Question Caves Close to International Airports Florida

[Superlyte27]

Get a cave dive buddy that has an airplane.

 

[Underwater Tourist]

Get a cave dove buddy that has an airplane.

Just in case if you are offering, I would be interested

Can pay for fuel in good old $ or with a bottle of something good, pilot's choice

 

[Manatee Diver]

That's why I never recommend GNV or JAX. The flights are exceptionally limited or the price jacks up like crazy. TPA and MCO are the only realistic options.

JAX isn't as bad as GNV, you at least have SWA flying from there. I would classify it similar to other smaller airports in Florida, not a regional only airport like GNV.

But JAX isn't much closer to High Springs than MCO or TPA. I personally prefer TPA.

 

[USFpsychDiver]

With just a little flexibility you can get in a variety of nice cave diving out of Tampa. I live in Tampa and do day trips to Ginnie pretty regularly -- just at 2 hours drive. With an overnight or two stay in the Branford/Mayo/Live Oak area you can dive a number of intro-appropriate sites: Little River (a bit deep and high flow, so short dives on 1/6ths), Peacock -- counts a multiple caves if you want since you can enter at P I and dive either the Peanut or Olsen sides, or enter at Orange Grove for a different experience (they connect but not at the Intro level), and even PIII if you want a little dark and spooky, Madison. All these and other less good intro options, are ~10 - 20 minute drive from each other (Madison close to 30) if you're staying up there. So fly in to TPA and make a base of operations up in Cave Country for a few days and have fun. And you can hit Ginnie again on the drive back to Tampa. I've got an Orlando dive buddy and the drive is just a bit longer from there (and traffic and the airport much worse).

 

[Underwater Tourist]

@USFpsychDiver Thank you for the info. Yeah I figured I would have to set base in the cave county area, dive from there, and stomach the traffic (will be coming on Friday evenings so i am assuming the roads will be packed).

 

[rddvet]

Got it, thank you.

Was also hoping there would be some less popular caves close to TPA and MCO, but looks like they don't exist either.

There are actually alot of caves around tampa. There are tons within tampa itself, but very few people know about them. They are mostly government owned and off limits without permits that are impossible except for some very specific needs. Closest "tourist" caves would be Eagle's Nest which will be off limits to you at this stage, Buford (more caverny though you can find cave but not at your level), Paradise and Blue Grotto in Ocala. There's also Blue Springs in Orlando, but it's not worth diving.

@USFpsychDiver Thank you for the info. Yeah I figured I would have to set base in the cave county area, dive from there, and stomach the traffic (will be coming on Friday evenings so i am assuming the roads will be packed).

It depends on the time you arrive. If you're trying to drive out of tampa at 4 or 5 on a friday afternoon there will be traffic, but it would likely just add 30 minutes to your drive. The traffic on a friday in Orlando will be 100 times worse.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I will be finishing my full cave in late October in MX and right now I am researching places where I can get more cave hours.

@USFpsychDiver Thank you for the info. Yeah I figured I would have to set base in the cave county area, dive from there, and stomach the traffic (will be coming on Friday evenings so i am assuming the roads will be packed).

Like you, I am slated to take the second half of my cave training this winter in Mexico, and I have been getting my "cave hours" in by driving from Atlanta (about 5 hours without traffic snags) for weekend trips to Peacock, Ginnie or sometimes Madison. Those are the caves in the region that are best for getting in the kind of practice hours we need. I typically arrive Friday night, stay in an AirBnb, dive Saturday and Sunday, then drive back Sunday night.

 

[The Chairman]

Housing is cheap in cave country, so drive to High Springs, @Capt Jim Wyatt has a centrally located house to rent, and you'll have a number of caves close by to dive.

These are more challenging caves, deeper with more current, than you'll find in most of Mx.

 

[macado]

To each their own but I vastly prefer flying into Jacksonville (JAX) than I do Orlando (MCO). This doesn't help your situation but there are direct flights from Boston.

Jacksonville is a much smaller airport, less foot (no cruise ship traffic or Disney World people) and plane traffic and getting a rental car has always been quicker for me. It's also about ~25 minutes less driving to High Springs and maybe I'm just lucky but it's also less traffic.

 

[Underwater Tourist]

There are actually alot of caves around tampa. There are tons within tampa itself, but very few people know about them. They are mostly government owned and off limits without permits that are impossible except for some very specific needs. Closest "tourist" caves would be Eagle's Nest which will be off limits to you at this stage, Buford (more caverny though you can find cave but not at your level), Paradise and Blue Grotto in Ocala. There's also Blue Springs in Orlando, but it's not worth diving.

So for diving purposes, they basically don't exist

It depends on the time you arrive. If you're trying to drive out of tampa at 4 or 5 on a friday afternoon there will be traffic, but it would likely just add 30 minutes to your drive. The traffic on a friday in Orlando will be 100 times worse.

It will be around 7-9pm. I will try to massage logistics to avoid arriving that late. Might just stay in Orlando/Tampa on the day I arrive, and then drive the next day. Anyhow, those details are to be figured out later..

Like you, I am slated to take the second half of my cave training this winter in Mexico, and I have been getting my "cave hours" in by driving from Atlanta (about 5 hours without traffic snags) for weekend trips to Peacock, Ginnie or sometimes Madison. Those are the caves in the region that are best for getting in the kind of practice hours we need. I typically arrive Friday night, stay in an AirBnb, dive Saturday and Sunday, then drive back Sunday night.

I will be doing it with Protec starting october 27th, and right now i believe i am the only student in the group. So if it works for you, you are welcome to join and then perhaps we can do some dives in FL? Shot me a DM if you want