Crystal River Florida & Nearby Diving

[Brian Snell]

I am going to be spending a week (sometime in March 2023) near Crystal River Florida. One of the things on my list is to get into the water with the manatees... apparently you aren't allowed to dive with them.

I'm wondering if it is worth lugging my dive gear along with my golf clubs, and need some input from those who have actual dive knowledge on all of these area dive sites:
Crystal River Dive
Rainbow River Dive
Manatee Springs Dive
Blue Grotto
Devils Den
Paradise Springs

Could you please rank those dive sites from best to worst, and from an advanced diver's / videographer's perspective?

Also, please include a couple of lines on each dive site about the critters, etc. substantiating the rank it got.


Thanks and Best Regards,
Brian Snell

 

[Belzelbub]

I've done several of those dives.

Crystal River: I'm assuming this is with the Manatees near Kings Bay. Pretty shallow, so no dive gear needed.
Rainbow River: I never dove this, but did snorkel, tube it a while back. Nice clear water.
Manatee Springs: Did OW dives at the main Spring, and I think Catfish Hotel. A few fish, but not a ton. There is some cave diving at this site, but if you aren't cave certified, stay out of those areas.
Blue Grotto: It's been closed for a while due to water clarity. Can get pretty deep here. They recently changed the rules, so the deepest parts are off limits unless you have cave (or maybe just cavern) certs. Can get pretty silty, so getting there early is a plus.
Devils Den: Need lights. Of those that you listed, this was probably the most fun. It doesn't get silty, some minor swim throughs. Doesn't get too deep.

Never did Paradise, so don't know.

All the sites I commented on are spring fed, so water will be around 72 year round. River spots may vary the farther you get from the spring.

Freshwater dives aren't generally my thing. We have a lot of pretty good salt water diving in the area. Might be better though to go a bit further south as the slope is very shallow in the gulf off of Crystal River. A bit less shallow off of Tampa Bay Area.

 

[Wallster]

I am going to be spending a week (sometime in March 2023) near Crystal River Florida. One of the things on my list is to get into the water with the manatees... apparently you aren't allowed to dive with them.

I'm wondering if it is worth lugging my dive gear along with my golf clubs, and need some input from those who have actual dive knowledge on all of these area dive sites:
Crystal River Dive
Rainbow River Dive
Manatee Springs Dive
Blue Grotto
Devils Den
Paradise Springs

Could you please rank those dive sites from best to worst, and from an advanced diver's / videographer's perspective?

Also, please include a couple of lines on each dive site about the critters, etc. substantiating the rank it got.


Thanks and Best Regards,
Brian Snell

I look at Crystal River and Rainbow as snorkeling opportunities with some manatees and fish. You can do a dive at King Springs in CR. Blue Grotto goes down to 90 feet and can be low vis. Devils Den is interesting if you like to look at fossils. Don't remember much about Paradise. Ginnie Springs, not on your list has great vis and is about 1 hr. North of CR. Manatee Springs is shallow (40') with good vis. There aren't a lot of critters to photograph at any of them. Springs will never be as good as Ocean Dives. YouTube has them all covered. Wallster

 

[Marie13]

Blue Grotto would best be described as a training site. Not much there. Expensive, too.

I’d add Ginnie to your list. Think you’d enjoy the Ballroom. You need a buddy. The only people who can solo at Ginnie are divers with full cave certification.