Royal Springs

I need information concerning diving in Royal Springs, Branford, Fl. The information I have found classifies this spot as dangerous for non-cave divers. Has anyone been there? I would like to hear your impression of the place. Anyone?

Happy Friday,

Seawitch2

Seawitch2:

I need information concerning diving in Royal Springs, Branford, Fl. The information I have found classifies this spot as dangerous for non-cave divers. Has anyone been there? I would like to hear your impression of the place. Anyone?

Happy Friday,

Seawitch2

Click to expand...

I dove there this past December, it's considered an OW spot, and I agree it is dangerous because of the big cavern entrance and the silt on the bottom. I'm suprised more people haven't gotten killed because they stir up the silt, then mistakenly swim into the cave.

However.....if you're good about staying off the bottom, get there before other divers trash the vis, and stay away from the cave entrance, it's worth doing once if you're an OW diver. There's lot's of fishies to look at and you can swim near the cave entrance (don't go in) and shine your light around.

The main problem with Royal is the silty bottom, and if you don't get there first it could be a worthless dive.

In the same area, Troy Springs is a great OW dive. You get to dive the 70 ffw basin, after doing a safety stop swim down the run and see the civil war wreck and then to the river interface and watch the big gar swim around, you can spend as much time as you like in the run (if the river levels are right) playing around some of the rock formations, etc. Again, get there first thing in the morning before that AOW class destroys the place.

Seawitch2:

I need information concerning diving in Royal Springs, Branford, Fl. The information I have found classifies this spot as dangerous for non-cave divers. Has anyone been there? I would like to hear your impression of the place. Anyone?

Happy Friday,

Seawitch2

Click to expand...

I did my cavern training there, but that's the last time I visited so my memory is rather sketchy.

As previously stated, it is an extremely silty dive and several OW divers have died there trying to explore the cave "just a little."

If you choose to visit this spot, remember your training and stay out of the areas that could get you in trouble.

Crawford's description is right on. (I dived it with him.) I would add that it is a very pretty basin, shallow, and with some turtles and interesting structure. It is also quite small, which I believe is why Crawford only described it as worth doing once--in a 20 minute dive you have seen every inch 3 times. I would also consider it to be a good photo op dive provided you (or anyone else) avoided kicking up the bottom.

There are so many worthwhile dives in that geographical area that this is one you could plan on and then pass up if it were crowded when you got there, or you could use it (as we did) as a final dive of the day--relaxed, and a good off-gassing depth.

Please do stay away from the cavern entrance. Most cave divers even avoid this cave as being too silty to be worth entering.

theskull

Thank you all for the information. Looks like Royal Spring is flooded and not diviable at the moment. Will definately try it at a later day. Thanks!!!

Seawitch2