Vortex Spring Sale Rumor

[Fish_Whisperer]

WHAT??? You mean they actually certify you at Vortex? We used that for our confined water checkout, then headed to the PC Gulf for open water cert. But that was in 94.

No wonder people are freaking out on these basic ocean dives.

Ditto, for my instructor, when I did my cert in '05. A different local instructor, is/was certifying his students at Vortex, though. :shakehead

 

[mike_s]

The Panhandle is already becoming like south Florida.

Destin property prices have doubled in the past years.

In Panama City they are tearing down all the small hotels and putting up huge condo complexes.


If Vortex sells to a non-dive development, it will be a shame for the dive community as the number of springs you can dive in aren't easily increased, especially if you actually owned a spring it could be sold to a bottle water company for millions. Vortex is an excellent place for open water training and it will be missed.

However, with that said, I don't think most of us dive there that much when you have to pay $32 bucks to get in their small hole in the ground. There are better less crowded springs for free. However the sale of vortex to a non diving development will just force those other dives to those other springs, which is not a good thing....

WHAT??? You mean they actually certify you at Vortex? We used that for our confined water checkout, then headed to the PC Gulf for open water cert. But that was in 94.

No wonder people are freaking out on these basic ocean dives

Perrone, I don't see this getting better. As someone said most of the training agencies only require 20 minutes at 20 feet to count it as a certification dive. With agencies turning to "E-Learning" that you take your all your classroom online, you will hardly spend any time at all with your instructor.

The days of a 6 week certificaiton class are gone.

 

[UTKnox]

The days of a 6 week certificaiton class are gone.

Fortunately that's not true across the board. I'm a pool rat for the U. of Tennessee's Basic class, which runs closer to 10 weeks @ 2x/week. It gives us plenty of time to ensure that whomever we Invite to checkouts is ready and capable of doing so.

We typically split the checkout dives between Vortex & Morrison, depending on the water conditions. This past weekend myself and another of the rats were going to tie off the Bouey's in Morrison, dropped to all of 7 feet and came right back up with a whopping 8Inch visibility. Needless to say, we spent both days & Vortex.

As for those getting bent out of shape over not holding Open Water checkouts in a "true" open water environment (the ocean), as a previous poster said restricting the dives to one confined location allows us greater control of the situation. These are afterall extremely inexperienced divers, who have no business being in the ocean, especially this time of year.

We make it 100% clear that they do not need to be going and jumping in the ocean thinking they are ready for everything it entails. We invite them to come and dive on the next checkouts, or our bi-annual Largo trips. On top of that, we recommend to them if they are going to dive elsewhere to dive with a Divemaster or an Instructor until they are more comfortable in the water.

Sorry for the sidetrack. I genuinely hope we don't lose Vortex. It's an excellent resource for all divers, but especially the inexperienced ones.

 

[mike_s]

Fortunately that's not true across the board. I'm a pool rat for the U. of Tennessee's Basic class, which runs closer to 10 weeks @ 2x/week. It gives us plenty of time to ensure that whomever we Invite to checkouts is ready and capable of doing so.

You're right... it's not true across the board. But it is in most shops.

I don't blame the shops, but the agencies. They want to do it quicker as people don't always want to take a 6 or 10 week course. the 2 weekend (or 1 weekend) class sounds better to them. The dive shops like it because their costs are lower.

When I said that I did think about the university setting and how they were longer clases. (I remember one of my roommates in college taking a quarter long class). However, it's hard to get people to do it if it's not part of the college program they are in.

As for those getting bent out of shape over not holding Open Water checkouts in a "true" open water environment (the ocean), as a previous poster said restricting the dives to one confined location allows us greater control of the situation. These are afterall extremely inexperienced divers, who have no business being in the ocean, especially this time of year.

As for the ocean dives readiness comment, I agree that 4 dives at Vortex does not ready them for that. But I don't think we are going to change that here...

 

[UTKnox]

I'd say you could take it one step further and blame society as a whole for the increasing shortness of the classes. Everyone wants it right now, no waiting, etc. You ultimately have to cater to their demands in order to stay in business. Fortunately there are still those who do not run OW Mills and throw new "divers" out at a rapid rate.

Now, back to Vortex. My understanding was the contract was supposed to have been signed Yesterday (Thursday, 4/12/07). Has anyone heard anything related to that?

 

[brdr882]

I just went to Vortex today after coming from Morrison's which I didn't dive because of poorish vis and limited time. I have to say I was incredibly disappointed with vortex. For $32 i was expecting more than that tiny hole in the field. The fake caves that take up most of the bottom defiantly detract but not nearly as much as the guy vacuuming the rocks and the hoses littered across for it.
To Vortex's credit I did not go into the cave system (past the sign) as I have no training or right to be there. It seems like an accident waiting to happen though with the limited diving and the curiosity factor. 110' with 300' penetration isn't something to "just do." Has anyone been down that way, is that what's worth the $32?

 

[mike_s]

They just went up to $32 this past year.

It was sorta ok to do for $25, but not really two days in a row. People used to camp there and dive there some and then use that as a jumping off point to dive other local springs (Morrison, Cypress, etc).

But with the price raised to $32, it's lost a lot of peoples support.

I still think if you haven't been, it's worth a trip once to see it. It gets really interesting as the weather warms up and the "local population" comes out and camps also

 

[slackercruster]

. Future plans are in the works to turn the Florida panhandle area around Ponce Deleon into another Orlando/Disney Land.

Turning the Panhandle into an another Orlando???

The world is getting to be a really tough place to live.

Overregulated, over developed and over populated.

Too much stress and hassles.

And expensive as hell 'just to live.'

When on the road it cost almost $300 a month just to shower at truck stops.

Near the Keys it cost $60 to $70 a day just to park a trailer even if you do not want electric.

Being 'homeless' or living in a trailer is not cheap by any means.

I visited S.Fla last year with my little trailer and could not park near most of the beaches.

Everything was developed to the max...even the parking spots.

I liked the panhandle since it seems less congested and relaxed.

Sad they wish to ruin it too.

Sure money is nice as well as some progress.

But we always have to remember to leave some space for all kinds of people to live in.

When things are made too tough for some of the population they snap, as we've seen in the news lately.

We will always have mental illness in society, but the stress of tough living conditions just fuels such illness.

I see this in my old town of L,.A. where a small one bedroom house with no land in a bad area of town cost $550,000. Was told that the majority of CA real estate was sold 'interest only' as they could not afford to pay on the principal.

That is not a good way to live.

Greed and wrong living will come back to haunt society ... we all share the same breath as well as share the same sanity.

"Trade curses everything it touches and even though you trade in 'messages from heaven' trade attaches itself and the whole thing becomes cursed." Thoreau.

 

[jviehe]

Wow, lighten up on the enter button.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I'm not gonna lie, I laughed