Josh the diver
Contributor
Just moved to Gainesville Florida from Wisconsin. looking for recommendations on dive sites. I am interested in eventually pursuing cave diving training. Also looking for buddies.
Just moved to Gainesville Florida
- Thread starter Josh the diver
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You traded snow and cold and real seasons for humidity, heat, hurricanes, and all sorts of bugs?
Any of the springs that allow open water diving are good for you, including Ginnie and the ballroom. It’s a neat dive.
OP
Josh the diver
Contributor
Hi Josh, I live in Gainesville! Our LDS (Scuba Monkey) has a decently active dive club that meets once a month - they don't offer much (if any) technical training, but a good way to find buddies, esp on their Facebook group page. For tech training head up to High Springs or look into the many (many) cave and tech instructors in the area.
Our closest local ($$) dive sites are Blue Grotto, Devil's Den, and Ginnie. Paradise is also quite cool and privately owned, down in Ocala; all four will run you about $30-40 admission (tanks not included).
The state and county parks are more affordable; most of us get an annual pass. Near Gainesville we have Troy and Royal to the north, Manatee and Fanning to the west. Rainbow River, of course, for drift diving. Lots of other sites as well that are open to OW divers - see this awesome map that Peter Kibler put together: Local Dive Sites – Google My Maps
It lists most dive sites close to us, broken down into springs/cavern and cave sites.
And drop me a DM if you ever wanna hit up any of the springs and are looking for a buddy - I'm free weekends as well as Mondays & Wednesdays during the week. Enjoy, you've moved to an awesome area!
Our closest local ($$) dive sites are Blue Grotto, Devil's Den, and Ginnie. Paradise is also quite cool and privately owned, down in Ocala; all four will run you about $30-40 admission (tanks not included).
The state and county parks are more affordable; most of us get an annual pass. Near Gainesville we have Troy and Royal to the north, Manatee and Fanning to the west. Rainbow River, of course, for drift diving. Lots of other sites as well that are open to OW divers - see this awesome map that Peter Kibler put together: Local Dive Sites – Google My Maps
It lists most dive sites close to us, broken down into springs/cavern and cave sites.
And drop me a DM if you ever wanna hit up any of the springs and are looking for a buddy - I'm free weekends as well as Mondays & Wednesdays during the week. Enjoy, you've moved to an awesome area!
Gainesville? Working for or attending UF?
OP
Josh the diver
Contributor
neither. the company I work for has a branch office in the Gainesville area.
The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
I live on 10.82 acres out in SE Suwannee County, so welcome. If you like to build things, I belong to the Gainesville Hacker Space on 6th street and we have open house Every Tuesday at 7:00 pm. We have a few divers and we do go diving.
Interested in hitting Troy Spring this Saturday or Sunday? I think I'll be free and the park is open. It's about an 1:20 from downtown Gainesville.
Interested in hitting Troy Spring this Saturday or Sunday? I think I'll be free and the park is open. It's about an 1:20 from downtown Gainesville.
Interesting. I've not run into a single person who lives and works in Gainesville not affiliated with UF. It's not known as a hub of industry outside of the university.
Regardless, welcome to Florida!
OP
Josh the diver
Contributor
we do do work with UF. I work for a national building engineering consulting firm.
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