central florida update - 7-13-05

[jviehe]

On my tour down to the shuttle launch that of course didnt go off, I stopped by all the springs along the way.

Teleford - flooded
Peacock/OG - clear
Cow - clear
Royal - flooded
Little River - closed/flooded
Alexander - clear

Ill have some pics soon.

 

[simbrooks]

I thought Peacock would already be flooded out by the rain that has fallen. Sorry you like everyone else missed the shuttle, maybe it'll take off on saturday?

Are you still free next weekend for the Vortex meet up?

 

[Scuba_Dad]

I thought Peacock would already be flooded out by the rain that has fallen. Sorry you like everyone else missed the shuttle, maybe it'll take off on saturday?

Are you still free next weekend for the Vortex meet up?

The shuttle graciously moved off of Saturday, so I can dive. As of this afternoon, they said no earlier than Sunday... That's wishful thinking...

Hopefully, I'll be diving both Saturday in WPB, and possibly Sunday in a spring with Riley (my 11 yr old).

Al

 

[jviehe]

Heres some more report from my trip.

Alexander Spring

First of all, its in the middle of nowhere,fl, otherwise known as Astor Park. Its a national park, so your state annual pass does not get you in, and I paid $5.35. They take your c-card, and give you a wristband, and you get the card back on the way out. On the upside, solo diving is allowed, or at least they didnt ask me if I had a buddy.

Once I pulled up to the spring, and scouted ahead, I realized the walk to the water was a long one. There is a place to offload canoes, which is still a walk from the parking lot, as you can see from the attached sattelite overhead. Its about a 200yrd walk. Bring a dolly if you have one.

So, after setting up, I walked down to the water and hopped in. Its pretty shallow over most of the basin, and only the spring are drops down to 30ft or so. There are several places where the water flows out, and one particular has a massive flow. I actually saw it blow up a 20pd rock. A diver caught in this upflow would be shot to the surface. There is also a short cavern in another area that goes back 20ft, then turns into at least a sidemount cave. But its fun to poke around in, and a diver can fit all the way in and turn around easily. After playing in the basin a bit, someone managed to cause a landslide into the main spring vent, causing a silt out of most of the deeper spring area. It was raining sand.

So, I swam around the basin looking for animals, and then headed home. In all, this is a nice 1/2 tank dive if youve never done it. Probably a great place to practice or teach also.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Thanks for the report, I've read a few smaller reports on Alexander, but not in as much detail. Sounds like its worth checking out atleast once.

 

[simbrooks]

Alexander Spring

First of all, its in the middle of nowhere,fl, otherwise known as Astor Park. Its a national park, so your state annual pass does not get you in, and I paid $5.35. They take your c-card, and give you a wristband, and you get the card back on the way out. On the upside, solo diving is allowed, or at least they didnt ask me if I had a buddy.

No buddy required, middle of the Ocala National Forest, hence Federal land, different rules - middle of nowhere.

Once I pulled up to the spring, and scouted ahead, I realized the walk to the water was a long one. There is a place to offload canoes, which is still a walk from the parking lot, as you can see from the attached sattelite overhead. Its about a 200yrd walk. Bring a dolly if you have one.

Wuss, the walk isnt half as far as Blue Spring (Orange City) or what i have heard at Itchentucknee.

So, after setting up, I walked down to the water and hopped in. Its pretty shallow over most of the basin, and only the spring are drops down to 30ft or so. There are several places where the water flows out, and one particular has a massive flow. I actually saw it blow up a 20pd rock. A diver caught in this upflow would be shot to the surface. There is also a short cavern in another area that goes back 20ft, then turns into at least a sidemount cave. But its fun to poke around in, and a diver can fit all the way in and turn around easily. After playing in the basin a bit, someone managed to cause a landslide into the main spring vent, causing a silt out of most of the deeper spring area. It was raining sand.

So, I swam around the basin looking for animals, and then headed home. In all, this is a nice 1/2 tank dive if youve never done it. Probably a great place to practice or teach also.

The "cave" is actually just a rock in the centre of a short U-shaped tube that runs around the back of the rock. The cave itself is the boil with all the flow coming out, i have heard that a long time back people no mounted it down to 120ft, but they dont like you doing that nowadays.

It is ALWAYS raining sand, no matter how short your hair you'll get some stuck in there. You can just about squeeze a tank worth of diving out of there, its not bad for training, either as an instructor/student or self-training/practice with a buddy. You can snorkel for ages on the banks looking at the animals in the reeds, just watch out for the line that ends the swimming area - the park rangers are just as bad here about the swimming area as in state parks.

 

[scubafool]

Heres some more report from my trip.

Alexander Spring

First of all, its in the middle of nowhere,fl, otherwise known as Astor Park. Its a national park, so your state annual pass does not get you in, and I paid $5.35. They take your c-card, and give you a wristband, and you get the card back on the way out. On the upside, solo diving is allowed, or at least they didnt ask me if I had a buddy.

Once I pulled up to the spring, and scouted ahead, I realized the walk to the water was a long one. There is a place to offload canoes, which is still a walk from the parking lot, as you can see from the attached sattelite overhead. Its about a 200yrd walk. Bring a dolly if you have one.

So, after setting up, I walked down to the water and hopped in. Its pretty shallow over most of the basin, and only the spring are drops down to 30ft or so. There are several places where the water flows out, and one particular has a massive flow. I actually saw it blow up a 20pd rock. A diver caught in this upflow would be shot to the surface. There is also a short cavern in another area that goes back 20ft, then turns into at least a sidemount cave. But its fun to poke around in, and a diver can fit all the way in and turn around easily. After playing in the basin a bit, someone managed to cause a landslide into the main spring vent, causing a silt out of most of the deeper spring area. It was raining sand.

So, I swam around the basin looking for animals, and then headed home. In all, this is a nice 1/2 tank dive if youve never done it. Probably a great place to practice or teach also.

Ya just gotta love this place. If you wanna dive Alexander with a pseudo-official, experienced, Alexander Springs diver, PM me, lol.

 

[H2Andy]

The shuttle graciously moved off of Saturday, so I can dive. As of this afternoon, they said no earlier than Sunday... That's wishful thinking...

yeah... i'd say...

i'm sorry, but NASA is not facing up to the problem they have on their hads.
They'll need a minimum of 4-5 days AFTER they find the problem, and they still haven't found the problem.

and that's assuming the problem is an installation/part malfunction and not a design
issue when they discover it


jviehe, i agree with you. Alexander Springs is a dive i did once and probably will
never do again... not much there =(

 

[jviehe]

Actually, that cave had some more room to go when you take a right, though itd be sidemount. Itd be interesting to see what around that tight area.

 

[scubafool]

Yeah, the flow coming from the right is a clear indication that there is "going" cave over there. But I don't think that even sidemount is gonna get you there. A good push for an official exploration, but the front gate isn't too keen about us "normal" divers getting into the overhead areas.