Local firefighter dies in off-duty diving accident - White, GA

[Rollin Bonz]

What is the viz typically like at the site? Is this an actual freshwater spring like is common in North FL or is the name of the site misleading? At those depths would it be cold and dark like a freshwater lake or more like a spring in term of temps and viz?

Cold and dark at depth. NOT a spring by Florida standards. Viz is wildly varied. It's usually bad somewhere down the water column. Depending on the recent temps, rain, water turn over, etc. the layer will move up and down. There is a layer in the 60-80 ft range that blocks out most of the light. At 100, there is almost no light. Below that, it may as well be a night dive. USUALLY viz is pretty good at depth, viz is limited by how far your light shines, but that's not always the case. I dive drysuit all season, but I'm always diving deep. 20ft temps get pretty warm in the summer. High 70s. But drop quickly. There's usually a 10 degree drop at the thermocline in the 25 foot range and another in the 60 foot range.48-52 degrees year around at depth.

 

[storm_chaser]

What is the viz typically like at the site? Is this an actual freshwater spring like is common in North FL or is the name of the site misleading? At those depths would it be cold and dark like a freshwater lake or more like a spring in term of temps and viz?

The viz is usually 3-5 feet in the winter and maybe 7-10 feet in the summer. Around this time of year the quarry is 47 - 55 degrees at depth.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Cold and dark at depth. NOT a spring by Florida standards. Viz is wildly varied. It's usually bad somewhere down the water column. Depending on the recent temps, rain, water turn over, etc. the layer will move up and down. There is a layer in the 60-80 ft range that blocks out most of the light. At 100, there is almost no light. Below that, it may as well be a night dive. USUALLY viz is pretty good at depth, viz is limited by how far your light shines, but that's not always the case. I dive drysuit all season, but I'm always diving deep. 20ft temps get pretty warm in the summer. High 70s. But drop quickly. There's usually a 10 degree drop at the thermocline in the 25 foot range and another in the 60 foot range.48-52 degrees year around at depth.

The viz is usually 3-5 feet in the winter and maybe 7-10 feet in the summer. Around this time of year the quarry is 47 - 55 degrees at depth.

Thank you both. That is what I had assumed. I was certified in a quarry in Indiana called Blue Springs. Yea, it wasn't a spring. I assumed the same here.

 

[Brojas]

As I’ve been told, the site was once a quarry (granite iirc) and has an old steam shovel on the opposite of the side with the main docks. Sometime around the turn of the 20th century (1920s) they hit a vein of water that could not be stopped and flooded the quarry. Hence the “springs” in Kraken Springs.

 

[Lorenzoid]

What is the viz typically like at the site? Is this an actual freshwater spring like is common in North FL or is the name of the site misleading? At those depths would it be cold and dark like a freshwater lake or more like a spring in term of temps and viz?

I have long wondered about their use of the word "spring." I believe it's a former quarry. I guess whatever source of groundwater keeps the thing filled is being referred to as a spring, though you would think most dive quarries could make that claim.

Others have described the conditions well. I have on multiple occasions driven 5+ hours from Atlanta to Florida for a day of diving to avoid having to do a training dive in a near-zero-vis quarry or lake. Three feet of vis doesn't meet my personal safety threshold for anything but, well, training to dive in near-zero vis. I guess due to the depth it is a good place for deep diving training, though.

edit: I was typing while Brojas posted above

 

[Brojas]

Going off what Lorenzoid, Rollin Bonz, and others have said combined with my own experiences, the quarry can get dark and deep quick. Outside of following bubbles and visual references (which can be tough in low vis water) it can be deceptively simple to get disoriented.

I don’t mean to be speculative of what happened, just describing my own experience of the site as a newish diver.

 

[Rollin Bonz]

I have long wondered about their use of the word "spring." I believe it's a former quarry. I guess whatever source of groundwater keeps the thing filled is being referred to as a spring, though you would think most dive quarries could make that claim.

Others have described the conditions well. I have on multiple occasions driven 5+ hours from Atlanta to Florida for a day of diving to avoid having to do a training dive in a near-zero-vis quarry or lake. Three feet of vis doesn't meet my personal safety threshold for anything but, well, training to dive in near-zero vis. I guess due to the depth it is a good place for deep diving training, though.

edit: I was typing while Brojas posted above

It's 45 minutes from my house, and previously had the option of a season pass (sadly no longer being offered). Thus I typically got 75-100 dives per year there. GREAT for training. Outside of currents and physical overhead (they have a gutted bus and a few small boats), you have to deal with the "best of" the worst conditions.

They CAN have excellent viz in the shallows on occasions however. Deepish dives, 60-80 foot range, on the walls can be visually stunning at times. But you can always find dark places, and if you disturb the muck on the bottom, you're going to have zero viz immediately and for a while.

 

[Lorenzoid]

It's 45 minutes from my house, and previously had the option of a season pass (sadly no longer being offered). Thus I typically got 75-100 dives per year there. GREAT for training. Outside of currents and physical overhead (they have a gutted bus and a few small boats), you have to deal with the "best of" the worst conditions.

As they say, it's good to train in the kind of environment you intend to dive in. I can't speak for anyone else, but if the vis is less than a body length or so, I'm calling the dive.

 

[Rollin Bonz]

As they say, it's good to train in the kind of environment you intend to dive in. I can't speak for anyone else, but if the vis is less than a body length or so, I'm calling the dive.

Meh, to each his own. I was certified in PCB. I then dove a solid year at Kraken Springs and other local quarries (which all have similar conditions to be honest) after I got certified. Went through AOW, Deep, Rescue there. After a year, I returned to PCB... and I felt like a diving GOD. My trim and buoyancy were ON POINT. I could literally hold in water position fa eva... and I was amazed that, at 100 plus feet, I could actually see without a light!

Like I said, you can usually find decent viz somewhere, and it's usually better deeper. That's why I'm so intimate with the bottom there. But, it can be an adventure. We've navigated to the Excavator @Brojas mentioned many a time basically by feel in 4-5 feet of viz. Drop to the bottom, navigate across the quarry in the dark but clear water, ascend to 45 feet on the far wall, where it shallows out and viz drops significantly, and proceed in 4-5 foot viz to locate it. You don't see it until you can literally reach out and touch it. It's probably 8 x 15 foot at the base and is about 35 feet tall.

 

[Rollin Bonz]

As they say, it's good to train in the kind of environment you intend to dive in. I can't speak for anyone else, but if the vis is less than a body length or so, I'm calling the dive.

I'd say don't dive in conditions worse than those you've trained in. Having trained in cold, deep, low viz conditions, I've never had any issues in shallow, warm, 100ft plus viz dives.