How often does this happen at Ginnie?

[Landlocked123]

How is this allowed? should there be regulations set for certification to be shown prior to entering a cave? I have AOW and Nitorx 100 plus dives and never in my wildest dreams would I venture into a cave as I am not trained to do so. Been diving 7 years and during 3 of those years was in MX but passed up the Cenote dives because I was on vacation and did not trust the equipment i was given, did not know why my insta buddies would have been, and was not cavern certified. My point is if one goes on a boat to do an advanced wreck dive you are always asked for a cert card at least AOW or you can't dive. I am not a cave diver but am I missing something or did these divers just enter without a reel, line, proper equipment, etc? How often does this actually happen?

 

[TSwain]

This site is not a cave but a cavern and is allowed to be dove by just OW divers. If you watch the video the cave part of the system is blocked with steel bars. If you are going to do these dives I highly recommend getting cavern certified by a true Cave Dive Instructor. My cavern class taught me so much and was probably the best class I have taken before the full cave classes. There are a lot of other caverns in FL that do lead to caves so please get the training so a accident dosen't happen!

 

[Doby45]

That area is called the "Ballroom" at Ginnie and it is allowed there with nothing but open water. I have not taken my cavern yet but have dived that location to the point of boredom.

You should come out to the 2016 Fall Mega Dive, it is held at Ginnie Springs and you can dive the "Ballroom" yourself.

 

[SCRedWolf]

How is this allowed? should there be regulations set for certification to be shown prior to entering a cave? I have AOW and Nitorx 100 plus dives and never in my wildest dreams would I venture into a cave as I am not trained to do so. Been diving 7 years and during 3 of those years was in MX but passed up the Cenote dives because I was on vacation and did not trust the equipment i was given, did not know why my insta buddies would have been, and was not cavern certified. My point is if one goes on a boat to do an advanced wreck dive you are always asked for a cert card at least AOW or you can't dive. I am not a cave diver but am I missing something or did these divers just enter without a reel, line, proper equipment, etc? How often does this actually happen?

At Ginnie Springs it happens every day. It's a single room cavern with a grate at a restriction entrance to the cave system. There is a small horizontal entrance to the cavern about 20ft down and the entrance goes in about 10-15 feet where you're at the top of the single room, the Ballroom, which goes down to about 50ft. I'm guessing the Ballroom is about 30ft from front to back and 40ft wide (sorry I didn't have a tape measure with me so it's just memory here). At the bottom of the cavern off to the right is the grate that very effectively blocks everything but water, catfish, and eels from entering the actual cave system. On a side note it's really cool to grab onto the grate and 'fly' in the current like a flag in the wind. Bubbles go straight back before they get a chance to go up so even without the grate it'd be a hard swim. If you get lost (you'd have to try really hard like closing your eyes and letting your buddy spin you in circles for a bit) just ascend until you see the bright electric blue color of sunlight through the entrance, or you hit your head on the ceiling whichever comes first, and swim towards the light. That's about it. The scary thing would be people thinking that's all there is to cave diving and try to enter Devil's Ear or Devil's Eye. Those are proper caves and are located just 1/4 mile away from Ginnie (on the same property) so one could literally swim up the Santa Fe river from Ginnie and hit the caves.

 

[divad]

...........

 

[divad]

]How is this allowed? [/QUOTE]


It's not illegal to walk around wearing scuba gear under water.

 

[Lorenzoid]

As "OW-friendly" as the Ballroom may be, the safety of such dives still gets debated on SB now and then: "Open Water Diver Safe Cavern Dives" ???

 

[Brandon]

The Ballroom is entertaining as all heck. A very wide swath of experience uses that site... you'll see it all.

 

[KevinNM]

People have talked about being in there and seeing free divers. Which seems nuts.

 

[Nwcid]

should there be regulations set for certification to be shown prior to entering a cave? I

Regulations set by who? In what country? Under what authority? Who do you show the certification to? Is there a guard at each and every cave entrance in the world waiting to see your card and let you in?

Where does personal responsibility come in?