Merrit's Mill Trip Report

[WetHoss]

Well, Great weekend for diving and great diving was had by all that attended.

I started off at Vortex on Thursday and got with a few divers to do a few dives. Friday, I met up with Howard (philmottrek99) and did the cavern at Vortex and goofed with the play structures. Snorkled with an old freind who happend to be at the same place, same time!!!

Saturday we got on the boat, John T and wife Cassie T (not on SB...Yet!) and met Matt (SuPrBugMan) and Tom (FSUgly) for dives at Jackson Blue, Shangri-La, Twin Caves and Hole in the Wall as well as a lot of general diving the clear blue pond. Did very limited cavern and saw the most and largest crawfish I have ever seen in one place. They were up to 8" and they were hiding everywhere. The basin was beautiful and the vis was incredible. Well over 100' most of the time. Thanks to Edd Sorenson of Cave Venturers as he put up with us and even had a cookout where we scarfed lunch. He has a great shop, and I encourage anyone to give them a call to do a trip here. He and his cave folks were great, and treated us great!!! Saturday evening, we left and drove 50 miles to get in a Dusk to Dark dive at Morrison. The whole basin was crystal clear and the place was incredible. Beats the Tannic water I saw there last time I went. There were a lot of guzzling locals and we almost wittnessed a good fight. There was lots of disscussion about one gentlemans jail trip the day before!!!!
The dive was great, Darcy, Bugman, Nuttz and another couple of divers. Eels and Cats were abundant, and I unfortunately forgot the Cheezewhiz...
We ended the dive at night in the basin, and wow was in nice. Great diving all day. Cant get better than that.

Sunday, Matt, Darcy and I did a trip to Cypress and it was fantastic. Good caverm, great visibility, beautiful location. Got a few good photos, between camera problems, and learned my Wide lens dont work!! Had a great dive and let Darcy use my spare Nitrox tank, since she just got her Cert!!! Alright Girl!! Went back to the launch and dropped Darcy off, and Matt and I headed to Becton. Wasnt clear at the top., but down below it cleared nicely. The whole creek was clear. Overall it was a fantastic trip and I came out with 11 dives, and a lot of cavern and clearwater diving.

All the folks I did dives with were exceptional, and I would like to thank Matt, Darcy, Tom, Nuttz, John T, Cassie T and anyone I forgot, for a wonderful weekend.

Pretty soon, I hope to have a new buddy, as I saw the Judge and looks like the mean ex wont be able to keep my 15 year old away any longer. She is great, and will make an excellent diver.

I am posting some photos, Matt taking photos, Tom, Darcy and Matt, Dog in water, Tom, Cypress turtle, and others...Enjoy....

 

[SeaYoda]

Glad you guys had a good time. How was the Mill Pond for OW - as good as Morrison or Cypress or is it a one time visit?

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I definately wouldn't mind doing it again. Jackson Blue is safe enough for us to cavern dive, just gotta be sure not to go to far. I'd also recommend going early, before the cavers so we don't get in their way. ShangriLa has a nice little cavern and room to explore as OW divers, but you won't get far or deep at maybe 16' deep and probably about that far in before it restricts to cave and bends out of sunlights reach. The rest of the pond over the other springs we visited(Twin Caves and Hole in the Wall) had lots of fish and mudbugs to look at. The water was extremely clear, we just couldn't go deep as those two systems are silty and require equipment and training we(as OW divers) don't have. There are atleast two other sites to dive in the Mill Pond, Indian Washtub, which we looked for and failed to find; and Gator Hole which is supposed to be something we could do as OW divers but I've heard reports of bats and I'm not too fond of the name Otherwise, you could have just as much fun at this place with a mask and snorkel. Its a beautiful setting regardless.

I'm about to post my report in the FL Conch forum with a link to my pics there.

 

[FSUgly]

I have to agree that Merrit's Mill is worth visiting again. I had a really good time. Thanks a ton, Matt, for allowing me to ride along on the Miss Jellyfish. Surprisingly, she is a pretty nice little diving vessel I would also like to thank Hoss (cewarbin) for setting up this little gathering. It was good to see you again. It was also nice to meet, and dive with, two more really nice people (John T and Cassie T). Be sure to pass along to them that I'm glad I got to meet them. I didn't get to tell them myself, because I think they thought I was heading over to Morrison. BTW, those are some pretty nice pictures there. What would it take to get you to send me a few of the full size photos? Let me know...high speed email is smills01@comcast.net

Thanks again!