Vortex trip report

[double125's]

Over the past 2 weekends I spent 4 days diving vortex. Things have changed a lot since I been there. The cave entrance seemed larger, someone told me they expanded the entrance. They have added christmas tree lights in the cave so you have a constant light source to the entrance, however, the operaters are quick to point out that lights can fail and not to rely soley on that as a back-up. They installed an air bell at aproximatley 90 ft which is in the room before the gate. the gate is 112' deep. there are a couple of side passage that can be penned but be sure to run a line to the main guide line because they are not very high and they silt up quickly. They have lots of eels and they are friendly, espeacially if you feed them hotdogs. They do not have big teath and they dont hurtwhen they bite(when feeding that is.) In the spring portion thare are plenty of panfish looking for freebies. they have a fake cave system in the spring that has a second level so you can practice skills. Visibilty is really good but get silted up quickly because of training classes. when they exit the water it clears up quickly. There are 4 entry doc and a whole variety of activites for non-divers. They have a rope swing, dive plateforms and a spring board. there are canoe / paddleboats rentals as well as atv trails. Vortex spring in ponce de leon is a very comercial facility and well worth the $25 entry fee. They have an on-site dive shop, fills are $4 and you can rent nitrox tanks. If any body has any questions feel free to pm me and I will answer them the best I can.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I don't think they enlarged the entrance unless it was years ago before I was ever there. Originally the permenant lights were further back out of site of the entrance and didn't talk about it.. I was told they were put there to bail out all the OW divers who kept getting killed. Now I'm told that they advertise the lights on their web page.

IMO, the lights and air bell make an ugly mess out of a perfectly good cave and do nothing but entice divers in who shouldn't be there.

I was there a few weeks ago and the OW divers had things so stirred up you couldn't hardly see your hand in front of your face. It took more than 24 hours for it to clear much.

I your in the area it's worth stopping in for a dive or two beyond the grate if you've never been but unless it's in the off season (if there is such a thing) or your there for a class I wouldn't bother with the basin.

 

[double125's]

I agree with you on the light issue but I thought the bell was a neat addition because it made for a couple good photo's (like the stop sign and many other plackards on the wall of the cave). . If your looking for a virgin cave vortex is definately not the place to go. When i was there, only half a dozen people that penned the cave daily so it cleared up quickly. Of all the people entering into the cave that I saw, only one had a redundant air supply and none had proper lighting. I even saw a instructor take a couple students into the mouth of the cave just so they could be certified to 60 foot.