Options with rivers rising

[lerpy]

Headed down to Florida next week, starting to find out with rising rivers he a lot of the spots are becoming are getting blown out. Right now it seems like the options are going to be Ginnie, Manatee, and I was going to take a drive up to Jackson Blue if that will still be ok. Any other suggestions for sites, even in Marianna or other areas. I am backmount intro level.

Thanks

 

[Pullnglide]

JB is good as well as Twin.

 

[lerpy]

I was reading about Twin, you need a boat to get there??

 

[Pullnglide]

Yes you'll need a boat to get there. Subway tunnel stays @50' for 1000' then drops to @ 100' from there. Contact Rob at Chipola Divers if your in the Marianna area. He can help you with information on diving in the area and also where to dive with high river levels. He also has a 24 hour fill station with nitrox and boosted o2 available. Also a nice rental house that I stay at usually twice a month.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Drive six hours south to Key Largo...wrecks, reefs, deep wrecks, drifts .. Margaritaville....

 

[karstdvr]

Jim brings up a good point. Planning cave diving trips during the later winter and spring is very chancy at best. Florida has a rainy season, which can cause the rivers to rise and springs to reverse. Where we hate this when it happens,it is actually imperative to the ecosystem,plus recharge the aquifer with local rains. In the past, we basically did what Jim suggested, by passed the caves and headed to the big pool. When the springs are reversed, the few sites that are available will be less than optimal because of crowding.

 

[lerpy]

Drive six hours south to Key Largo...wrecks, reefs, deep wrecks, drifts .. Margaritaville....

As much as I would love to head to Key Largo, I will have to settle with Ginnie, Manatee, and Jackson Blue. Need to get some more intro experience on this trip so I can move to full cave hopefully in the fall. Hoping to be in Key Largo next winter and do my OW instructor course. Little ways out but that's my big plan for training over the next year.

 

[victorzamora]

I was reading about Twin, you need a boat to get there??

Twin and Hole are both boat-only. They're also a short jaunt down the pond from Cave Adventurers. I don't know how good vis is in Hole, but calling Edd's will definitely land you a fairly current status. Hole gets milky, Twin stays pretty clear.

 

[Pullnglide]

HITW is about gone for now from what I hear. Upstream is diveable last I heard but not great vis. Twin was good a couple weeks ago past the fissure, subway was blown due to some breather divers ballroom dancing back their I guess. If all else failed and If you happened to have a scooter you could get to Twin from JB or the boat ramp close by (before anyone says anything about the OP having Basic and taking a DPV, I'm saying take it to the entrance and park it ). I haven't done it but heard of people scootering to Twin.

 

[lerpy]

A DPV would be wonderful to have, but unfortunately that is still on the things I don't need but want list. Looks like it will be Ginnie, JB, and Manatee for the most part. Being I just hit with 3 feet of snow yesterday, frankly diving anything right now will be a real pleasure and much nicer than this crap.