yeah you know who you are ;D. Anyways, I ended up deciding I was going to be so mad and disappointed in myself if I left blue cove without jumping off the famous platform. I decided I was just going to walk and not stop, not even think about what I was about to do, and that's just what I did. I ended up walking right off the platform without stopping. I fell and squealed like a cat as well. I hit the water with no problem. I felt so proud after I had accomplished this. If you would like to watch the video of me jumping from the platform watch the video below!

All in all the beautiful blue water is what makes this place so tempting to travel to. It really is a gorgeous sight. I think if you are fully aware of the risks that are involved swimming here it could be a great experience. Just please be safe!!!! Life is to be experienced. Journey wisely, Kelly Fitzgerald

On top of the 35 ft diving platform.

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