scubafool
Contributor
First, a little background info. Ginnie Springs is a commercial dive park and campground situated on the banks of the beautiful Santa Fe River in North Florida. The park has land access to 7 different springs, two of which lead to one of the most widely known divable cave systems in the world. The place attracts many, many thousands of visitor every year. Unfortunately, many of the visitors think that the river is a rather dandy trash can, and as a result, anyone drift diving the river in the past would be greeted by a disheartening amount of garbage on the river bottom.
Fortunately, the owners and managers of Ginnie Springs have dedicated themselves to a serious effort to clean up the section of river that borders their property. Earlier this summer, I took part in a clean up dive there, during which I personally removed six large bags of trash. After that, Ginnie Springs arranged several more cleanup dives throughout the summer.
A group of us ScubaBoarders get together for a weekend of camping and diving at Ginnie Springs twice a year, and everyone readily agreed to include another clean up dive in our itinerary during our latest get together, which was held this last weekend. The amount of trash that had been removed in the interim was incredible. On the first cleanup that I was a part of, a group of ~ 15 divers filled 4 canoes with trash. On the latest cleanup, 27 of us only managed to fill ONE canoe with trash, and it required a lot of hunting around to accomplish that. The difference that Ginnie Springs has made in such a short time is really noteworthy.
Such a commitment to the natural beauty and ecological health of the river while operating a for profit enterprise with the river and springs as the main attraction shows foresite that is all too lacking in today's business enviroment. All of this while opening up one of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen to be enjoyed by the general public.
Kudos to you, Ginnie Springs.
Fortunately, the owners and managers of Ginnie Springs have dedicated themselves to a serious effort to clean up the section of river that borders their property. Earlier this summer, I took part in a clean up dive there, during which I personally removed six large bags of trash. After that, Ginnie Springs arranged several more cleanup dives throughout the summer.
A group of us ScubaBoarders get together for a weekend of camping and diving at Ginnie Springs twice a year, and everyone readily agreed to include another clean up dive in our itinerary during our latest get together, which was held this last weekend. The amount of trash that had been removed in the interim was incredible. On the first cleanup that I was a part of, a group of ~ 15 divers filled 4 canoes with trash. On the latest cleanup, 27 of us only managed to fill ONE canoe with trash, and it required a lot of hunting around to accomplish that. The difference that Ginnie Springs has made in such a short time is really noteworthy.
Such a commitment to the natural beauty and ecological health of the river while operating a for profit enterprise with the river and springs as the main attraction shows foresite that is all too lacking in today's business enviroment. All of this while opening up one of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen to be enjoyed by the general public.
Kudos to you, Ginnie Springs.
My understanding is that a group will be diving again on Nov 4th, SOUTH of the boat ramp where we were. This is NOT Ginnie supported, but is a cleanup in a bad area nonetheless. I was still impressed that we removd all that garbage. I actually had to dig trash out of the sand and reach under stumps and downed trees to get MOST of my bag-o-trash. Now if we can make a dent in the number of bottlecaps down there, we'll be seriously cleaning up. 
