Best West FL Divesites for a Pair of Newbies

[ChameleonAmy]

My fiance and I will be in western FL (Gainesville/Sarasota/Punta Gorda areas) in late March and are trying to find some good places to get in several dives. We're both recently certified, so we're hoping to find some shallow sites (20'-40') that are "easy" dives. Judging by their websites, some of the springs seem like good choices......Any recommendations/suggestions for us would be appreciated. :14: Thanks!

 

[ndavy]

If you're going to be around the gainesville area and are looking for a couple of great fairly shallow dives you will not go wrong with Ginnie Springs or Devils Den. The ballroom at Ginnie is awesome, isn't too deep (around 50 ft) and is pretty neat if you have never been diving in a cavern before. After diving the ballroom you can check out devil's ear and devil's eye, although you can't enter without cave training, and maybe drift down the spring run or the river if you like.
Devil's Den is really neat as well. It has lots of fossils and nifty rock formations. The fact that it is nearly a cave above the water with a little hole in the center for natural light to come through makes it pretty neat. Devil's Den goes down to nearly 60' if you really search hard for the deepest part of it and swim through some fairly tight swim throughs but can easily be enjoyed without dropping below 40'. If you go to either Devil's Den or Ginnie Springs bring a light. There are other good dives out there but those are two easy dives which typically have great vis and are really neat.

 

[capybara]

Ditto on the Devil's Den recommendation. It's a really cool site, both topside and underwater. They stocked the spring with huge catfish that you can feed. The manager was very helpful too. You should also think about going to Crystal River to snorkel with the manatees...lots of fun! Go with Birds Underwater, they were the best.