Devil's Ear

[GUEdiver]

Hello fellow photographers,

I just returned from three days at Ginnie Springs diving the Devil's cave system. Didn't take my new Oly C5050 inside the cave (my strobe did not arrive before my trip - Murphy's Law - it arrived when I got home). But here is a photo of my buddy at the edge of the Devil's Ear. The flooding in central FL has brought the Sante Fe River up, and the tannic river water mixes with the clear spring water, creating quite a hellish red appearance when you are under it looking up into the sun.

 

[wheezy]

That's pretty cool.... would love to see some more pics from that location.

kinda eerie if you ask me.....

 

[GUEdiver]

Here's another one for you. Enjoy!

Looking up from the Devil's Ear

 

[Dryglove]

Keep em coming....great pics!!

 

[GUEdiver]

Here's one shot inside the Ginnie Springs cavern. The blinding light on the right is one of the entrances; the other is my buddy's HID light in his hand. If you haven't been there, this cavern is one of four in north central Florida that is safe for open water divers to venture into. It gets a lot of use for training at all sorts of levels.

In Ginnie Cavern

 

[Dryglove]

GUEdiver once bubbled...
Here's one shot inside the Ginnie Springs cavern. The blinding light on the right is one of the entrances; the other is my buddy's HID light in his hand. If you haven't been there, this cavern is one of four in north central Florida that is safe for open water divers to venture into. It gets a lot of use for training at all sorts of levels.

In Ginnie Cavern

I doubt ill ever see the inside of a cave in scuba gear but i do love seeing the pictures.That was another great shot.

 

[GearHead]

Thanks for sharing, those are great pics!

Out of curiosity, what was the water temp out there? Our's just warmed up to 48 degrees!

 

[GUEdiver]

One of the great things about the Florida freshwater caves is that the water is 72 degrees F year-round. And usually, short of flood periods (like right now), the cave/spring water can be 200+ visibility. The drysuits are worn with just basic undergarments, mostly for comfort on longer dives and to provide backup buoyancy for the heavy double 104 tanks. Some folks who use lighter tanks dive wet in the caves. Yes, we are spoiled. But you can't be completely fooled; there are serious risks with zero vis, being lost, etc. if you are not properly trained.

 

[wheezy]

SIGHN ME UP!!! That looks like a lot of fun.... time to take a rebreather course while I'm at it

 

[GUEdiver]

On our last dive in the Devil's cave system on Tuesday, we were just about 270' from the exit (coming over the Lips into the Gallery if you've been in there), when two rebreather divers raced past us. They were down low, riding the full current on their way out. It was as if two sports cars blasted by us...very cool. They quickly rounded a bend and their lights faded away into the blackness. After exiting the cave from the Ear, we went over to the Eye and saw the two speedsters decompressing at 20'.

Attached is a picture of one of them from above. I don't know what kind of rebreather they were using, but the bottom of the harness said "Trango" if that means anything to anybody. Their gear showed wear (ceiling scrapes), so I'm guessing they have a good deal of experieince using the rebreathers in the cave.