County begins plans for Morrison Springs

Mike_s and I went to Morrison today and got a surprise. As we drove up, there were tons of pick-up trucks in the parking lot and as we got out of our vehicles a meeting was beginning. We listened at a distance at first and then moved ever closer until we were a few feet from them. This was a meeting of the county and what seemed to be locals together on a committee to guide what will happen as the county begins to do something with the property. There were a couple folks I know on the committee but there did not seem to be any divers in the group. Mike and I were invited to speak a little about the plans they were proposing. The plans are to address the boat/diving/swimming safety issues, parking/driving on the beach area issues, and facilities/security (keeping the place from being trashed) issues. Because we were party crashers, I kept my comments limited to the problems of boat/divers and cars/children on the beach. Nothing is set in stone yet but here are some highlights of what I heard:
1.The covered pavilion and wall below may be removed for better access.
2. Vehicles will be prohibited from the beach area.
3. Parking will be to the left inside the gate down to around half way to the water.
4. Some type of boardwalk will be constructed along the parking area leading to the water. Some kind of special boardwalk/dock will be devised to help divers enter the spring.
5. As you enter the park, a fence will be in place to guide boaters to the right of the existing pavilion in order to launch boats there (the area way to the right of the beach). This will be a secondary boat launch - a primary site already exists further down the run and access will be improved to it and boaters encouraged to use that ramp.
6. Fencing and lighting of the property will be improved and security in the form of police will be increased.

In general I was pleased with what I heard. They asked about the dive flag rules and said that maybe they ought to put up signs (does that sound familiar to anyone? ). They took Mike's and my email address and said they will keep us updated.

And now back to our regularly scheduled dive ........
The water level was way down. Viz was good today - not the clearest I've ever seen it but in the very good category. We did only one dive today due to the meeting so I tried to get Mike all over the spring. We peeked in the side cavern and found a huge bass laying on the bottom - in the picture he looks like he just had a meal. We then went into the lower cavern - Mike's first experience. Everything went well with all the usual critters and the 3 yard ornaments were all still in place. Flow from the crack was down a lot from the last time I visited. Back out to the basin and around the shallows and roots back to the entry. Pictures attached:

SeaYoda:

Pictures attached:

Click to expand...

The third one is special, Yoda. Beautiful.
Thanks,
Rick

I took the idea for #3 from Ned's book - a little less trash in the water and a little closer to the fish and it would look just like his .

A little editing and a little cropping and the trash will disappear and the fish will grow larger. I am totally impressed with your photos. Looking forward to seeing you next weekend.

Thanks for the votes of confidence guys. It still looks like I'll be able to make it Saturday. It will be great to see everybody old and new.

keep in mind that whenever you have "improvements", there inevitably comes increased user fees to pay for them.

Nothing was said but I'm sure we're in for some charges. It used to cost $20 to get to dive there. It would be well worth $5 - $10 a day, in my opinion, to get the place back in shape and keep everyone safe. The county has a 99 year lease on the property so they have lots of time to charge us .

I think that big ole bass is the same one philmotrek and I spotted inside the smaller basin last Sunday. It was a beast.

Sounds like you guys had a great dive and were lucky enough to get privy to all the new happenings at Morrison. I would have liked to have been there for that, it sounds like they are looking at the site with a sound mind in keeping it accessible to everyone while increasing safety. Seems like some of our own ideas were echo'd there as well - good stuff. Did you happen to get there contact info as well? Apparently, they have alot of plans laid down already, but if they would need help building as far as labor goes... I wouldn't mind helping, if it made the site better/safer as well as relatively cheap access(Access to FL State Parks is like $5 correct?). Kinda like over at Wakulla, I believe they are using alot of the divers interested in diving a few of there newly opened(or opening shortly?) sinks to build/improve access.

If they start charging $30, I'll get there by boat for free.

I know one of the locals and one of the county folks on the committee so I'll probably drop an email to the county person to jingle her chain about keeping me in the loop. Once I establish contact I'll see what's up with us being able to help. The guy I know on the committee is a grading contractor with lots of equipment and some of the other guys seemed to be in construction as well so the need for us may be limited.

Im glad you were there. Personally, Id rather they just leave it alone. I like the natural walkway into the water. They can leave the structure as thats neccesary. Boats should be prohibited and diverted to the other ramp.