Florida Springs

[TRACI]

So, having never done any diving at any springs in Florida, are there any recommendations on which locations are better than the next for beginners? I have about 150 dives, but have never did any diving having any kind of overhead environment.

[thor]

Ginnie Springs was a nice easy dive and a good intro to caverns/caves. It is quite beautiful. My wife is a bit claustrophobic and even she did not have any issues in entering the caves.

[TRACI]

Any opinions on Vortex? Looks like it is the closest drive for me.

[Bigake]

Traci:
Vortex is o.k. Usually pretty crowded on the weekends with classes.. Water is cool so be prepared for that.... Lots of fish and a few eels at the cave entrance.... Morrison Springs is just down the road, less than 10 miles to give you another option....

[rustyshakelford]

vortex is not a bad place. the three days i dove there, we were the only ones there. granted it was some of the worst flooding in april but it was nice. the vis was about 1' until we got to the entrance to the cavern. the next day it was crystal clear again. the water temp is 71 IIRC year round. they also have a great set up for air fills

brett

[divinginn]

Vortex is a nice cavern to start out with,just stay out of the cave without proper training. Max depth is 55 ft. Morrison is a very nice dive with a large cavern,I would say this is a more advanced dive due to the depth 95 ft and the size of the cavern,it gets pretty cavish back in the corners of the cavern. It would be best to dive Morrison with someone with experience there for the first few dives. We will be heading down there at the end of October for the Vortoberfest event at Vortex springs. I am going to try to hit Cypress springs on that trip too.

[DiverDurf]

Originally Posted by TRACI

So, having never done any diving at any springs in Florida, are there any recommendations on which locations are better than the next for beginners? I have about 150 dives, but have never did any diving having any kind of overhead environment.

You would probably enjoy treking on over to Devil's Den and Blue Grotto as well. Blue Grotto is wide open until you reach 60', then it dips down a rock face to about 95'-100' depending on the rainfall. Devil's Den is just down the road from there and is a really neat underground hole. You have to walk down a set of steps that is awesome in itself, and there are quite a few swim throughs all around the place. It only goes to around 63' max with most areas staying around the 35'-40'. It's nothing more than a large circled body of water but it's definitely something you won't see often.

Oh yeah, and Vortex Springs is "68 degrees".....not 71 as mentioned earlier. You have to adjust for an additional 10' to any of your planned dives to compensate for the cooler temps. A 3mm suit is not enough for some (I can make do), but I recommend a 5mm or 7mm for diving there. Bring a can of cheese whiz with you.....the fish are trained to eat that stuff up and you can get some pretty neat pictures.

[FishFood]

If you're driving all the way from Jefferson, drive the extra few hours and go over to the N Florida springs. Ginnie/Blue Grotto/Devils Den are all right there relativly close to each other. You can hit Vortex and Morrison either going or coming as they are right off the interstate... But dont drive 12-14 hours just for Vortex. It's an hour and a half away from me and I don't consider the drive worth it Morrison on the other hand is well worth it... IMO

[Scuba Pete]

Since nobody has said it yet. Please do not dive in any overhead envirnments without proper training. HAving said that there are a few places that cater to ow divers. You can go to the Ginnie ballroom. That was a great dive and got me interested in cavern/cave diving. There is the devils den, i have never been there so i cant tell you anything about that. There is Bonne Terre Mine in missouri if you are in that direction. There is also vortex which is alright. I did my Cavern class there. The basin is full of stuff to swim through and explore. The cavern is really pretty small. They have put some things in the cave specifically for ow divers to explore. They have a gate at the "entrance" to the cave portion. There are a few other springs that allow ow divers to dive in the basin but dont allow you to take lights with you. Please stay out of the cavern and cave before you have training. You may feel like you are in no danger but there are special skills that are needed to get yourself back out safely.

[Tekdivr]

Ginnie is definitely a nice cavern for beginner's, however I too would recommend a cavern class before venturing into some of these systems. Being prepared for this type of diving is highly recommended, even though most of these are safe for open water divers. If you ever get to Playa del Carmen, you've got to go on a guided Cenote dive. Having dove in the central Florida caves, I couldn't believe how beautiful the ones were in the Mexican Yucatan.