Looking for Fla fresh H2O Dive sites (West Coast)

[surfratforlife]

Anyone know of any neat fresh water dive sites by Tampa, Fla. I'm NOT certified for caves.

 

[The Kraken]

Get on the WWW and search for "Florida Springs". You'll find a bunch.

 

[Reel Crazy14]

weeki wachee springs maybe? Thats the nearest spring I know of

 

[H2Andy]

you can try Crystal River, various springs there, but King's Spring is really the
only one.

A bit further north is Manatee Spring, very nice as well.

 

[diverbob]

It may be a bit further than you want to drive, but I really enjoyed Paradise Springs. Its around the Ocala area.

 

[The Chairman]

You have Hudson's Grotto (NOT for the feint of heart) real close to you, or go dive in Weeki Wachi (Seeing mermaids there does NOT mean you are narced). Just up in the lower Ocala Forest there are Alexander Springs and Blue Spring... up 95 there are the Devil's Den, Blue Grotto and 40 fathom grotto... the former two are caverns, and the latter requires a guide (it's 240 ft deep).

 

[GrierHPharmD]

Here are some great links to freshwater sites. Many of the springs sites are associated with caves, so they're listed on cave diving web sites.

I might suggest Crystal River, that Andy mentioned above. King's Spring has a cavern that goes down to ~54 ffw. Blue Grotto and Devil's Den are near Williston, a little farther North and are pretty interesting. I personally like the Rainbow River drift dive, which is near Dunellon and Ginnie Springs, which has several caverns that are accessible with an OW certification. I might suggest looking through the posts here and under Private Trips. You'll find lots of useful info.

Good luck and safe ascents,
Grier

http://www.floridacaves.com/
http://www.underwaterflorida.homestead.com/springs.html
http://fn1.tfn.net/~springs/
http://www.kayakguide.com/RainbwSt.htm

 

[MichaelG]

You have Hudson's Grotto (NOT for the feint of heart) real close to you, or go dive in Weeki Wachi (Seeing mermaids there does NOT mean you are narced). Just up in the lower Ocala Forest there are Alexander Springs and Blue Spring... up 95 there are the Devil's Den, Blue Grotto and 40 fathom grotto... the former two are caverns, and the latter requires a guide (it's 240 ft deep).

I did not care too much for Alexander Springs. I thaught the area was too small and the sand it kicks up took me a week to get out of my equipment and my hair!

BTW, for anyone interested, I have photos of my Alexander Springs dive posted on the board.

--Michael G

 

[scubafool]

MichealG, you are dead on with the sand & grit observation. I swear that when I go diving there, I end up with grit on the backside of my eyeballs! It takes a minimum of 3 showers to get all of the particles out of my hair. My gear I rinse REALLY well that evening & just dive the rest of it out. But considering it is only - 25 minutes away & only cost $5 to dive there, I still dive there, especially to try out new gear & practice skills.

 

[The Chairman]

Two concepts... buoyancy control, and wear a Dee-Rag!