Weeki Wachee Springs?

We'll be visiting family in the Tampa area this weekend and I have been considering popping over to Weeki Wachee Springs and checking it out.

Should I plan to bring my dive gear along, is is worth the time / effort?

Any special rules I should be aware of: like no lights / no knives / no voodoo gas???

Individual divers can't just show up and dive. You have to go with an instructor who has listed Weeki Wachee as an additional insured on their policy.

If you can't get out in the ocean/Gulf, it's worth a dive.

We will be taking a group there this weekend, however with 3000+ dives it may not be all that eventful for your. If you still want to do it I can set it up for you to go with us.

Let me know.

Greg

Thanks Greg, I may give you a call.



*** You don't log that many dives over 20 years by passing up ANY body of water that you can dive in.

Actually, I have a new sling bottle setup that I want to feel out and this seemed like an easy place for that.... though I'm sure I will look like a dork with doubles and the whole 9 yards.

Thanks for the heads up, I can add them to my Insurance with a single phone call.

I wrote up a little trip report. I went with a club and as Walter says they do not let individuals dive there.

We dove Weeki Wachee Springs yesterday with a dive club from Ocala. It was an interesting dive. The mermiads were cute! There had to be 30 divers in the spring at one time. It looked like someone had turned a blender on with all the floating debris. Hoses for the mermaids running around. Pipes sticking out around the rocks. And Alge everywhere. There were a few turtles swimming around the area. One of the turtles looked as if his shell had been carpeted it had so much growth on it. There were also a few small fish, with so many divers they were hiding.

The area was a lot smaller than I had expected from some of the pictures. Alexander Springs is larger, but not deeper. We did find a hole that went down to 75 ft, but most of the canyon area is around 30-40 feet. There was a swim through at about 45 ft with a rope to help pull through it. There is a cavern, I am told, but we did not even attempt to find or enter it.

The area they had us use for getting into equipment was very nice with picnic tables. Chris from the Springs was very helpful. They had wagons to put your gear and tanks into to bring it to the area from your car. The entry into the spring was down a slopped piece of plywood like a 15 foot long ramp on about a 45 degree angle. Getting into the water was no problem, getting out was another story. The ramp does not go into the water very far and one needs to climb back up onto the ramp.

Most did do two tanks, one at 2:00 pm just before the 3:00 pm show and then another after the 3:00 pm show at 3:30. One tank lasted me both dives, I had taken a HP100. The park closed at 4:00 pm and the water park closes at 5:00 pm so they had us leave at 5:00pm

There was a group also there from Orlando doing some camera stuff. That was why there were so many people there.

After just returning from Grand Bahamas for a week http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread...29#post2916629 the spring seemed very confining and a very small area. It was interesting as one of those, "yep been here and seen it now" dives.

For a smaller group it could be more fun.

My girlfriend is getting certified there this weekend so i'll be hanging out and doing some diving on saturday and sunday i guess, since i have to pay to be in there anyway.....at least i'll be in the water....and at least i've gotten her started.....so if anyone is going to be in the area then send me a PM, so i might not have to sit there following around the class....

Gregg

WetDawg:

We'll be visiting family in the Tampa area this weekend and I have been considering popping over to Weeki Wachee Springs and checking it out.

Should I plan to bring my dive gear along, is is worth the time / effort?

Any special rules I should be aware of: like no lights / no knives / no voodoo gas???

Click to expand...

I'd say it is worth it for a one time thing. It will definitely give you a good place to do some goofing with your new bottles.

It does go really deep there, don't know the rules on that but...

The rules seem to keep changing with the max allowed depth getting shallower.

Walter:

The rules seem to keep changing with the max allowed depth getting shallower.

Click to expand...

They had on the wavers we were requested to sign that we would not exceed 30 feet. So I guess we violated that as the canyon area was over 45. The Weeki Wachee person, Chris, even told us about the pass through at 45 feet. I guess they are just covering their bottoms.

Walter:

The rules seem to keep changing with the max allowed depth getting shallower.

Click to expand...

Walter do you remember off the top of your head how deep it does go?