Friends of Morrison Spring

[Alamo]

Careful not to step on toes or the wrong side of the law.

I was down there this morning, I live a few miles away.

The state bought it and gave it to the county.

Divers are not the only ones with a right to this site.

If you push or complain we will end up with someone babysitting the gate and we will have to pay fees to enter the site.

 

[jviehe]

Exactly. Im simply thinking of improving the site, keeping it clean and safe so the state doesnt have to step in.

 

[SeaYoda]

I think reminding boaters about dive flag rules should be OK. It might take more input to find the most effective, least offensive way to accomplish the task. I think that if a boater is not concerned with safety then maybe they are on the wrong side of the law. I think eventually some thing will need to be done to keep the area safe for swimmers of all kind. I find it difficult to believe that officials will keep taking the risk of bad press for a swimmer being injured or killed even with "swim at your own risk" signs already up. The risk is not from swimming but careless boaters. While I was there I saw one boat come in very slow - that's the kind of safety we need if that beach area is to be used for both boating and swimming. Knowing that some of the locals trashed the picnic tables and watching the careless boaters leads me to believe that oversight of the area will eventually happen. It's a shame people can't take care of things and have to have someone to police them to make them do the right thing.

Sorry for the tirade - it's late - off soapbox now .

 

[Alamo]

When you point a finger at someone else there are always four more poointing back at you. If you dive morrison this weekend, take a survey and see how many divers us a flag,..as requireed by Florida law. Failure to do so results in tickets and fine. technically since the water way feeds into the ocean, the divers should be using Alpha flags.

After we clean our own house we need to remember that very few boaters know waht a dive flag is or its regulations. This as you do not need a license to operate a boat.

If you are serious, you can have a sign fabricated and posted educationg the boaters to what a dive flag is, its regulations and penalties for failure to obey.

 

[Corigan]

If you are serious, you can have a sign fabricated and posted educationg the boaters to what a dive flag is, its regulations and penalties for failure to obey.

This is what they have at every boat ramp and Lake Jocassee. Was pretty nice seeing a sign informing boaters about dive flags and divers being in the water.

Matt

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

If you are serious, you can have a sign fabricated and posted educationg the boaters to what a dive flag is, its regulations and penalties for failure to obey.

I think this is the best course of action for now.

I dove with SeaYoda this past weekend at Morrison, we had a flag, and a boat planed right over us according to some other divers that were on the beach.

Most launches have "No Wake" bouys, I don't think it'd be a bad idea to have an idle zone for this site now that its being used as a launch. I don't think the boaters would mind idling out 150' up the run before cranking their little motors up full throttle.

I agree that its a much better approach to make the information available and obvious than anything else... The less confrontation the better.

 

[SeaYoda]

When you point a finger at someone else there are always four more poointing back at you. If you dive morrison this weekend, take a survey and see how many divers us a flag,..as requireed by Florida law. Failure to do so results in tickets and fine. technically since the water way feeds into the ocean, the divers should be using Alpha flags.

After we clean our own house we need to remember that very few boaters know waht a dive flag is or its regulations. This as you do not need a license to operate a boat.

If you are serious, you can have a sign fabricated and posted educationg the boaters to what a dive flag is, its regulations and penalties for failure to obey.

Why put rules for boaters alone? I think putting both rules for divers and boaters on a sign would be the best way not to offend either group and provide for maximum safety and education. Since it is State property and County run how much trouble would we run into trying to place any sign?

An idle only zone is in place along the gulf for safety - would that be too big of an imposition for boaters at Morrison? Would the State or County have to be involved in that?

No finger pointing was intended - just observation. I don't have a problem with boaters launching in the area if they are safe. Three out of four that I've seen there were not acting in a way to protect swimmers. Divers who don't obey rules are not helping safety matters any. We had a dive flag when we were there, yet it did not help make our dive safer. Ignorance is no excuse on either side of the issue. I would say that there is more obligation on the part of boaters in this matter because they can inflict more damage to a swimmer by driving in a non-safe manner than a diver can inflict on a boater by not having a flag. Either way if something ever happened it would be tragic.

Maybe it's hunting season and later there will be less boats. I just can't see this many boats and 50 divers (like I saw on one Saturday) mixing well. Many of the divers are new and in class and won't have the control or attention span to deal with boats coming in and out. I would like to see something done before a problem arises and not after.

 

[jviehe]

Whoa, lets try and solve this without involving the man first. Thats exactly what Im afraid of. We should first attempt to resolve problems among the people who use the spring. No one has gotten hurt yet because many know that people are around and need to be careful. Once you get govt involved people give over control and then just become zombies. I think we should first look at putting up information that divers and boaters are in the area, so be careful. A sign should be sufficient for starters.

Also, before we can make any changes to the spring, we have to talk to whoever is managing it and get permission. Why dont we have an informal FoM meeting after the New Year, and get things started. Meantime we can figure out who is in charge of it and invite them to the meeting to see what they think.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Why dont we have an informal FoM meeting after the New Year, and get things started.

Prefferably, on a good weekend with low water We'll get more participation if we can mix business with pleasure.

 

[chickdiver]

Guys-

A little friendly advice. Having dealt with local governments on these types of issues before, your BEST course of action at this point is to contact the County Commission and find out who the POC is. Get in touch with your POC and propose to them what you would like to do- frame this as "this is what we want to do to help YOU- at no cost to YOU". Refrain from having any "official" meetings or taking any actions until you have approval from the property managers (county).- otherwise you are likely to step on some toes and make things harder on yourselves.