Has anyone been to Vortex Springs?

[Luv2dive]

I saw an advertisement for a place called Vortex Springs in Northern FL and was wondering if anyone has been there. Sounds like a neat place. Is it like the cenotes in Mexico? I've never been in a Cenote but really want to dive one.

 

[JamesK]

Vortex is actually a really fun place to dive, atleast in my opinion. It is no where near a Cenote though. It is a nice size basin with a fairly decent cavern in it. They have added some nice swim throughs to add to the excitement. I have chasing my dive buddy around in those. The cavern is a great place to squeeze through some rocks and play with the eels. This site is used a LOT for training.

 

[Iguana Don]

But

It is more like diving in a swimming pool than anything else. It is a completely controlled environment. There is a cave, but unless you are cave cert, you can't get there.

Don't get me wrong, it's a nice dive, but I wouldn't do it again.

ID

 

[Rick Murchison]

I view Vortex as a training site. I take OW students there; I go there when I'm taking cave classes myself from time to time. As a "recreational dive site" I might go there once if I'd never been, but only once.
Now, if you're an instructor looking for a good training site to introduce your class to open water, Vortex is excellent, with several platforms and enough variety to make it interesting - we use it as a warm-up to the Gulf.
The facilities are superb - shelters, classrooms, campsites, picnic sites with BBQ grills, etc...
Rick

 

[smkscrn]

My first dive outside of a swimming pool was at vortex springs.
it's on the way to Panama City, I wouldn't advise making a special or long trip to dive here. Lots of student and training activity here!!