SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
Jackson Blue Springs 2-16-8
I really should have gotten more sleep Friday night, but I still was up and on the interstate by 5:30AM Saturday morning and heading East. Clear skies and and mild temps, reaching around 70F by mid-day. Hit up the Sheriff's Dept and then went to Edd's to top off my doubles and pick up some other knick-knacks. Met up with Ben M. up there, who'd be diving with me over the weekend. Once filled up I hit the park and cwick and his brother met up with us before too too long. There's actually a boil coming up to the surface over Jackson Blue Springs now. The flow isn't pumping hard, by any means, but its atleast easily noticable.
After agreeing on a dive plan, we paired up as two pairs and hit the water. I tied in the primary and lead the dive. Pretty basic, just hit the mainline and stayed right at the first 't', then left at the second 't' to complete a circuit and headed back to the cavern. Made a deep stop and left the primary in place for the rest of the days dives. After a safety stop, I had a total runtime of 58 minutes with a max depth of 94'.
Nearly an hour and a quarter later, we were back in the water, cwick and brother making up the lead team this time around. We dove off the same tanks so just headed up the mainline to about 1050'p where the dive was called and we turned around. While it was a simple dive, we all enjoyed the fun. Lots of traffic encountered on the way out(cmufieldhockey with two of her instructor buddies, and pennypue and wb416). Total dive time was 46 minutes with another max depth of 94'.
cwick and his brother Tony had to head back out to Tallahassee, but Ben and I headed up to Edd's for more gas and up town for lunch(Subway). A bit after 2 and three quarter hours later, we were back in the water. We headed up the mainline and just goofed around a bit by the first 't'. I forgot my cookie on the line(leaves a mission for Sunday!). Total dive time of 43 minutes, with another max depth of 94'.
After checking out the Sheriff's Dept and checking in at the hotel to get cleaned up a bit, a large group of us hit up the "new" Old Mexico. Old Mexico used to be one of the shops making up a strip of shops in one of the old buildings downtown Marianna. Now its about 1/2 mile West and on the south-side of Hwy90 in its very own building. Lots more parking, only real issue was that they hadn't regained thier liquor liscense yet! D'Oh! Lots of great stories and shinanigans, we ended up closing the place down.
Jackson Blue 2-17-8 Dive Report
Hit up Edd's early Sunday morning and picked up a deco-tank that I got rigged up. Figured I'd better get used to lugging one along since I'll need to use them before long. We were the first out to the park(IIRC) but others followed shortly afterwards. Dive plan was simple, straight up the goldline, keeping to the left this time at the first 't', then staying left at the 2nd 't'. I ran the primary and then Ben took the lead to set a comfortable pace. We made quick work out of the first 1200' as Ben can move pretty quickly in the water, after 1250' we slowed pace as I hadn't been any further previously - wanted more time to look around. 600psi ended up getting us a bit farther than 1600'p, so I was able to see the jumps off to Kings Bypass and Queens Bypass, two passages I hope to take advantage of in the not-so-distant future. Every bit of JB is quite awesome, I friggin love seeing more of it!
Not a bad 500th Dive 
We came back the same way without any incident. Ran across a couple teams before I pulled the primary and we hit the cavern for safety stops and an exit. Had a total runtime of 62 minutes with a max depth of 95'.
Another great day out on the pond, but the winds were picking up and storms were coming according to weather reports. I topped off my tanks again and headed out.
Morrison Update
Decided to stop by Morrison. The gate is moved back with concrete pilings blocking off anyone wanting to drive around the gate placement.
Just past the oldgate with the new, bulk parking area in view.
Where the old gate was...
Inland portion of the new boardwalk
Looking down to the spring from the boardwalk, notice they will be adding an extention out to the left, making a 'Y' in the boardwalk. The left trail will lead around the wetlands on the leftside of the basin it seems.
The crane in the basin...
figured I'd look for the spring run boat launch a bit. I went down the right fork leading to Morrison, and headed left down the third dirt road heading that way... It was the only one without a Posted No Trespassing sign. The road lead to several 4-ways, lots of unmarked intersections. There were severe thunderstorms on the way and I was in a FWD overloaded stationwagon, so I didn't push my luck into getting caught into a torrential downpour. I'll look again later when I have more time.
I really should have gotten more sleep Friday night, but I still was up and on the interstate by 5:30AM Saturday morning and heading East. Clear skies and and mild temps, reaching around 70F by mid-day. Hit up the Sheriff's Dept and then went to Edd's to top off my doubles and pick up some other knick-knacks. Met up with Ben M. up there, who'd be diving with me over the weekend. Once filled up I hit the park and cwick and his brother met up with us before too too long. There's actually a boil coming up to the surface over Jackson Blue Springs now. The flow isn't pumping hard, by any means, but its atleast easily noticable.
After agreeing on a dive plan, we paired up as two pairs and hit the water. I tied in the primary and lead the dive. Pretty basic, just hit the mainline and stayed right at the first 't', then left at the second 't' to complete a circuit and headed back to the cavern. Made a deep stop and left the primary in place for the rest of the days dives. After a safety stop, I had a total runtime of 58 minutes with a max depth of 94'.
Nearly an hour and a quarter later, we were back in the water, cwick and brother making up the lead team this time around. We dove off the same tanks so just headed up the mainline to about 1050'p where the dive was called and we turned around. While it was a simple dive, we all enjoyed the fun. Lots of traffic encountered on the way out(cmufieldhockey with two of her instructor buddies, and pennypue and wb416). Total dive time was 46 minutes with another max depth of 94'.
cwick and his brother Tony had to head back out to Tallahassee, but Ben and I headed up to Edd's for more gas and up town for lunch(Subway). A bit after 2 and three quarter hours later, we were back in the water. We headed up the mainline and just goofed around a bit by the first 't'. I forgot my cookie on the line(leaves a mission for Sunday!). Total dive time of 43 minutes, with another max depth of 94'.
After checking out the Sheriff's Dept and checking in at the hotel to get cleaned up a bit, a large group of us hit up the "new" Old Mexico. Old Mexico used to be one of the shops making up a strip of shops in one of the old buildings downtown Marianna. Now its about 1/2 mile West and on the south-side of Hwy90 in its very own building. Lots more parking, only real issue was that they hadn't regained thier liquor liscense yet! D'Oh! Lots of great stories and shinanigans, we ended up closing the place down.
Jackson Blue 2-17-8 Dive Report
Hit up Edd's early Sunday morning and picked up a deco-tank that I got rigged up. Figured I'd better get used to lugging one along since I'll need to use them before long. We were the first out to the park(IIRC) but others followed shortly afterwards. Dive plan was simple, straight up the goldline, keeping to the left this time at the first 't', then staying left at the 2nd 't'. I ran the primary and then Ben took the lead to set a comfortable pace. We made quick work out of the first 1200' as Ben can move pretty quickly in the water, after 1250' we slowed pace as I hadn't been any further previously - wanted more time to look around. 600psi ended up getting us a bit farther than 1600'p, so I was able to see the jumps off to Kings Bypass and Queens Bypass, two passages I hope to take advantage of in the not-so-distant future. Every bit of JB is quite awesome, I friggin love seeing more of it!
Not a bad 500th Dive We came back the same way without any incident. Ran across a couple teams before I pulled the primary and we hit the cavern for safety stops and an exit. Had a total runtime of 62 minutes with a max depth of 95'.
Another great day out on the pond, but the winds were picking up and storms were coming according to weather reports. I topped off my tanks again and headed out.
Morrison Update
Decided to stop by Morrison. The gate is moved back with concrete pilings blocking off anyone wanting to drive around the gate placement.
Just past the oldgate with the new, bulk parking area in view.
Where the old gate was...
Inland portion of the new boardwalk
Looking down to the spring from the boardwalk, notice they will be adding an extention out to the left, making a 'Y' in the boardwalk. The left trail will lead around the wetlands on the leftside of the basin it seems.
The crane in the basin...
figured I'd look for the spring run boat launch a bit. I went down the right fork leading to Morrison, and headed left down the third dirt road heading that way... It was the only one without a Posted No Trespassing sign. The road lead to several 4-ways, lots of unmarked intersections. There were severe thunderstorms on the way and I was in a FWD overloaded stationwagon, so I didn't push my luck into getting caught into a torrential downpour. I'll look again later when I have more time.
