Diving Blue Grotto or Devil's Den?

[heelsfaninpa]

I am coming to the Crystal River area next Saturday on business. I thought while I was in the vicinity, I would dive Blue Grotto or Devil's Den. However, before I pack everything up, I have a couple of questions...

1) Which is the better of the two to dive?
2) Is there a buddy board for either location? I am coming alone, so I would definately need a buddy.

Thanks!

 

[I Dive]

Blue Grotto is overrated in my opinion, Devil's Den is much better. No buddy board specific to those areas I am aware of but posting in here should find you a bud. Also try posting up in the Greater Tampa Bay thread.

 

[Shcubasteve]

Do both in one afternoon

 

[Salmonboy97]

I agree with "do both" but if I had to choose one over the other it would be Blue Grotto. It is slightly better, but the staff is great at DD!
I will dive this with you if my gulf dive gets cancelled. I prolly wont know until Friday PM.

 

[Reef]

Devils Den hands down.

After one tank you will bored at Blue Grotto.

Devils Den offers a ton of swim throughs, and there is more to see.

The facilities are nicer at Devils Den, and they don't charge $12 a fill.

On the weekend Blue Grotto is typically packed with classes, and gets cloudy quick.

 

[Lee Taylor]

I agree with "do both". I did them both and it seems like it was on the same day. It was a while back. The day we arrived at Devils Den was a bad day. They were having some type of dry spell and the "Den" was almost dry. Before we paid, they warned us. It is a beautiful and interesting underground formation. The problem was that the water was very shallow that particular day. It was almost to the point of where if you had dive trouble all you had to do is stand up. LOTS of large catfish. Maybe call ahead with some questions prior to leaving on your trip. Ask about water depth, quality, etc.

The Grotto struck me as a beautiful swimming hole. It was a fun dive. It is a cavern. Very little life of any kind. It has a huge cavern/tunnel like formation that allows you to swim around a huge rock formation. The key here is that there is no direct access to the surface. If you had a problem you would have to swim sideways to get to the surface.

 

[heelsfaninpa]

I would love to do both in one day...as much diving as I can get in!
My plans are to get to Crystal River on Saturday late afternoon and then have all day Sunday to dive.

My new job has me come to this area once a month, so I intend to dive just about every time I am down.

If anyone is interested in diving, please shoot me an IM.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[cyberfed]

I like both, but it depends what you like.

Blue Grotto - large cavern and fairly deep (max depth is 95-100ft). It also has the 'air bell' at 30 feet. Blue Grotto feels warmer to me than DD. Even though looking back at my log book both locations are identical in temps +-1 degree.

Devils Den is shallow by comparison, max depth maybe 50-60 tops. Much darker, tons of swim throughs and rocks to check out. Make sure you dive within your training, stay where you can see ambient sunlight. Devils den has some HUGE catfish that are quite friendly. There are also numerous 'head stones' hidden around the cavern including an alien skullhead The very first time I dove DD I found an air pocket maybe 10 feet tall, big enough for 3 adults to get their entire head/shoulders out of the water, it was somewhere around 35 feet. I have yet to find it again so look for it if you go there
Don't breathe air its probably all CO2 , it was still cool to find.

I like diving deep so thats why i enjoy BG, its so huge you can hover around peace rock and just relax. Both shops do air fills on site and they are both around the same price 35-40 bucks.

If your a dark and cavern type person go to DD if you like deep open diving do BG. Assuming you can't do both.

Darnit..now I wish I could come! Still recovering from buford spring yesterday

 

[Fox-Cousteau]

I would love to do both in one day...as much diving as I can get in!
My plans are to get to Crystal River on Saturday late afternoon and then have all day Sunday to dive. Thanks for all the suggestions.

If you can get here by Saturday, morning, several of us are diving at Paradise Spring in Ocala. See post in "Lake Mary Dive Club" thread.

 

[Bob]

I would love to do both in one day...as much diving as I can get in!
My plans are to get to Crystal River on Saturday late afternoon and then have all day Sunday to dive.

My new job has me come to this area once a month, so I intend to dive just about every time I am down.

If anyone is interested in diving, please shoot me an IM.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

As you can see from the above posts, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I like both places, but I would suggest diving Blue Grotto first and diving Devils Den next. DD has much better restroom and gear washing facilities. I can't dive with this weekend because of prior committments, but the next time you're down here, shoot me a PM and we'll try to get together for a couple of dives. almtree: Bob