Must-do dives & FL accomodation - Jan 2013

I've been casually reading this forum for a couple of years. I'm based in the England and have booked flights for a trip to FL in January, with a few friends. We've done a couple of trips to FL in 2008 & 2009, mainly doing mainline (Cave 1) dives at Devils, Peacock, JB, HITW & Twin. More recently, we have taken Cave 2 in France and done a dozen or so stage dives, with some navigation and survey work.

I have a couple of questions :

If you had 10 days in northern Florida, with our expereince, what are some quality dives you would recommend? or something good we could work up to over a few days?

We have a period of 5 days or so, just after new year, when a group of 5 of us are around High Springs. Is there some dive-friendly house type accomodation that we could rent? Something like Hole-in-the-Wall house would be great.

I realise you guys are not always 100% positive about GUE, and I do have some understanding of the history etc. Any help much appreciated.

Steve Clark

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Originally Posted by Steve Clark

Is there some dive-friendly house type accomodation that we could rent? Something like Hole-in-the-Wall house would be great.

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http://cavediveflorida.com/Rum_House.htm

http://cavediveflorida.com/Hotel_California.htm

Take a look at both of these places.

I would say go back to the caves you have already been to so you can see more of them. Devil system offers so much that you have not even see why not give it a try. Little River is another one of my favorites.

The links Jim posted above are great accommodations. I have stayed at Hotel California found it very diver friendly. It is also within easy driving distance of a lot of caves in the area.

White Room in Devil's is neat, as is Parallel Lines and Double Lines (a bit smaller, but very interesting section of cave. Single stage should dive you enough gas to see a fair bit of the area).

I'd spend some time in Peacock 3, there's a lot of nice cave in there with some jumps to take. Nicholson Tunnel and the Crypt are cool places in Peacock. Also check out Madison (one of my favorites) and Cow.

You could do two dives a day in one cave over the entire week and see a new passage every dive. Tons to see.

I agree with James, but Little River, Madison, and Manatee are nice too.

For rental closest to Madison also convenient to Peacock and Little River see www.cavecountrycottage.com

John Ploegert

Cave Excursions rents trailers, they are basically a fully furnished 3 bedroom house.
http://www.caveexcursions.com/?page_id=11

For a list of caves check out Cave Atlas
http://www.caveatlas.com/

Thanks for the info. I'll check out the houses.

Really looking forward to having a bit more time (and gas) to take a proper look at the caves, I was probably a bit too distance/beat the flow focused last time. I've grown out of that a little.

Is Manatee comfortable to dive without a scooter or will I just end up with a headache ?

Steve

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Originally Posted by Steve Clark

...Is Manatee comfortable to dive without a scooter or will I just end up with a headache ? ...

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It depends on the tides. The current can get pretty swift, but when the level of the river goes up, the flow slows, and the visibility improves.

Jackson Blue Spring Marianna Florida