pdoege
Contributor
Hey Guys -
I drove out to Vortex Friday to pick up some doubles and do some diving.
Vortex is in Ponce De Leon, FL and is about 6 hours from Orlando. It is in Central time, rather close to La. and Al.
The site consists of several lodges, a camping area, dive shop, and various docks.
The land is owned by Doc. Dockery and he leases the land out to the dive shop. Really great that he shares his toys!
There are two fake caverns in the springs. Good for line drills, bouyancy practice, and just screwing around in a safe overhead environment. They have an air chamber between the two tunnels.
The water is very clear and there are a lot of goldfish, bass, bream, and eels to be found.
Very pretty rock formations as well.
The bottom is sand, and rocks have been spread over it to keep silting down. Still, a lot of OW divers and the place silts out.
The cavern itself is gorgeous. Hard to describe. There is a really nice 50' drop straight down into the mouth. The cave itself is locked and keys are only given to full cave divers.
The cavern/cave has a fine sand floor and silts very easily! Not a place to kick up!
I got four dives in. Very cool location. Lots of good people to meet as well.
I camped at Vortex overnight. Some of my fellow campers were less than courteous. Loud pipes and trucks and music until around 2:00AM. I was tired enough that I slept through most of it.
Great site, I hearily recommend it.
Peter
I drove out to Vortex Friday to pick up some doubles and do some diving.
Vortex is in Ponce De Leon, FL and is about 6 hours from Orlando. It is in Central time, rather close to La. and Al.
The site consists of several lodges, a camping area, dive shop, and various docks.
The land is owned by Doc. Dockery and he leases the land out to the dive shop. Really great that he shares his toys!
There are two fake caverns in the springs. Good for line drills, bouyancy practice, and just screwing around in a safe overhead environment. They have an air chamber between the two tunnels.
The water is very clear and there are a lot of goldfish, bass, bream, and eels to be found.
Very pretty rock formations as well.
The bottom is sand, and rocks have been spread over it to keep silting down. Still, a lot of OW divers and the place silts out.
The cavern itself is gorgeous. Hard to describe. There is a really nice 50' drop straight down into the mouth. The cave itself is locked and keys are only given to full cave divers.
The cavern/cave has a fine sand floor and silts very easily! Not a place to kick up!
I got four dives in. Very cool location. Lots of good people to meet as well.
I camped at Vortex overnight. Some of my fellow campers were less than courteous. Loud pipes and trucks and music until around 2:00AM. I was tired enough that I slept through most of it.
Great site, I hearily recommend it.
Peter
