I've never been to the springs. I'm not cavern or cave certified. I'm meeting my cousin who's driving down from SC. Our plan is to arrive mid day on a Thursday and leave Sunday morning (Nov 9-12). We're both AOW/Nitrox certified.
What do we want out of the extended weekend trip? My main goal is to do some new diving which I've never done before and meet up with my cousin whom I only get to see a couple of times a year. I feel like the springs are very different than the SE Florida drift and shore diving I'm used to. We understand that we won't be cave diving and we are only interested in diving safely within the limits of our training and experience.
Things I could bring:
DSLR camera, is it worth bringing? I usually do super macro photography and can do some wide angle.
DPV, would be fun to play on if there isn't much else to see or do, maybe in a river?
GoPro, take video.
I've read a bunch of posts, websites, and watched videos about the different springs. I'm not sure where to go on which days and would love advice from those who are more familiar with the sites. Many of my dive buddies have said the diving won't be as fun as what I do in SE Florida. I feel like because it's new and different, the experience is one I can enjoy and check off the bucket list. I own 4 120HP, 2 80AL, and 2 pony tanks which I'll bring for us to use. Some of the feedback I hope to get is, don't go here on Saturday because it's too busy and you'll enjoy site X more on Friday and Saturdays are a non-issue at site Y. Or feedback like, you will want to do at least 2 dives at site X, so that won't work on Thursday. Other good feedback could be, you'll want to plan for at least 4 hours at site X, so get there early if you plan to dive another location later in the day. I've also seen conflicting details on whether sites require a reservation or not. If a site requires a reservation, please help clarify.
This is the list of sites we've come up with so far:
Ginnie Springs
Devil's Den
Alexander Springs
Blue Grotto
<open to other suggestions>
If you were to arrive Thursday between 12-2pm, where would you go for a dive? What about Friday and Saturday?
Here's a sample itinerary:
Thursday afternoon: Alexander Springs
Friday morning: Devil's Den
Friday afternoon: Blue Grotto
Saturday: Do multiple dives at Ginnie to experience the multiple options (Ballroom, Santa Fe River, Devil's Spring)
Thanks!
What do we want out of the extended weekend trip? My main goal is to do some new diving which I've never done before and meet up with my cousin whom I only get to see a couple of times a year. I feel like the springs are very different than the SE Florida drift and shore diving I'm used to. We understand that we won't be cave diving and we are only interested in diving safely within the limits of our training and experience.
Things I could bring:
DSLR camera, is it worth bringing? I usually do super macro photography and can do some wide angle.
DPV, would be fun to play on if there isn't much else to see or do, maybe in a river?
GoPro, take video.
I've read a bunch of posts, websites, and watched videos about the different springs. I'm not sure where to go on which days and would love advice from those who are more familiar with the sites. Many of my dive buddies have said the diving won't be as fun as what I do in SE Florida. I feel like because it's new and different, the experience is one I can enjoy and check off the bucket list. I own 4 120HP, 2 80AL, and 2 pony tanks which I'll bring for us to use. Some of the feedback I hope to get is, don't go here on Saturday because it's too busy and you'll enjoy site X more on Friday and Saturdays are a non-issue at site Y. Or feedback like, you will want to do at least 2 dives at site X, so that won't work on Thursday. Other good feedback could be, you'll want to plan for at least 4 hours at site X, so get there early if you plan to dive another location later in the day. I've also seen conflicting details on whether sites require a reservation or not. If a site requires a reservation, please help clarify.
This is the list of sites we've come up with so far:
Ginnie Springs
Devil's Den
Alexander Springs
Blue Grotto
<open to other suggestions>
If you were to arrive Thursday between 12-2pm, where would you go for a dive? What about Friday and Saturday?
Here's a sample itinerary:
Thursday afternoon: Alexander Springs
Friday morning: Devil's Den
Friday afternoon: Blue Grotto
Saturday: Do multiple dives at Ginnie to experience the multiple options (Ballroom, Santa Fe River, Devil's Spring)
Thanks!