Save Ginnie Springs

[scubafire]

I used to canoe the Santa Fe all the time as a kid and we used to camp at Ginnie. Since then, the party crowd has come and totally destroyed it. (Take a quick snorkel into the river if you don't believe me).
Is there anything that can be done to clean up the place and keep drunken slobs out? I know that the camp area is privately owned but surely the river is not. Why doesn't the state do anything about that?

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

You can organize a cleanup for one, probably the easiest possibility to make a dent in the trash. Especially during one of the Megadive meet-n-greets when there is a tremendous amount of people involved to lend a hand(and goody bag).

 

[scubadobadoo]

Is there anything that can be done to clean up the place and keep drunken slobs out?

Move it out of Northern FL and away from the University of FLorida, lol. Just teasing. I am from the area and hate to hear reports of drunken jerks messing the place up.

 

[scubafire]

Move it out of Northern FL and away from the University of FLorida, lol. Just teasing. I am from the area and hate to hear reports of drunken jerks messing the place up.

Oh you are not kidding...don't try to play it off :ssst: There is no doubt that it is the UF kids. I would love to organize a cleanup. I just think that the State of Florida should be the ones to clean it up. They clean up the highways <laughter>, why not the water? I mean, there used to be plant life that was over 6 ft high...now it is an underwater desert.

If you haven't been by there in a while you should go...it will almost bring tears to your eyes.

 

[scubadobadoo]

Oh you are not kidding...

Okay, you caught me, lol! I guess now would be a bad time to admit that I went to FSU?

 

[scubafire]

It is amazing to me that you don't hear of more people drowning there. Just last time I was there, a guy was stumbling near the water and he had to have his buddy hold him up.

 

[scubafool]

Well, if it bugs you enough to gripe about it, then do something about it.

Organize a cleanup.

It would require a Herculean effort to actually make a difference, but nothing worthwhile is easy.

 

[PerroneFord]

I just think that the State of Florida should be the ones to clean it up. They clean up the highways <laughter>, why not the water?esert.

Take a look at the annual budget sometime for the Florida Marine Patrol. That will tell you why they don't clean it up, and police it better. Having worked for DEP, including Water quality division, I can tell you that there are a LOT of dedicated folk who work there and try to do all they can. It's a HARD job when you spend thousands of dollars trying to organize divers to go in the water, remove trash, try to re-plant native species, and then some morons rent a houseboat, throw a party, and throw 8 cases of empty beer cans into the river.

It's not much better at some of the fragile cave sites either. Some years back, some fool actually ditched a car into one of the N.FL. sinkholes.

 

[cudachaser]

Maybe we out to start a movement like "Reef Foundation" I remember Ginnie from the '70's when it still was somewhat pristeen....the last time I went there it was a zoo! If you campcan't sleep cause of all the partying going on....It's still a diver place...let's take it back!

 

[PerroneFord]

It's still a diver place...let's take it back!

Ginnie makes more money in a weekend from the students than it makes in a month from the divers. They are not about to toss away that revenue. You also have to keep in mind there is an unregulated river adjacent to the park.