SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
Dixie Diver's had their annual Vortoberfest this past weekend. The event centers around getting as many ScubaBoarders together at Vortex Springs for an assortment of sausages, brauts, andouille, ect and of course the assortment of beers to go with it. There was some diving as well 
Thats where this thread comes in, actually.
After running up to Vortex on Saturday morning to round up anyone interested in diving Morrison, I met up with Paulwall onsite(Morrison). PerroneFord and Vayu were also onsite. The water levels were low,(-.05) and very, very clear. There were a few classes onsite, but it wasn't a complete madhouse at this point. We entered the water and headed for the cavern to burn 1/3rd a tank down. I hit a max depth of 85' while checking out the typical cavern fauna including rockbass, catfish, freshwater eels, and the occasional garden gnome. The vents are opening up a bit, looks as though someone is excavating the rubble that had fallen in over the past few months. We checked out the upper cavern and then headed the basin and up the spring run to observe more of the wildlife. We saw bream, bass, pike, carp, and even a couple turtles. The dive lasted 54 minutes and got a bit chilly with 68F water. SeaYoda was at the entry point preparing for a dive to photograph his dive club murdering a few pumpkins. Jviehe was teaching a class and WetHoss had arrived onsite as well. Tons of ScubaBoarders in this little slice of cave country over the weekend.
Paulwall headed out to dive some inshore sites in PCB so I buddied up with WetHoss and PhotoHikeDive for a second dive nearly 2 hours after the second. We headed back in the water and planned for a shorter dive. We headed to the cavern first, again and spent 1/3rd a tank there and hit up the upper cavern where we were visited by a nice big 3' brown water snake(some thought it was a mocassin of 6' in length - LOL). After the caverns, we headed to the basin and I did a few drills(no mask and gear don & doft). I hit a max depth of 89' for a total dive time of 36 minutes. All the ScubaBoarders left Morrison at the same time to fill a big ole table at Sally's for lunch.
4 hours later, PhotoHikeDive, MysteryDiveBuddy, SeaYoda, Rick Murchison, Moonie, and I were back in the water. This time we were diving at Vortex. The water was good and cloudy and we explored the cavern and the basin. Rick took Moonie to the cave gate for some photos. I hit a max depth of 54' for a short dive of 34 minutes. We saw the typical Vortex fauna including bream, bass, goldfish, carp, eels, ect.
Update on Vortex, the buyers defaulted on the sale... and their $250,000.00, so nothing will change at this point.
Vortoberfest gorging took place and everyone had their fill on sausages and The Kraken's brunswick stew. A couple of us(Paulwall, SeaYoda, and I) decided to get one more dive out of our $32 Vortex visit. It was cold outside, the 68F water almost felt warmish. We did half our 35 minute dive sans lights(it was very much into the night by this time). The street lights and two dozen other night diver's lights provided more than enough light for the dive itself. Again, I hit a max depth of 54'.
After camping out at Vortex Saturday night, Paulwall and I rented a canoe and strapped it to the truck for a run to Cypress Springs in Vernon, FL. Holmes Creek was clear, clearer than I've ever seen it and you could see the bottom throughout the entire trip to the spring. There had to be atleast 30' of visibility in the creek. Needless to say, the spring run and spring basins were absolutely spotless with better than 200' of visibility. We were the only people onsite during the first dive and we stayed in OW, hitting a max depth of 24' for a 47 minute dive. Cypress is a small spring, but fortunately has alot to look at, lots of fish, lots of very nice looking vegatation, ect.
A few boats came in during the surface interval, but they carried only surface dwellers and fishermen. We ventured into the cavern during the second dive for the majority of our bottomtime, using less than 1/3rd a tank. I hit a max depth of 63' for a dive lasting 36 minutes. I found a 5lb weight. I dropped the canoe off at Vortex then ate at Sally's before heading home for the weekend.
I had a great time hitting all the panhandle springs, yet again, and I'm looking forward to getting back. I especially want to get back to Cypress with a new underwater camera DEPP is ordering me an Olympus E330 and hopefully I'll have an underwater housing by early 2007.
For more Vortoberfest shinanigans visit http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=162750 - [disclaimer]none of it is really dive relate[/disclaimer]
Thats where this thread comes in, actually. After running up to Vortex on Saturday morning to round up anyone interested in diving Morrison, I met up with Paulwall onsite(Morrison). PerroneFord and Vayu were also onsite. The water levels were low,(-.05) and very, very clear. There were a few classes onsite, but it wasn't a complete madhouse at this point. We entered the water and headed for the cavern to burn 1/3rd a tank down. I hit a max depth of 85' while checking out the typical cavern fauna including rockbass, catfish, freshwater eels, and the occasional garden gnome. The vents are opening up a bit, looks as though someone is excavating the rubble that had fallen in over the past few months. We checked out the upper cavern and then headed the basin and up the spring run to observe more of the wildlife. We saw bream, bass, pike, carp, and even a couple turtles. The dive lasted 54 minutes and got a bit chilly with 68F water. SeaYoda was at the entry point preparing for a dive to photograph his dive club murdering a few pumpkins. Jviehe was teaching a class and WetHoss had arrived onsite as well. Tons of ScubaBoarders in this little slice of cave country over the weekend.
Paulwall headed out to dive some inshore sites in PCB so I buddied up with WetHoss and PhotoHikeDive for a second dive nearly 2 hours after the second. We headed back in the water and planned for a shorter dive. We headed to the cavern first, again and spent 1/3rd a tank there and hit up the upper cavern where we were visited by a nice big 3' brown water snake(some thought it was a mocassin of 6' in length - LOL). After the caverns, we headed to the basin and I did a few drills(no mask and gear don & doft). I hit a max depth of 89' for a total dive time of 36 minutes. All the ScubaBoarders left Morrison at the same time to fill a big ole table at Sally's for lunch.
4 hours later, PhotoHikeDive, MysteryDiveBuddy, SeaYoda, Rick Murchison, Moonie, and I were back in the water. This time we were diving at Vortex. The water was good and cloudy and we explored the cavern and the basin. Rick took Moonie to the cave gate for some photos. I hit a max depth of 54' for a short dive of 34 minutes. We saw the typical Vortex fauna including bream, bass, goldfish, carp, eels, ect.
Update on Vortex, the buyers defaulted on the sale... and their $250,000.00, so nothing will change at this point.
Vortoberfest gorging took place and everyone had their fill on sausages and The Kraken's brunswick stew. A couple of us(Paulwall, SeaYoda, and I) decided to get one more dive out of our $32 Vortex visit. It was cold outside, the 68F water almost felt warmish. We did half our 35 minute dive sans lights(it was very much into the night by this time). The street lights and two dozen other night diver's lights provided more than enough light for the dive itself. Again, I hit a max depth of 54'.
After camping out at Vortex Saturday night, Paulwall and I rented a canoe and strapped it to the truck for a run to Cypress Springs in Vernon, FL. Holmes Creek was clear, clearer than I've ever seen it and you could see the bottom throughout the entire trip to the spring. There had to be atleast 30' of visibility in the creek. Needless to say, the spring run and spring basins were absolutely spotless with better than 200' of visibility. We were the only people onsite during the first dive and we stayed in OW, hitting a max depth of 24' for a 47 minute dive. Cypress is a small spring, but fortunately has alot to look at, lots of fish, lots of very nice looking vegatation, ect.
A few boats came in during the surface interval, but they carried only surface dwellers and fishermen. We ventured into the cavern during the second dive for the majority of our bottomtime, using less than 1/3rd a tank. I hit a max depth of 63' for a dive lasting 36 minutes. I found a 5lb weight. I dropped the canoe off at Vortex then ate at Sally's before heading home for the weekend.
I had a great time hitting all the panhandle springs, yet again, and I'm looking forward to getting back. I especially want to get back to Cypress with a new underwater camera
DEPP is ordering me an Olympus E330 and hopefully I'll have an underwater housing by early 2007.For more Vortoberfest shinanigans visit http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=162750 - [disclaimer]none of it is really dive relate[/disclaimer]
