Help planning a trip to Ginnie, and the Keys

[ReeferBen]

Me and my sister are laeving tursdya morning for Florda diving. We need to be back by the following thursday. WE are not cave/cavern certified. Will Ginnie give aus a decent place to camp and do a couple of days of diving 3 dives a day with one or two night dives? Will it be packed every day with divers?

We also were planning on looe key dive resort in the keys. Is their operation any good? We wanted to do this for a couple of days also. Is their any other recommendations you might have? Different places to dive, cheaper better hotel/diving? Is Ft. Lauderdale any good where should we go is it eay beach diving. Where do we stay.

I am completely lost and could really use your advice. It is a 25 hour drive from PA split between me and my sister we will drive straight through. Arriving on friday morning.


HELP US!

 

[Tao of the Dive]

Ok, depending on how well you can stretch a good time, Ginnie may meet your needs. If you don't have high expectations of seeing lots of color, or lots of aquatic life, you may have a good time. Exploring the cavern is a neat thing if you've never done such a thing before, or if you've got a special palce in your heart for that particular spring.

If blackwater diving is fun for you, you can always swim down to the Santa Fe, and bubble around there for a while. Then there are the other spings on property, but they are not concidered as safe for OW divers, and lights are NOT permitted unless you hold cavern or cave certs. The Florida Conch Divers and the Deep South Divers are planning a two day BBQ and dive trip in April, so it's possible to stretch things out over two days, it all depends on the diver though, and what you find entertaining.

 

[firedogut]

just to make sure you know camping at Ginnie is 16.00 per night per person. Diving is 27.00 per day per person

for 3 days, two nights you are looking at $226 plus air fills which are 5.00

i'm making a trip to florida from texas and will also be camping. Someone told me about this place http://jimhollis.com/index.htm. They are about 30min from Ginnie.
Camping there is 5.00 per night per person. They also have hot showers for the campers.

from here you can dive ginnie one day, dive a different spring the next and so forth.

some sites i found to help me with me plans
http://www.underwaterflorida.homestead.com/springs.html
http://www.devilsden.com/default.htm
http://www.ginniespringsoutdoors.com
http://www.scubadiving.com/article/0,7424,1-0-0-312-1-4X7X9X12-5,00.html

 

[MikeJacobs]

SNIP...If blackwater diving is fun for you, you can always swim down to the Santa Fe, and bubble around there for a while. ...SNIP

Yipes... I bet the Santa Fe's tannin is good for your gear (and your hair) but DIVE in it? Interesting... what do you see?

 

[MikeJacobs]

I'm not sure Gennie is more than a 1-day trip; it wouldn't be for me. BUT there is a lot to do in the area - canoe trips, bike trails, just walking etc. Nice area!

I offer the suggestion that you spend your time in the Keys. I'd spend it all there BUT depending on your transportation & the timing you may find we're doing some kind of a group thing here in the Ft. Lauderdale area from the shore. Nice reef, great bunch, always fun, very cheap.

Oh, and everybody is great in the Keys as far as I know.

Me and my sister are laeving tursdya morning for Florda diving. ...SNIP

 

[Tao of the Dive]

Yipes... I bet the Santa Fe's tannin is good for your gear (and your hair) but DIVE in it? Interesting... what do you see?

During my short time diving, I've come to learn that diving isn't always about great visability, sometimes it's just about being able to do it, and enjoy it. Blackwater diving is the epitome of that. It's not about the viz, its about what you'll find. I've personally found two fossils while diving the river bed there. Blackwater diving exercises that inborn human instinct, the instinct of exploration. No matter what kind of diving you are doing, it's what you make of it. We'd all like to dive 200 ft viz all day every day, but when you can't, you make the best of it. In fact, most times I spend at Ginnie, I spend more than half in the Sante Fe, drift diving it.

As for tannin being bad or good for hair, you need hair for it to do either, I have none. And my gear, well, I clean it religously. Also, dont do blackwater with a piston 1st stage, it does horribly nasty things to the stage.

 

[Wendy]

3 days at Ginnie may be a lot for just ow divers. You can see the whole place in 3 dives and a night dive in the ballroom. You may want to spend more time in the keys. Best idea would be to do the keys first and hit Ginnie on the way home as a fresh water gear rinse dive.

 

[Robinhood]

just to make sure you know camping at Ginnie is 16.00 per night per person. Diving is 27.00 per day per person

for 3 days, two nights you are looking at $226 plus air fills which are 5.00

i'm making a trip to florida from texas and will also be camping. Someone told me about this place http://jimhollis.com/index.htm. They are about 30min from Ginnie.
Camping there is 5.00 per night per person. They also have hot showers for the campers.

from here you can dive ginnie one day, dive a different spring the next and so forth.

some sites i found to help me with me plans
http://www.underwaterflorida.homestead.com/springs.html
http://www.devilsden.com/default.htm
http://www.ginniespringsoutdoors.com
http://www.scubadiving.com/article/0,7424,1-0-0-312-1-4X7X9X12-5,00.html

I've camped at Jim Hollis's River Rendevouz often in an effort to avoid the rediculous pricing at Ginnie Springs for camping. Also when the weather is real nice, Ginnie Springs is overflowing with college kids partying it up. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but sometimes it doesn't lend to a good family atmosphere. I have a family and Hollis's provides a playground and trampoline etc for the kids. They have great campsites situated right on the river and they do have hot showers and clean bathrooms! If you didn't bring enough food, they have a place on the campground to eat. Its very convenient to alot of the cave sites like Peacock, Little River etc.

 

[firedogut]

Hollis's provides a playground and trampoline etc for the kids

For the kids...HAHA i'm 23 and planing to jump on the trampoline everyday

 

[Tao of the Dive]

As a side note, the things seen from below the waves when the college kids are there can make you wish the viz wasn't that great, or it'll make you wish you had a binocular lense on your mask, depending on how much a voyeur you ae...LoL...