Public meeting on the subject of opening Wakulla to scuba divers Thurs, Jan 19 at 7pm

[lowviz]

Anybody have a tractor-trailer load of crickets that they can dump on this thread???

 

[Reef_Haven]

I suppose Wakulla is a bit like Fight Club.

Florida Springs, Springs in Florida, Florida Cave Diving, Manatee Viewing - Florida's Springs: Protecting Nature's Gems - Florida DEP - Wakulla Springs Feature

I'm kinda surprised a couple sites in Chass aren't treated the same way.

 

[lowviz]

I suppose Wakulla is a bit like Fight Club.
...//.....

So do I.


If you want to see Manatees, go to the Alafia river viewing site. -if you can stand looking at one zebra-striped pup after another. Been there many times on vacation. The big skid marks are something to see also, big white patches on the larger ones. Boats and propellers.

The manatees at Wakulla are not in the head-pool, they are in the lower stretch that is off-limits to ALL, including park rangers. OK, with the exception of once a year for an inventory or something. Look at the pictures near the coordinates I gave, swimmers jumping off high-dives are OK but divers aren't??? Really???

 

[lowviz]

Just for grins,

-none of this has any effect on manatees.

 

[Thalassamania]

WKPP's badge of excellence is that only they can dive Wakulla Springs without incident. Won't lose this without a cosmic fight. Ask Florida State Parks.

Wakulla Springs is unquestionably the most spectacular spring in the entire karst. Immense headpool, could support three or four diveshops. Hetland, you had no chance going into this. Life is deliciously grey, neither black nor white. DIR divers are some of the best diving acquaintances that I have. Few, if any that I know, could dive Wakulla either. Olympus remains for the olympians.

OK ScubaBoarders, how many of you dived Wakulla Springs???

Never heard of it, right?

I've dove it.

I'm no fan of WKPP's claim to fame, just about any university diving safety program could have done as good or a better job, we make our livings that way, often managing far more complex and dangerous operations without incident or fanfare. This says to me that it is more the frame of mind and the exclusive control than it is some particular DIR voodoo. Wakulla does not require Olympians, except perhaps by comparison to your everyday Open Water divers.

Despite that I would not favor opening the spring to the general diving public, from what I understand the water quality would not support it. If anyone has data that contradicts this, I'd like to see it.

 

[lowviz]

I understand that divers would soon corrupt the meager 200 million gallon per day flow. It is a lost cause, -keep it pristine with swimmers and boats.

I do understand that it will remain a lost cause, but I have had my say. I'm out.

Such a shame to deny an incredible experience for many all for the collective ego of a few.

 

[Thalassamania]

I understand your feelings, WKPP has not done the best job of public relations. Swimmers and boats do no go into the cave, and that's the issue. Show me data that supports the hypothesis that diving (and the biomass of a few lost bodies) will not shift the cave ecosystem and I'll be on your side.

 

[lowviz]

The real threat is from above, watch "Water's Journey".

How many divers do you really think will make it past that big beautiful rock ledge that looks like it is about 100' down?

A karst system is fundamentally leaky, you are saying that it can't support the occasional dead cow?

So using this reasoning of diver burden on the ecosystem, Jackson Blue (with it's flow) is a stinking dead sewer...

 

[Thalassamania]

Seen it, I agree that surface pollution is a major problem, but you've still not shown that divers would not create an additional load.

 

[lowviz]

-and with this fear, uncertainty, and doubt the park remains closed...

Can we observe something without perturbing it? No.

You win.