Hudson's Grotto...

[The Chairman]

OK, we went to this nice little Scuba shop (called Scuba West) south of Weeki Wachi. They have a grotto there that's about 100 yds across. They have an assortment of "wrecks" down there, a couple of boats, a motorcycle and a VW Microbus. It's deep too! We stayed mostly around 110' but it dips down to 145' in places. Here is the scoop...

Very low vis. At 40' you can't see sunlight (at 35' you can see a dull orange glow and that's it). If your buddy is further than 5' away and does NOT have his light pointed in your direction, he is invisible. With a light pointed in your direction, you might see the glow 10' away.

Silt. Lots and lots of incredibly fine silt. It's caked onto the guide lines, it is covering the wrecks. AND its almost invisible till you are too close to it. We went down this almost straight sided hole right by the wall... clear, clear clear. Then the bubbles went up and silt started raining down on us. We were silted out by our bubbles! But, since air was straight above us, we just followed the wall to the surface.

This is NOT a dive for the ill prepared or the faint of heart. They have guy lines and buoy lines and platforms at various depths. They have done quite a bit to make it enjoyable, but it is a "tense" dive, no matter how you cut the mustard. Divemasters only or be led by an experienced divemaster (1 to 1 ratio).

 

[dvrgaryc]

Good report, Netdoc. I wonder if the owners of that site have considered installing some kind of filtration system kind of like the one they used to have at Devil's Den. I remember before they had the filter system installed. it wouldn't take much to silt the place up. Now that most of the extra fine silt is gone, they don't run the system as much as they used to do.

 

[dive4funOften]

A friend of mine and I went to Hudson Grotto after we were diving Blue Grotto. On the way home we stopped. They let us in but were very strange guys. They seemed to be interested in why we were out diving alone all by our little selves! Anyway they said we could go ahead and dive. WE suited up and proceeded to go in. They stood watching us as we entered and did not have lights. They thought is was very funny that we surfaced after 10 min of braille diving in 40 ft of water. I did not think they were funny at all. When we got out they said oh did you not have a light? Pretty sick puppies if you ask me!

It could be a great location but the water is very tanic. I heard that it used to be clear but then the road was built and cut off the flow of a natural spring.

Has anyone had a good experience there?

 

[8buck]

Yes Pete we had an interesting dive today huh lol... It was an overall good dive it also has a haylocline?? wich was nice at times warm water and then you go up two feet and it was down right cold. The guy said it was also low tide. Also yes he said once a year they pump the silt out but after awhile the smell starts getting complaints from local shops around them. That bus, you used to be able to sit behind the steering wheel now the silt is almost 3/4 up the steering wheel. They sunk another boat and lost it. They thought it went nose first and kept going through the silt but pete and I ran across it on the north east wall of course after the fact we thoght about tying off to it so they could find it. They already made two dives with no luck. Nice dive but yes some advanced and navigation (compass) would be a good idea it is pitch black with out it you would get lost real quick...

 

[The Chairman]

the sulfer layer @ 90' and the warm salt water (halocline & reverse thermocline) at around 100'. The silt was bad, but I am not sure they can filter out the tanin that is in the water.

I would like to think that these are different owners now. They were very nice, cordial and helpful.

 

[Bob]

I have four dives there and each dive I've found conditions much as you guys have described. After a dive there last year, the smell on my wetsuit was so bad, it took forever to rinse out. Never again for me. The Hudson Grotto is a good place to have logged as a dive, but once you've been there, you've been there. In times past, Divers Supply in Tampa did their open water cert dives there. :tree: Bob

 

[AndyHasFins]

I finished my OW certifation dives at Hudson Grotto, and your description nailed it.

It was very, very spooky, but even as a newbie I thought it was sort of cool. It felt like swimming above a bottomless pit, and when looking down on other divers who were below me, I would imagine them being sucked into the abyss. Creepy place. It was like spacewalking.

The thermocline here was also very dramatic. On the surface it was nice and toasty warm (in late May), but as soon as you went below 20 feet it was cold, past 40 feet and the cold was almost unbearable.

When we finished our dive, and made it back to the surface at the training platform the first words out my fiance's mouth were "That was the coolest, scary thing I've ever done!"

I agreed, but i'm not sure I would dive here again.

The following week we found ourselves doing our first dives as certified OW divers in Cozumel, which was incredible.

 

[herman]

A buddy of mine and myself dove it last weekend. It's like diving in iced tea. The red color makes it a spooky dive. Not a place I would take a new diver. We did not venture deeper than 45 ft, too dark for me. It was an experience but don't think I will go back soon.

 

[Bob]

Herman,
I wish you'd have called me, I would have dived the Grotto in order to dive with you again. Did you dive Weeki Wachee while you were in ther area? :tree: Bob

 

[The Chairman]

Welcome to the finest forum, scuba or otherwise on the net. Hope to hear from you often!