Morrison Trip, 02/24, All are welcome!

[utdivermatt]

So in other words, this time of year, there is really no shore access from someone without cave certs?

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Not to any spring, I suppose you could dive around the public boat launches... Shallow and a ton of vegetation.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Maybe I should relinquish "Shore Diving Guru" for "Destroyer of Diveplans"

 

[utdivermatt]

well poo... you are good at destroying diveplans. got any other places to suggest near vortex good for a couple of afternoon dives?

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Like to row canoes?

Dive Cypress, its friggin beautiful!

Catch one of the afternoon high tides at Destin Jetties, about an hour south.

 

[utdivermatt]

Can you tell me anything about Cypress? Where is it and whats it got? How far from Vortex? If its figgin beautiful it might be worth the row.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Its about 30 minutes from Vortex to the boat launch you need to use to reach Cypress. You can rent canoes from Vortex for $10 for every 2 hours. Plan for 6 hours in order to make two dives.

Find a Map:

Strap canoe to your car/truck/bicycle and head South on SR81

Go East(Left) on Hwy 90 in Ponce De Leon

Go South(right) on SR289 in Caryville

Go South(right) on SR79 in Vernon

Go North(left) on SR277 in Vernon

Take a Left on Culpepper Lane in Vernon and it deadends at a boatlaunch on Holmes Creek.

Load and launch canoe.

Head upstream, the creek will bend left, then head straight-ish for a while(you'll pass a large overturned tree on the right exposing a large root system). The creek will then bend right and then straightish for a while, keep an eye out on your left for a run emptying out into the creek. This run will bring you to Cypress and will probably be emptying out noticably clearer water into the creek which will probably be milky or even murky. Its about a mile from boat launch to the run and the run itself is about 1/4 mile from its expulsion into the creek to the headspring.

The spring itself is kinda smallish, with max OW depths of 25'. Lots of vegetation and freshwater fauna(bream, bass, shellcrackers, hogchoakers, pike, mullet, ect) can be seen. The spring pours 96 million gallons of fresh, clean water out a day keeping the basin pristine in all but the heaviest floods. There's a medium sized cavern with a rocky bottom that will go to about 45' before restricting kinda tight. That continues to 65'ish before hanging to the left, turning into cave.

Did I mention its beautiful?

Vis like above 99% of the year.

 

[utdivermatt]

Oh wow. That shot reminds me of somewhere like Ginnie, not what I expected in the panhandle. How hard a canoe is this? I have never been in a canoe when there wasnt whitewater, so this could be interesting. Is there any time limit on the park? We wont be rolling into Ponce de Leon until about 2ish, so one of the dives might be a night dive. Looks like a great place though.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Honestly, Ginnie doesn't have the visibility Cypress has, nor the interesting features of the basin. Ginnie's only upsides are the fascilities, other spring options within its 'grounds', and the larger cavern at the headspring(which, IMO, isn't as good as the one at Morrison).

I suck at canoeing and can make it in 20-30 minutes.

I'd image Vortex will allow you to drop the canoe off after the shop closes, but you'll need to verify that with them. We've rented gear and dropped them off after dark before...

The boat launch doesn't close, and Vortex doesn't close as campers come in throughout the night. I'm not sure of which park you are speaking of?

 

[utdivermatt]

I was refering to just being able to get in and out of the spring. I assumed it was in a park, though I may be wrong. Didnt want the gate to close on us while out there. We are actually staying at Vortex, so that shouldnt be a problem.

It sounds like one of those things you cant miss while in the canoe? I hope thats true.

Sounds like an amazing place, that I wouldnt have thought to visit. I cant wait to explore the basin and cavern!