Florida Springs Cavern Diving

[CaveSloth]

Is there a list of the best Cavern (not cave) dives in Florida springs somewhere? Here are the ones I have explored (I am Cavern certified):

1. Madison Blue
2. Blue Grotto
3. Jackson Blue
4. Vortex
5. Devil's Den
6. Ginnie Springs Ballroom

Similarly, what would be the (smaller) list of Open Water dives in Florida springs? I know Ginnie, Blue Grotto, Devils Den allow Open Water divers. According to the Ginnie website:

"Ginnie Cavern is among the handful of sites that experts consider sufficiently safe to allow exploration by divers who lack formal cavern or cave diver training."

So, "experts" What are the others?

 

[tursiops]

Troy and Orange Grove allow OW divers.
You'll find a full list at CaveAtlas.com » Cave Systems in United States.

 

[tbone1004]

@CaveSloth what do you personally consider your definition of "cavern" to be? Particularly as it relates to using sun as your primary source of light, secondary being your personal depth+penetration limit
Also, what about taking intro to cave which will give you a bit more freedom without getting too far

 

[PfcAJ]

Cavern: Peacock/ Orange Grove, Orange City Blue Springs, Cherokee, Buford, Emerald, Jug Hole.

Rainbow River is a nice OW dive, and Alexander Spring is purdy, too.

 

[PfcAJ]

"Ginnie Cavern is among the handful of sites that experts consider sufficiently safe to allow exploration by divers who lack formal cavern or cave diver training."

So, "experts" What are the others?

"Experts" as in "the Ginnie Springs bean counters who want to maximize the property's profits".

 

[tbone1004]

"Experts" as in "the Ginnie Springs bean counters who want to maximize the property's profits".

and PADI who wants to make sure that their students have nice clear water to dive in...

 

[CaveSloth]

@CaveSloth what do you personally consider your definition of "cavern" to be? Particularly as it relates to using sun as your primary source of light, secondary being your personal depth+penetration limit
Also, what about taking intro to cave which will give you a bit more freedom without getting too far

The kind of caverns I would be interested in exploring would be ones that are mostly the safer / easier ones. Nice and big, clear path to open water visible at all times, if I can't see open water, I can see at least plenty of light. Flashlight not necessary to find my way out, but recommended to explore cavern walls / fossils, etc... Not too deep etc...

And yes, certainly I plan to take Intro to Cave at some point... Eventually plan to get Full Cave. Could be years down the road though!

 

[Caveeagle]

Paradise Springs,
King Spring(Crystal River)

There is also a relatively small cavern zone in Little River Springs

I agree with tbone about taking Into to cave. I North FL it really opens up a lot of diving to cavern divers who might be tempted to push then cavern zone. I suppose it really depends on level of total experience, and comfort level. If you are totally new to overhead diving, I suggest staying in the cavern (sunlight) zone for a while.

 

[CaveSloth]

Troy and Orange Grove allow OW divers.
You'll find a full list at CaveAtlas.com » Cave Systems in United States.

Thanks! That link has exactly what I was looking for!!

 

[tbone1004]

The kind of caverns I would be interested in exploring would be ones that are mostly the safer / easier ones. Nice and big, clear path to open water visible at all times, if I can't see open water, I can see at least plenty of light. Flashlight not necessary to find my way out, but recommended to explore cavern walls / fossils, etc... Not too deep etc...

And yes, certainly I plan to take Intro to Cave at some point... Eventually plan to get Full Cave. Could be years down the road though!

I'd try to do intro sooner rather than later for the reasons listed above. Florida is really rather restrictive at the cavern level. Very different than Mexico.
Intro would allow you into the big shallow section at say JB where there is tons of stuff to look at but it's well past cavern restrictions. Same at Peaock at the end of the Blue Room on the Peanut side with TONS of fossils in the walls. Both of those are less than 300ft of linear penetration and less than 50ft deep, but well past cavern limits.