Crystal River?

Have heard lots of people in the Orlando area talk about Crystal River and am thinking about doing a trip there on Friday.

Any details?

Is the diving good?

Do you have to go through a dive shop/charter outfit?

Things to see?

Length of dive?

Thanks!

You will need a boat in Crystal River. The best option is to go through a shop. There's not much diving to be done in Crystal River. Usually, between October and May, you can snorkel with the manatees. The shops will also take you to King Cavern, but I wouldn't suggest that for someone with limited experience. It's an overhead dive and should only be done by those with overhead training. Another great dive in the area is Rainbow River, located about 20 minutes from Crystal River. Great visibility and lots to see. It's only about 20' deep so you can stay down for quite some time.

There is a lot to dive around Crystal River. King Springs, Three Sisters springs, and quite a few others. No, you don't have to go through a dive shop, but the caveat to that is; you have to know the spring locations. Quite a few are shown on Google Earth, just pan around and record the GPS locations for future use.

King Springs is the big attraction; if you've never seen it, it might be interesting. Not too deep; maybe 30 feet or so if you don't go into the cavern. It's usually very crowded as it's popular with OW checkout groups.

Our group went to Crystal River a couple months ago. You will need a boat to get to the locations but they are easy to find and most anyone at the ramps can give you directions. As far as the diving......At King Spring, alge blooms were bad on the surface so vis was only about five feet till you got down close to the cavern "room". Three Sisters is crowded with snorklers especially on the weekends and is very shallow. Understand, this is only my opinion and I'm sure others may disagree but it's currently not on my "repeat" list. On the upside, we rented our tanks at the Crystal Lodge Dive Center behind the Best Western and the folks there were very nice.

The vis has been poor at Kings Spring, the main dive location this Summer. If you don't have a boat, you can rent one from Crystal Lodge Dive Center, as well.