Florida Fresh Water Dives Inquiry!

[diana_marce]

What are some of the best fresh water springs to go diving at in Florida?
I have been to Blue Grotto, Devil's Den, and Ginnie Springs, and would like to go somewhere new.
Thank you!

 

[Iknee]

Other than what you have listed, for an ow diver, Blue Spring near Orange City is pretty cool. It reminded me of Devil's Eye at Ginnie, but it has a greater outflow and is a bit wider. The drift dive afterwards is pretty cool as well. Due to the manatees, I do not believe they allow divers back in until March.

I have also dove Alexander Springs. It was shallow, but had some interesting rock pockets and aquatic life where the water bubbles through the sand. That is usually a good place to test out new equipment or basic skills. It was nice because it is not crowded.

The thing I liked about Blue Springs was that I was only charged a park entrance fee, making it a good place for multiple dives.

 

[flyandive]

If you are fairly comfortable in the water you should also check out Paradise Spring in Ocala. Definitely a must dive if you are not cavern and want to see what cavern/cave diving is like. Convinced me to start cave training.
Other than that what you mentioned plus Blue Spring in Orange City is pretty much it for open water divers. As the previous poster mentioned it us usually closed in the winter due to Manatees. Also check out Troy Spring and Manatee/Catfish spring. Not much to see but worth a trip once. They are a bit further northwest than Ginnie.

 

[Diver Lori]

Troy Springs and Rainbow River.

 

[ktomlinson]

The good news is that you can probably dive a couple dozen springs for the price of what it cost you to dove those three (don't get me wrong, I do enjoy diving those three, but I also like paying $4 per car to get in te state parks now that they eliminated the diving fees). I like to dive offset sinks are covered with duckweed, it gives off nice lighting. I would go dive orange grove at Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park.. Peacock is known for cave diving but OG is open to OW divers that aren't carrying lights. Catfish hotel (mentioned earlier) is the same and I enjoy it too. If you go to peacock you can also walk the interpretive trail that the north Florida springs alliance created. There are kiosks that show you what you are walking above, it was a nice hour walk.

 

[T. Bix]

has the lack of rain affected any of the central cave country outflows? I remember last year there were some posts about one of the springs flowing in or backwards due to some shift in the aquafir [sp?]