Just did Troy this past weekend. It was pretty neat and unique to all the other springs I've been to. First off, use your snorkel to swim out the run. There's very few spots that are deeper than 3 or 4 feet... most of it you can stand up in... ok, most of it I can stand up in. On the way out to the wreck, there looks to be a ledge you can swim under/through, but I didn't do that. From the looks of the banks, the water level was much lower than it has been in the past. Talking to one of the park rangers, the current level was pretty deep. She said something about during the summer you have to "crawl on your belly" to get to the wreck. Perhaps I'll come back to see what she's talking about.
The ribs and a few other pieces of the wreck are still there. Personally, I found it more impressive in person than any pictures I've seen of it. Other than turtles, there wasn't much to talk about. But there were plenty of turtles and from what we saw, there are going to be a whole lot more turtles real soon.
So the hole is mostly straight down... three sides are sheer drops and the fourth is a steep slope. Even though it was overcast, there was plenty of light, but the bottom looked eerie as we swam over it before descending. Once near the bottom... 65' or so, the side opposite of the slope has some cavern-like areas... not too big, but definitely an overhead environment. We hit 71' as our max depth.
The bottom has a few vents here and there, none of them very strong. There are also logs and branches throughout the springs and run. A word of caution though, if you even think about silting up the place, you will. There isn't much silt at the bottom, but you could easily go zero-vis getting there if you're not careful. Every rock, log and crevasse is covered in silt; and around the spring it's quite thick... out in the run it's thinner and dissipates quickly. Just be careful.
We arrived at the park around 10:30 and were the only ones there... but that soon changed. Before we left, I counted about 11 divers and one bubble watcher. Seems to be a pretty popular place. I'm looking forward to diving it again.
Ken
