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I have dove Morrison in October, part of Voctoberfest. The "No Diving" sign was up at the boat ramp, and I had the same reaction: Do they mean SCUBA? Or that folks should not dive out of the nearby trees into the shallow water? Or that you shouldn't swim at the boat ramp?
The boat ramp, and sign, are down a spur of a road, leading off to the "side" of the parking area as I recall, that goes to the river or watershed. Neither the ramp or the sign are visible to anyone parking in the lot or approaching the entrance to the Spring and going in the way we always have. When I was there, there was NO sign, along the direct path or at the entrance to the spring, saying "No Trespassing," or "No Diving," or any such thing. There was a gate, at the traditional spring entrance road, obstructing vehicular traffic down to the Spring and its beach; but pedestrian access from the new parking lot, outside the gate, was wide-open and with no indication that pedestrian access was forbidden.
So, we geared up in the parking lot and walked down and dove. Another dive party was also there.
Maybe there is some obscure rule or code that says we shouldn't have done that, but I am not aware of that. To me, it was a public place closed to vehicles.
I have heard the rumor that "they" were writing tickets for diving the spring, but was that for folks who "violated" the sign by entering at and swimming from the boat ramp? Also, what was the charge on the tickets? Was it criminal trespass, by way of a Notice to Appear? Or was it some form of civil citation with a fine only? Was there an offer of a hearing?
I emailed the Public Information Officer and heard this back from him:
Unfortunately, Morrison Springs is still not open. I'm waiting to hear from officials when to issue a media release of the opening have heard nothing to date. I understand that there are still state inspections and approvals that have to be granted before we can safely open the park. Please check our website in the coming weeks for an announcement: http://www.co.walton.fl.us. I'll try to get an update within the next week on the front page.
Morrison was flooded out. I sent a guy down to see how bad the vis was and he said it was dark water with near zero vis all the way down to the cavern enterence.
I taked to the guy from Parks and Rec about the "No Diving" signs. (this is the guy that put the signs up) The sign means no diving head first into the water. He said when they gave him the signs he questioned the management and they said these are ment in the same fasion as the ones at the county pools. Scuba diving is allowed he's been there when there were classes and everything.
The "park closed" signs mean don't use the facilities. I told him about the roumer of divers being ticketed and he said that they can't ticket you because you havent done anything wrong. Now, this is from the guy that installed the signs and he should know what the intent was. Walking through the park is acceptable as is parking at the boat ramp and swimming to the spring.
They are installing a bouy line for the spring head to keep boats out of the area. They are also installing ladders. The bouys and ladders are in the office to be installed and those are items that ARE NOT holding the opening up. DEP has to come out there and they've been putting the county off. The Parks and Rec dept is very frustrated and they know we are also.
When is the park opening? As soon as DEP gets on the stick and inspects the water quality of the drinking fountian. However from what the Parks and Rec guy said we can dive there.
Brain,
THANK you VERY much for this information! It's great that you thought to ask those questions when you were there on our behalf.
Sorry to hear your dive was blown.
Just a reminder since it has been a while since Morrison was open...you will save yourself some time if you check river levels before heading to Morrison. I have pasted the link below for the Morrison River levels.
Here is the graph for last week...as long as river levels are high...the basin will usually be flooded. Keep an eye on this graph it will save you a wasted trip.
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Originally Posted by SuPrBuGmAn
