Headed to Ginnie Springs this weekend

[Dive-aholic]

Sweet. I am really looking forward to going.

I have no intentions on getting down to 100'. I am fresh off certification, and 60' sounds good enough for me, for now that is...

The whole purpse of this trip for us is to get as much time in the water as possible to get more comfortable.

If you're fresh off certification, you may want to wait a while before heading to Ginnie. The open water part of Ginnie is about 12' deep max. In order to get to the 60', you have to go into the cavern and swim back close to 100'. My advice is to not do this without appropriate training. OW divers have died in the Ginnie Ballroom.

 

[Hetland]

They rent out 8 mm's at Ginnie. Once you put this thing on, in July heat you have just 10 sec to go underwater, or you die from heat stroke.

We were comfortable in 3mm shorties/jackets, and one in our group wore a 5mm jump suit.

If you're fresh off certification, you may want to wait a while before heading to Ginnie. The open water part of Ginnie is about 12' deep max. In order to get to the 60', you have to go into the cavern and swim back close to 100'. My advice is to not do this without appropriate training. OW divers have died in the Ginnie Ballroom.

The flow rate at the entrance to Devil's Ear can be pretty sporty too (it's the one with the big log in the center). If you feel a heavy current, back off slowly. If you're not prepared, a heavy flow can push you into something hard, or even push you up, which could cause ascent problems.

 

[lsorenson]

I would not go as far as Rob's statement but to some degree I would agree since it would be your first time out. Ginnie's Ballroom is a good place to play if its not crowded its a closed system so its not like you could wander off into the caves... but you would be pretty limited in what you could comfortably do at Ginnie... at first!

Not saying I would skip Ginnie at all; but I would suggest starting at the devils den if its only you, your buddy, and neither have been to Ginnie before. Its as safe (as far as "safe" goes) with only divers (no swimming allowed), you can get some depth and really work on your technique e.g. buoyancy control! You could probably spend a couple of days there getting really comfortable.

Have a blast and let us know how it goes...

lee

 

[Flipper 6.5]

I am actually going to Ginnie this weekend to do my check out dive. I think there will be about 14 people in our group coming from Augusta, Ga. We are staying up in Lake city Fl.

 

[rostato]

I am actually going to Ginnie this weekend to do my check out dive. I think there will be about 14 people in our group coming from Augusta, Ga. We are staying up in Lake city Fl.

Maybe we'll see you there. I think we weregonna do ginnie on friday to avoid the weekend traffic, but maybe we will do it saturday. That way we have a full day at the devils den to get more comfortable. Doesnt matter to me either way.

Thanks for all the advice. We will definatly take it easy, and the good part is that my buddy and I both trust each other, and will not be afraid to call a dive if need be.

The weather looks good, and I have our camping, and scuba gear all ready to go. I want to leave NOW!

Oh, and we both have 5mm wetsuits, I think we'll be just fine. I used a 3mm farmer john at vortex springs for me open water cert, and was fine.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

FWIW, Ginnie Springs blows 71-72F water compared to Vortex's 68F water, so you should be plenty warm

 

[rostato]

FWIW, Ginnie Springs blows 71-72F water compared to Vortex's 68F water, so you should be plenty warm

Exactly. My computer said the water was 64 when we were at vortex... 72 will be nice!

 

[rostato]

I gotta say thanks to everyone who chimed in. We had an absolute blast and logged exactly 200 minutes of bubble time according to my computer.

We dove two tanks at ginnie spring on Friday, and we were mostly alone the entire day. Mostly just swimmers and snorkelers there.

Then we dove one tank at blue grotto and one at devils den at friday. Devils den was our favorite by far. Blue grotto was cool mainly for the depth involved, but one tank was enough.

We had initially planned on diving one more tank at Troy on Saturday, but decided against it because my buddy came up with a headache after devils den.

Regardless, we had a blast and will go back go the area again to dive some other springs. Next dive will be the GA aquarium.

I'll post a few pics later

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I never really understand how depth correlates with any sort of diving enjoyment.

 

[rostato]

The only reason I say that is because it was something we wanted to do. Now, that I have done it, it will not be a big deal. I had only been to 60ft until that point...


Here are a few pictures from Ginnie springs. I do not have a strobe for my camera yet, so ginne was the only place I was able to get some decent shots. This is just my Sony DSC-T77 camera in underwater mode.