Ryan Neely
Contributor
Okay. My wife and I are experienced open water divers who will be in northern Florida sometime in November (probably about right when DEMA will be taking place). She doesn't want to go to DEMA because she's afraid I'll find more things to spend money on. So, we're going to try to squeeze in a few days of diving instead. We are neither cave nor cavern certified.
We'll be in and around the Crystal River or High Springs area. I've been through the "Dive Sites" pinned post at the top of this forum and, to be honest, it's nine pages long ... only half of which seems to be about actual dive sites ... and half of those seem to focus on southern Florida. The remainder doesn't really have a lot of detail.
So, I'm looking for advice. You're an open water diver with zero cave training and no cavern experience. You'll be in northern Florida for a few days in November. You like quiet and peaceful dives and you're not hyper-focused on maximum depth or distance. (In point of fact, you're more interested in wildlife but you're curious about caverns just to see if the draw you have to undergo cave training is really worth it.) You might have two or three days to spend diving.
Where do you go? What do you consider that most visitors wouldn't?
(For what it's worth, we live in northern Minnesota where we dive regularly in 40 °F water most of the spring, summer, and fall ... and then we ice dive when we can ... so, cold water isn't really so much of an issue for us.)
Thanks for your thoughts in advance!
We'll be in and around the Crystal River or High Springs area. I've been through the "Dive Sites" pinned post at the top of this forum and, to be honest, it's nine pages long ... only half of which seems to be about actual dive sites ... and half of those seem to focus on southern Florida. The remainder doesn't really have a lot of detail.
So, I'm looking for advice. You're an open water diver with zero cave training and no cavern experience. You'll be in northern Florida for a few days in November. You like quiet and peaceful dives and you're not hyper-focused on maximum depth or distance. (In point of fact, you're more interested in wildlife but you're curious about caverns just to see if the draw you have to undergo cave training is really worth it.) You might have two or three days to spend diving.
Where do you go? What do you consider that most visitors wouldn't?
(For what it's worth, we live in northern Minnesota where we dive regularly in 40 °F water most of the spring, summer, and fall ... and then we ice dive when we can ... so, cold water isn't really so much of an issue for us.)
Thanks for your thoughts in advance!