Taking a multi-day trip to the Springs

[MrChen]

I've never been to the springs. I'm not cavern or cave certified. I'm meeting my cousin who's driving down from SC. Our plan is to arrive mid day on a Thursday and leave Sunday morning (Nov 9-12). We're both AOW/Nitrox certified.

What do we want out of the extended weekend trip? My main goal is to do some new diving which I've never done before and meet up with my cousin whom I only get to see a couple of times a year. I feel like the springs are very different than the SE Florida drift and shore diving I'm used to. We understand that we won't be cave diving and we are only interested in diving safely within the limits of our training and experience.

Things I could bring:
DSLR camera, is it worth bringing? I usually do super macro photography and can do some wide angle.
DPV, would be fun to play on if there isn't much else to see or do, maybe in a river?
GoPro, take video.

I've read a bunch of posts, websites, and watched videos about the different springs. I'm not sure where to go on which days and would love advice from those who are more familiar with the sites. Many of my dive buddies have said the diving won't be as fun as what I do in SE Florida. I feel like because it's new and different, the experience is one I can enjoy and check off the bucket list. I own 4 120HP, 2 80AL, and 2 pony tanks which I'll bring for us to use. Some of the feedback I hope to get is, don't go here on Saturday because it's too busy and you'll enjoy site X more on Friday and Saturdays are a non-issue at site Y. Or feedback like, you will want to do at least 2 dives at site X, so that won't work on Thursday. Other good feedback could be, you'll want to plan for at least 4 hours at site X, so get there early if you plan to dive another location later in the day. I've also seen conflicting details on whether sites require a reservation or not. If a site requires a reservation, please help clarify.

This is the list of sites we've come up with so far:
Ginnie Springs
Devil's Den
Alexander Springs
Blue Grotto
<open to other suggestions>

If you were to arrive Thursday between 12-2pm, where would you go for a dive? What about Friday and Saturday?

Here's a sample itinerary:
Thursday afternoon: Alexander Springs
Friday morning: Devil's Den
Friday afternoon: Blue Grotto
Saturday: Do multiple dives at Ginnie to experience the multiple options (Ballroom, Santa Fe River, Devil's Spring)

Thanks!

 

[The Chairman]

Visit the Civil war wreck of the CS Madison in Troy Springs. Make sure to pay homage to the Suwannee River. I know you've sung the song!
Tube down the Itchetucknee Springs.
Blue Spring near Orange City is not too far from Alexander. It closes to swimming and diving from the middle of November to the first of March due to a manatee infestation.
Eat at Cedar Key and watch the sunset.
Best burgers and Malted shakes are at Bev's Burgers in High Springs.
Best Sushi and Asian cuisine is at Red Ginger in Lake City
Best Mexican is El Cocina in Trenton. Bonus: I used to live there back in '63.
Best Pizza is Leonardo's at the Millhopper strip mall. For that matter, the Devil's Millhopper is a fun hike.

 

[NitroxSam]

Lived in Gainesville for several years in the 80's-90's. Looks like a good itinerary, and I 2nd everything the Chairman said as well.

 

[MrChen]

Visit the Civil war wreck of the CS Madison in Troy Springs. Make sure to pay homage to the Suwannee River. I know you've sung the song!
Tube down the Itchetucknee Springs.
Blue Spring near Orange City is not too far from Alexander. It closes to swimming and diving from the middle of November to the first of March due to a manatee infestation.
Eat at Cedar Key and watch the sunset.
Best burgers and Malted shakes are at Bev's Burgers in High Springs.
Best Sushi and Asian cuisine is at Red Ginger in Lake City
Best Mexican is El Cocina in Trenton. Bonus: I used to live there back in '63.
Best Pizza is Leonardo's at the Millhopper strip mall. For that matter, the Devil's Millhopper is a fun hike.

Would you go to Troy or Blue Spring over one of the other spots I've mentioned?

 

[greeniguana]

Ginnie will be much more enjoyable on a weekday.

 

[Wibble]

Ginnie will be much more enjoyable on a weekday.

Weekends at Ginnie; lots of people, noise of Latino *rap music, a uniquely unplumbed depth of auditory experience accompanied with the gentle waft of exotic fragrances. A fun experience.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Ginnie will be much more enjoyable on a weekday.

Weekends at Ginnie; lots of people, noise of Latino *rap music, a uniquely unplumbed depth of auditory experience accompanied with the gentle waft of exotic fragrances. A fun experience.

This time of year it isn't that bad.

 

[MrVegas]

I did something similar over Thanksgiving in 2019. Our family had a blast. We stayed in one of the trailers at Blue Grotto. This was the itinerary:

Fly to Gainesville on Wednesday morning, rent tanks and weights at Blue Grotto, dive Devil's Den in the afternoon.
Thursday (Thanksgiving) -- dive at Blue Grotto. Morning dive had the place all to ourselves. Did a swing down through the bottom and back up on the first dive, then did a short second dive to use up the rest of that air spending quality time with and feeding Virgil the Turtle. Did a third dive down through the bottom again in the afternoon. (Based on posts here, there is now a grim reaper sign and the line has been removed for the "cave" part of the bottom of the site. Personally, I think that's a bit much, but I am guessing their insurance company made them do it.)
Friday -- dove Paradise Springs near Ocala. (That one you want to make contact in advance.) We were the only ones there. Lots of fun.
Saturday -- Manatee snorkel early morning at Crystal River. Coldest I've ever been, but really cool experience. Note: we rented the 3mm wetsuits there in order to give our 7mm a chance to dry out before we flew out on Sunday. Seriously would recommend 7mm, hood, and gloves if you are doing the early morning snorkel in November.)
Sunday -- actually, just by accident, did the Devil's Milhopper hike the Chairman recommended before we got on the plane. Pretty cool place to see.

We had a good time and maybe someday will do it again. Part of the awesomeness of the trip was that we had Blue Grotto and Paradise Springs to ourselves. However, that Saturday after Thanksgiving, Blue Grotto was pretty crowded. We didn't do Ginnie, so that might be a future target. However, I will say that if that area was going to be a regular target, it would probably need a cave certification to stay interesting. I do want to dive Buford Sink someday.

Edit -- forget to mention we saw the Mermaid show at Weeki Wachi on Saturday afternoon. That was ridiculous fun.

 

[tarponchik]

From my perspective, going deep is boring: limestone, limestone, limestone...

I've enjoyed snorkeling and diving in some springs and rivers, like Rainbow River, Blue Springs, Merrits Mill Pond, etc, but such places got too crowded. Blue Springs Park near Marianna used to be empty even 10 years ago so we had to ask for the lock code to get in; but in 2021 it looked like half of Mexico decided to have BBQ in there, and the pond was packed with fat guys on motor boats and morons on jet skis. The Blue Springs (the State Park one) used to be empty and you could swim along schools of huge gars who paid almost no attention to you. Now, there are so many people in the springs just sitting there that the gars were forced out. Couple more years and Florida will look like Gaza Strip, too many people squeezed in a tight spot.

 

[MrChen]

Visit the Civil war wreck of the CS Madison in Troy Springs. Make sure to pay homage to the Suwannee River. I know you've sung the song!

I was born and raised in Cali, I honestly have no idea what you're referring to.