Mill Pond diving questions

[Dark Eternal]

I will be in Florida in early March and want to get some diving in. Ive been to Vortex, and will be going back there for sure, and if its open will check out Morrison also. However is there any diving in Mill Pond that is non cave? Caverns are great, such as Morrison, but due to no full cave cert yet that is my limit for now. I have read that some of the caves have large cavern entrances? Is there anything to see in the open water at all? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Dive-aholic]

Mill Pond is all pretty shallow. You'll be hard pressed to find 15' depth anywhere outside a cavern. Most of it is in the 8' range. However, if you were cavern certified, Jackson Blue has one of the most beautiful caverns you'll see. Why not take a cavern class while you're here?

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

A group of us(all OW at the time) went out there and pretty much stayed in OW the entire time while enjoying ourselves quite a bit. As Dive-Aholic stated, the pond is shallow, but there is alot of life within and crystal clear water to aid in the viewing of that life. Lots of bass, bream, snails, vegetation(more than you'll ever want to see again), turtles, and tons and tons of crawfish. If you've ever swam up the run at Morrison and had a good time - diving OW in the Mill Pond will likely be right up your alley.

You'll definately want to stay out of the caverns at Hole in the Wall and Twin Cave, they are silty and are very unforgiving to those that aren't trained. ShangriLa has a small cavern, with a rocky bottom(no silt) that can be pretty safe as long as you have enough sense to not go into the tight cave poking in from the back of the small cavern. Aside from Jackson Blue, none of the Mill Pond caves really have 'large' cavern entrances.

Keep in mind that all caverns aren't created equal. Morrison, Vortex, Ginnie, ect all have extremely forgiving caverns(albeit people have still died in them); just don't assume that all other caverns will be just as friendly - I can assure you they aren't

 

[Dark Eternal]

Thanks for the info, I am quite aware that the caverns are all very different. Ive been in several larger wrecks in Texas lakes that are incredibly silty and have learned first hand how important knowing what you are doing is! Ill probably check out the cavern at jackson blue, from what I understand its pretty significant and is worth running a line into? One of my biggest reasons for wanting to check out the area is the ability to rent doubles from Cave Adventures. Before I jump in and spent the money on a set of steels, I want to give several sets a try to see what works for me best. Im just getting the last parts together of what will be my overhead/deep gear.

You mention taking a cavern class. Who would be the best person to contact about this - while I have read through the GUE intro to cave manual - nothing replaces real training!

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Dive-Aholic teaches cavern! He's a great diver. Give him a call. There are also several other instructors in the area.

You always want to run a reel into an overhead cavern/cave environment. There are areas within the same general area as Jackson Blue's cavern, that will put you out of visibility of natural light(therefore no longer a cavern situation). There area also some silty and tighter areas on the sides. Its a big cavern, but it can provide opportunity for a bad day if you go looking for it.

Call Dive-Aholic and setup a guided cavern dive, that way you'll have a capable diver/instructor to look after you while showing you some of the finer points of the cavern at Jackson Blue. After you're hooked, he can go ahead and book you for a cavern class - LOL.

 

[Dark Eternal]

Sent him a PM on it - I would love to be able to get my cavern certification while im down there. A good first step to cave diving.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Thanks, Mat!

DE, I definitely recommend at least doing a guided dive. You have to sign in at the sheriff's office to get access to Jackson Blue and they will tell you as an OW diver not to go in the cavern. Besides, the cavern there is pretty big and can be easy to get lost in if you're not familiar with it.