BrackaFish
Contributor
With Mrs Brackafish working on The Day of Love, I had a chance to sneak off and indulge in
my second love diving. Since my dive partner du jour hadn’t been to Paradise Springs we
decided to head on over to the Ocala/Silver Springs area. A short drive down a sandy road
and we arrived at the private spring. Signing the paperwork and handling over the fee of
$30 per diver, cash only got us thru the fence and into the setup area. A quick site briefing
to my buddy, setup the gear and we were ready to go.
Entry to spring. Water is down, but still over the lower steps
View of lower steps. Steps are going to be rebuilt if/when water level drops
Whale vertebrae just under the surface
New platform built in top room
View from wooden platform
One of the local inhabitants
So we did two dives to the cave entrance roughly 95 feet. Runtimes for the dives were 35
and 31 minutes with an SI of 50 minutes. Mix was 31%and 32%. Runtimes were shortened
due to the fact that my buddy had to work. Funny how life keeps interfering with diving.
We were the only team in the water and that was a nice gift from the dive gods as the
visibility was excellent.
Small area off main area at bottom. Large air bubble on ceiling is reflecting dive lights and
making odd patterns
View of entrance from 1/2 way down slope.
Paradise Springs is an open water site although it could be safely argued that it is also
overhead. The bottom and walls are covered in fine silt and being a low flow system it has the potential to be a silt bomb if you are not careful with buoyancy and where/how you are finning.
There is a few fish and crayfish to see, but not much else in the way of critters.
The is a restroom, tables for gear setup and shower/rinse area. There is no rentals or fills
and no food, so you need to bring everything with you. Site is open Wednesday through
Sunday. The lady that runs the place is super nice.
All in all it was another nice day Underwater.
my second love diving. Since my dive partner du jour hadn’t been to Paradise Springs we
decided to head on over to the Ocala/Silver Springs area. A short drive down a sandy road
and we arrived at the private spring. Signing the paperwork and handling over the fee of
$30 per diver, cash only got us thru the fence and into the setup area. A quick site briefing
to my buddy, setup the gear and we were ready to go.
Entry to spring. Water is down, but still over the lower steps
View of lower steps. Steps are going to be rebuilt if/when water level drops
Whale vertebrae just under the surface
New platform built in top room
View from wooden platform
One of the local inhabitants
So we did two dives to the cave entrance roughly 95 feet. Runtimes for the dives were 35
and 31 minutes with an SI of 50 minutes. Mix was 31%and 32%. Runtimes were shortened
due to the fact that my buddy had to work. Funny how life keeps interfering with diving.
We were the only team in the water and that was a nice gift from the dive gods as the
visibility was excellent.
Small area off main area at bottom. Large air bubble on ceiling is reflecting dive lights and
making odd patterns
View of entrance from 1/2 way down slope.
Paradise Springs is an open water site although it could be safely argued that it is also
overhead. The bottom and walls are covered in fine silt and being a low flow system it has the potential to be a silt bomb if you are not careful with buoyancy and where/how you are finning.
There is a few fish and crayfish to see, but not much else in the way of critters.
The is a restroom, tables for gear setup and shower/rinse area. There is no rentals or fills
and no food, so you need to bring everything with you. Site is open Wednesday through
Sunday. The lady that runs the place is super nice.
All in all it was another nice day Underwater.
