Question I'm coming to Florida, I'm overwhelmed by options, and I have read the pinned post on dive site locations.

[Ryan Neely]

Okay. My wife and I are experienced open water divers who will be in northern Florida sometime in November (probably about right when DEMA will be taking place). She doesn't want to go to DEMA because she's afraid I'll find more things to spend money on. So, we're going to try to squeeze in a few days of diving instead. We are neither cave nor cavern certified.

We'll be in and around the Crystal River or High Springs area. I've been through the "Dive Sites" pinned post at the top of this forum and, to be honest, it's nine pages long ... only half of which seems to be about actual dive sites ... and half of those seem to focus on southern Florida. The remainder doesn't really have a lot of detail.

So, I'm looking for advice. You're an open water diver with zero cave training and no cavern experience. You'll be in northern Florida for a few days in November. You like quiet and peaceful dives and you're not hyper-focused on maximum depth or distance. (In point of fact, you're more interested in wildlife but you're curious about caverns just to see if the draw you have to undergo cave training is really worth it.) You might have two or three days to spend diving.

Where do you go? What do you consider that most visitors wouldn't?

(For what it's worth, we live in northern Minnesota where we dive regularly in 40 °F water most of the spring, summer, and fall ... and then we ice dive when we can ... so, cold water isn't really so much of an issue for us.)

Thanks for your thoughts in advance!

 

[Floridaman79]

There is a youtube channel called "down to 60" that does a good job of providing relevant information in a condensed format. It would be worth a look to see if anything scratches the itch. Looks like Devils Den and Rainbow River wouldnt be too far from where you are staying. I havent been to either yet but they are on the bucket list.

 

[oldschool45]

My wife and I just came back from that area. I would see if you can snorkel with Manatees at Crystal River. I would hit Ginnie Springs again. Devil's Den (maybe), Manatee Spring + Catfish Hotel. Possibly Blue Grotto. We were planning on; Troy, Royal and Orange but they were browned out due to rain. Drift on Rainbow River if you can't do Manatees on Crystal. Most are shallow and not over a large area. Fanning Spring was a good get aclimated stop but not worth a full tank.

 

[Badger7]

Not a local, heck I'm up here in midwest too. From the perspective of a guy who dives much the same stuff you do year round, give this look for one of your dive days. I did some training here last time I was down in Florida and I'd go back next time I'm in the area. Its a cavern but with really high grade, so much though that if you're staying above 60', its not even really considered a cavern, as the overhead is still almost straight up. There's fish schools and a friendly turtle and if there isn't a really big OW class at the time, really good vis, and 72 degrees beats 38 degrees hands down. Here's a link to a video if you want to give it a quick watch:

 

[USdiver1]

Helpful hint: Visit Blue Grotto during the week, when you can be almost sure not to run into the week-end OW classes.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Take 2 days and get cavern certified.

 

[Rilelen]

Local here. All the good ocean diving in Florida (that is, worth it for a visitor!) is in Jupiter and south. If you don't want to go do a day of drift diving in Jupiter, you're looking at the north central Florida freshwater springs. There's a good map of them here.

I like the springs, and think they're a fun unique dive; definitely a different orientation than with ocean diving - it's not about the "big stuff", it's more appreciating the overall unique environment. Tropical spring-fed caverns, sinkholes, often off the beaten path in pine forests or tropical settings. If I were you, and I had 2-3 days, I would do Paradise, Buford, and either Ginnie Springs or Devil's Den.

If you're "cavern curious": Paradise (AOW required), Buford (advanced dive due to depth and overhead), Ginnie Ballroom, Devil's Den (do the swim-thrus). Alternatively, as Capt Jim suggested, consider taking a 2-day recreational cavern course - rec cavern courses here in Florida are typically taught over 2 days in standard single tank recreational gear with a few tweaks that your instructor will cover in class. If it's not your jam, no big loss, and you'll have a unique experience. If you do love it, you can think about progressing to tech gear and moving onto an actual cave course.

If you like shallow water and/or drifts: Fanning (esp in Nov is likely to have manatees), Alexander, Rainbow River (this is a drift dive).

Off the beaten path/woodsy: Royal, Orange Grove (in Peacock Springs State Park).

Other options: Manatee Springs (headspring + Catfish Hotel), Troy, Blue Grotto.

Some of these can be combined; for instance Devil's Den and Blue Grotto are across the street from each other (dive one in the AM, the other in the PM); Orange Grove, Royal, and Troy are all on the Suwannee and can be "chained" together into one long Suwannee dive day if you don't mind driving for your SI. But if your goal is to get a taste of caverns, and see if you like them, I really do recommend the recreational cavern course - it's designed to be exactly that, and perfectly fits your timeframe.

 

[jadairiii]

My wife and I just came back from that area. I would see if you can snorkel with Manatees at Crystal River. I would hit Ginnie Springs again. Devil's Den (maybe), Manatee Spring + Catfish Hotel. Possibly Blue Grotto. We were planning on; Troy, Royal and Orange but they were browned out due to rain. Drift on Rainbow River if you can't do Manatees on Crystal. Most are shallow and not over a large area. Fanning Spring was a good get aclimated stop but not worth a full tank.

This is pretty much on point, but I would say skip Catfish Hotel. Not much to see, I didnt enjoy it when I was an open water diver and still dont enjoy that part of Manatee was a full cave diver. I like the cave, but Catfish you can have.

 

[Morning-sea-star]

Okay. My wife and I are experienced open water divers who will be in northern Florida sometime in November (probably about right when DEMA will be taking place). She doesn't want to go to DEMA because she's afraid I'll find more things to spend money on. So, we're going to try to squeeze in a few days of diving instead. We are neither cave nor cavern certified.

We'll be in and around the Crystal River or High Springs area. I've been through the "Dive Sites" pinned post at the top of this forum and, to be honest, it's nine pages long ... only half of which seems to be about actual dive sites ... and half of those seem to focus on southern Florida. The remainder doesn't really have a lot of detail.

So, I'm looking for advice. You're an open water diver with zero cave training and no cavern experience. You'll be in northern Florida for a few days in November. You like quiet and peaceful dives and you're not hyper-focused on maximum depth or distance. (In point of fact, you're more interested in wildlife but you're curious about caverns just to see if the draw you have to undergo cave training is really worth it.) You might have two or three days to spend diving.

Where do you go? What do you consider that most visitors wouldn't?

(For what it's worth, we live in northern Minnesota where we dive regularly in 40 °F water most of the spring, summer, and fall ... and then we ice dive when we can ... so, cold water isn't really so much of an issue for us.)

Thanks for your thoughts in advance!

I second old school and jadarii. I am a local and dive here all the time. The vacation-worthy dives are going to be 1. Blue Grotto. Yes it’s a little pricey but so worth it. It’s so fun, grab turtle food at the shop and feed Virgil the turtle. The cavern is super fun to explore, bring a dive light (and it’s 100% not scary, just don’t go in a cave, go into the cavern). No cave cert needed. 2. Devils den. You have to at least go snorkel in it— it’s a beautiful cenote, Mexico vibes for redneck prices. To snorkel you need a res, for diving you don’t. Get to these places early to get in before others stir her up. Both blue grotto and devils den will also rent you equipment and tanks if you need it. 3. Crystal River — you have to snorkel with the manatees that time of year. I would honestly do this over a dive. Pick your coldest day to go, that’s when they pack in the spring. Skip the $100pp “manatee boats” and head to Hunter Spring kayaks to rent kayaks and paddle to three sisters spring. It’s easy and short. Along the way you will find manatees. Like others said, drift diving rainbow river is fun. You call the ferry ahead of time, they take you up river for like $10 and then you drift back down to the exit. This I would say is fun and pretty, but even just paddling or snorkeling it is fun. Catfish, while fun, looks like ****, it’s so polluted. I dive it bc there are only so many places to dive up here for free. But I wouldn’t tell you to put it on your vacay list unless you have time to kill and really wanna dive more. Going into what looks like a skanky hole covered in salvinia (not duckweed anymore) is pretty fun, but it’s not the prettiest dive. Ginnie Springs ballroom (a little spring on the Santa Fe) gets raved about, but every time I have been there, I have left—it’s an expensive party place. I wish divers or the state would buy it so it could stop being the local redneck drunk camp, but that’s just my opinion. If you wanna see real experiences of literally all of these places (not Ginnie), look at my Instagram, I have been to literally all of them the last couple months. Login • Instagram morningseastar is my handle.