pdoege
Contributor
Hello -
I dove Blue Springs on Sunday.
Nice site. Blue Springs is a manatee refuge. So there are very strict rules on interaction with the manatees. Basically the rule is don't.
Anyway, the entrance to the springs is a medium walk down a path from the picnic area. I didn't have any troubles (me strong!) but some of the smaller divers complained about the exertion.
The water was around 72 degree F. I was diving my Tilos 3/2 mm suit and I thougth that the water was fine. Some of the women in the group were cold in a 5mm. There were free divers who were not wearing any suits.
There is a brisk swim against the current to get to the springs proper. Probably around 300 feet or so. This tired out some of the party, but I didn't have a problem with it. The current was pretty strong.
There was a mother manatee nursing her calf on the far side of the bowl. I made a point to give her a wide berth. The rest of my group got fairly close to her. I don't think that they had a good idea of how far the 50 foot limit actually is.
The spring itself is a really nice limestone opening in the center of a large bowl. The limestone has been weathered by the water and is really beautiful. The vis was greater 80'. Probably in the range of 150 - 200 feet of vis.
There is a "go no further without cave training" sign at about 80 foot into the spring. I stopped there. The surface was clearly visible from this point.
There are several smaller caverns off to the sides and I had a lot of fun checking them out. There were a lot of catfish and plecostomus . The plecos would let me approach to the point of touching them before slowly swimming away.
I wish that I had brought a camera, the view from the bottom of the spring was fantastic!
During my surface interval I spoke to some cave divers on vacation from St. Louis. They had not brought any gear with them. Sort of silly to come to FL without cave gear! If you guys are on the board, "Howdy!". I hope the rest of your vacation went well.
There were manatees between me and the exit when I got out. You are not allowed to approach within 50 feet of the manatees. I got out anyway, studiously ignoring the 4 foot baby manatee who came over to check me out.
The rangers wrote a citation to two other people who were diving in another group for approaching a manatee. Given the situation, I don't see how they could have avoided it. The ranger was really gung-ho and IMO overly aggressive in his citation writing.
Blue Springs is a great dive. I'll go back when the manatees are gone.
Peter Doege
I dove Blue Springs on Sunday.
Nice site. Blue Springs is a manatee refuge. So there are very strict rules on interaction with the manatees. Basically the rule is don't.
Anyway, the entrance to the springs is a medium walk down a path from the picnic area. I didn't have any troubles (me strong!) but some of the smaller divers complained about the exertion.
The water was around 72 degree F. I was diving my Tilos 3/2 mm suit and I thougth that the water was fine. Some of the women in the group were cold in a 5mm. There were free divers who were not wearing any suits.
There is a brisk swim against the current to get to the springs proper. Probably around 300 feet or so. This tired out some of the party, but I didn't have a problem with it. The current was pretty strong.
There was a mother manatee nursing her calf on the far side of the bowl. I made a point to give her a wide berth. The rest of my group got fairly close to her. I don't think that they had a good idea of how far the 50 foot limit actually is.
The spring itself is a really nice limestone opening in the center of a large bowl. The limestone has been weathered by the water and is really beautiful. The vis was greater 80'. Probably in the range of 150 - 200 feet of vis.
There is a "go no further without cave training" sign at about 80 foot into the spring. I stopped there. The surface was clearly visible from this point.
There are several smaller caverns off to the sides and I had a lot of fun checking them out. There were a lot of catfish and plecostomus . The plecos would let me approach to the point of touching them before slowly swimming away.
I wish that I had brought a camera, the view from the bottom of the spring was fantastic!
During my surface interval I spoke to some cave divers on vacation from St. Louis. They had not brought any gear with them. Sort of silly to come to FL without cave gear! If you guys are on the board, "Howdy!". I hope the rest of your vacation went well.
There were manatees between me and the exit when I got out. You are not allowed to approach within 50 feet of the manatees. I got out anyway, studiously ignoring the 4 foot baby manatee who came over to check me out.
The rangers wrote a citation to two other people who were diving in another group for approaching a manatee. Given the situation, I don't see how they could have avoided it. The ranger was really gung-ho and IMO overly aggressive in his citation writing.
Blue Springs is a great dive. I'll go back when the manatees are gone.
Peter Doege
