Only 1.5 day scuba diving in the Crystal river area

[Daanvanwijk]

Hi all
end of October I will be in Orlando for a couple of days for work (I am from Holland !). Right after my meetings in Orlando I am heading to Crystal river to do a Manatee snorkeling tour but.. I actually have an extra 1.5 day to do some guided scuba diving. I prefer to dive in the area of Crystal river and consider one or two of the following dive sites:

• Blue grotto
• Devil's Den
• King's Spring
• Ginnie springs
• Paradise spring
• Rainbow River

My question to all of you is simple... Which one is the 'must dive' site according to you (or two) ?? Or do you have other suggestions for fun dives?. I am traveling on my own so I would like to do one of the guided dive trips organized by the dive centers in the Crystal River area.

Only 1.5 day !:shocked2:

Many thanks all !

Daniel

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

Between Blue Grotto, Devil's Den and Ginnie , I prefer Blue Grotto for cavern dives. It's has a big open cavern, with a maximum depth of ~90ft. The combination of size and depth can give you a sense of what a cave dive is like. It has a nice big open shallow area and a dive bell. Ginnie has Ball Room which is much smaller and goes down to ~55ft, but you can also check out the cave entrances to Devil's Eye and Ear. Devil's Den is visually interesting since it's all below ground. It's a giant, doughnut shaped bowl, about 30ft deep, though you can get down in the 40s in some areas, IIRC.

http://www.divebluegrotto.com/index.php/the-blue-grotto

 

[Egkid]

The Blue Grotto and Devil's Den are literally 5 minutes away from each other, mine as well do both. There's a ton of videos on youtube so you can get a preview and decide for yourself where you'd rather dive, although it might take the fun out of exploring a new site.

 

[jimw]

Crystal River is good for Manatee snorkeling usually in the winter. There MAY be some around in Oct--not sure. I would ask a dive op there. btw, 1 shop in Crystal River should be able to handle The Manatee snorkel, King's Spring dive and Rainbow River dive or snorkel as various shops do all of those sites. You will likely be very near King's Spring on the Manatee snorkel. Ask the prospective dive ops.

 

[DKL]

Blue Grotto and Devil's Den are nearly across the street from each other. You could dive them both in your time frame easily. One suggestion...if you dive Blue Grotto, get there early and get a dive in quickly. If people start churning up the bottom visibility drops quickly. They do a lot of classes there and it gets silted up sometimes. I live close to all these springs and use them for fun and practice.

 

[robandliza]

I went with American Pro Dive in Crystal River last month. We snorkelled in the morning then dived Rainbow River in the afternoon
I wouldn't call it a must do dive but I'm glad I did it, more as a cross off the bucket list than anything else

The service from American Pro Dive was very good for both the snorkel and dive and would highly recommend them

 

[Six Feet Under]

American Pro Dive is where I got my PADI OW certification. From my experience (which is only Discover Scuba and PADI Open Water classes, the D.S. class was free during their annual tent sale so I gave that a shot before dropping the coin to get certified), they run a pretty good place. Customer service has always been good there. They are definitely oriented towards tours, recreational divers, and Mares products.

If you are in the area and would like to do a manatee tour or get some information on dives that are more geared toward tech divers, check out Bird's Underwater. I get air through both shops and have always been treated well by the employees.

ETA: Not sure if American Pro Dive does guided trips to Ginnie, but I believe Bird's does. I know bird teaches classes there.