As I had threatened, I stopped by 8Buck's (Brandon) shop in Spring Hill- Down Under Scuba- to say hello on Thursday when I was in Spring Hill. Well, we were chatting a little & all of a sudden he asks if I want to dive on Friday. Since my day was free, I happily agreed & the next morning, off we went to Blue Grotto for my first freshwater & overhead environment dive.
Since it was Friday, we virtually had the place to ourselves, which was really nice. Two divers were in the water when we got there & about five others showed up a little later but, definitely not enough divers to silt the place up much. After Brandon thoroughly briefed me on the site, we geared up & went in the water. I was amazed at how clear it was, compared to the ocean. We dropped down into the cavern & went down to the left. I thought the rocks were pretty cool & enjoyed shining my flashlight into the crevasses & holes. We made our way down to the bottom- 100 feet & then slowly ascended- I thought it was so cool to look up toward the ever-expanding hole of blue that was the exit. When we eached the top, I looked up to the surface & spotted a turtle swimming lazily along. We also saw a few catfish & there were lots of inquisitive little fish swimming right up into my face while we did our safety stop.
After a one hour surface interval (with me shivering from cold the whole time), we went back in for our second dive. Brandon had trouble equalizing & so we never made it back into the cavern- we couldn't get past 30 feet- so we went up into the bell, which I thought was really neat. We made one more attempt but, it was not to be. Honestly, it suited me fine because I was so cold by that point that I don't know how much longer I would have lasted. The turtle that I saw on the first dive joined us on our safety stop, swimming right along side of us. I almost reached out to touch him but luckily Brandon warned me that they bite. Back to the surface where we quickly got out of our wetsuites & got dressed again- it was a chillier on the surface that day with very little sunshine so we drove back to Spring Hill stopping for lunch along the way. All & all a wonderful day & the hospitality Brandon showed me is so very typical of the diving community- just so very warm & accepting. Brandon, you must come down to my piece of paradise soon! Will I dive fresh water again? You betcha!
Since it was Friday, we virtually had the place to ourselves, which was really nice. Two divers were in the water when we got there & about five others showed up a little later but, definitely not enough divers to silt the place up much. After Brandon thoroughly briefed me on the site, we geared up & went in the water. I was amazed at how clear it was, compared to the ocean. We dropped down into the cavern & went down to the left. I thought the rocks were pretty cool & enjoyed shining my flashlight into the crevasses & holes. We made our way down to the bottom- 100 feet & then slowly ascended- I thought it was so cool to look up toward the ever-expanding hole of blue that was the exit. When we eached the top, I looked up to the surface & spotted a turtle swimming lazily along. We also saw a few catfish & there were lots of inquisitive little fish swimming right up into my face while we did our safety stop.
After a one hour surface interval (with me shivering from cold the whole time), we went back in for our second dive. Brandon had trouble equalizing & so we never made it back into the cavern- we couldn't get past 30 feet- so we went up into the bell, which I thought was really neat. We made one more attempt but, it was not to be. Honestly, it suited me fine because I was so cold by that point that I don't know how much longer I would have lasted. The turtle that I saw on the first dive joined us on our safety stop, swimming right along side of us. I almost reached out to touch him but luckily Brandon warned me that they bite. Back to the surface where we quickly got out of our wetsuites & got dressed again- it was a chillier on the surface that day with very little sunshine so we drove back to Spring Hill stopping for lunch along the way. All & all a wonderful day & the hospitality Brandon showed me is so very typical of the diving community- just so very warm & accepting. Brandon, you must come down to my piece of paradise soon! Will I dive fresh water again? You betcha!
