...up for sale...???
http://www.stpetetimes.com/2005/11/1...rinking_.shtml
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...up for sale...???
http://www.stpetetimes.com/2005/11/1...rinking_.shtml
nhb
PPPFfffffffffftttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by normblitch
I've been there a few times. It's a sinkhole, plain and simple.
Furthermore, the water is not significantly different then what you'd get from a nearby well. (Other than the high urine content....)
Anyways, no matter who buys it you can probably kiss diving goodbye.
Drew
I'll post my same opinion here as I did elsewhere on this issue...Quote:
Originally Posted by normblitch
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It is only a matter of time before ALL of the private sites go up for sale and the commercial bottling companies (who have VERY deep pockets) buy them all up and shut them down for diving.
I wish he would do what I would do... give the actual sink/spring to an organization that can keep it protected and then sell the land to a buyer and includes "use" of the site for diving and conservation activities.
He would still get a nice chunk of money from someone wanting to take over the diving operations, but instead this is more of a greedy transaction then a "conservation" one as he tries to "make it out"...
It's a shame that money is before conservation for him... the truth always comes out in situations like this...
I saw a flier from the auction company earlier this week. It referred to the Blue Grotto as a "cave diver's paradise."
:roll:
There is more on the property than just the commerical blue grotto -- a lot more. :roll:Quote:
Originally Posted by Sludge
so yah, i just about had a laughing induced stroke, thank you sludgeQuote:
Originally Posted by Sludge
Depends on what cave diver you're talking about....Quote:
Originally Posted by Sludge
If you ask nicely, and can prove(or have somebody vouch for you) that you have the skills, you may be allowed to dive the real cave there...not the pit that they allow anybody into. You should be an experienced sidemount diver, though....and no-mount in some of the areas.
Mike
There is a cave that sits under the pavilion and changing area and measures rectangularly about twice the size of two football fields. The primary entrance is down a ladder located within one of the buildings on the property and the other is through a passage that has an impeller that draws water from the commercial cavern in order to provide flow. You don't want to go through that one. If you recall two stone and concrete structures that look something like a well, they lie over about dead center of the large room. Sadly there is always debris that was thrown in there over the years.
The depths of the large room is from 20ffw to 80 ffw. On the far side of the large room there is passage as posted that requires side mount or no mount. It is silty and relatively pristine. The line is not to be trusted anywhere in the room or the passage.
The owners are long time divers and their family owned not only Blue Grotto but at one time Paradise Springs. They have been involved in diving since holding movie lights for the cameramen shooting "Sea Hunt" series filmed at Silver Springs forty plus years ago.
Exiting is cool. Find the ladder and inflate, sort of like sliding UP a ladder.
/K
Blue Grotto is more than a sink hole. It has an obvious siphon you can see and hear, even though you can't feel a flow in the main section. I was there on Sunday with an AOW course and it was awe inspiring to them. Its a scuba diving treasure that I hope falls into good hands (not some city or water bottling company), that will continue to share it with the world.
Humph! Only 5 million? No Problem. Anyone have change for a billion?
I hope the state buys it. I have been there done that and more than likely will never pay that price to ever go back or do I care to. I feel the same with Devil's Den I have gone one time and it will more than likely be the last time there also.
I hope like so many of you do that Blue Grotto(B.G.) falls into the hands of individual(s) who respect the dive site as a valuble tool in the dive training arsenal. I use B.G., Devils Den and other sites to try out new or possibly new equipment before going on to more challenging areas. Maybe such a popular site as B.G. can have past divers famous and not so famous request that it remain a dive site. Yes I know it's a bit naive but it's worth a try if not I'll have my B.G. shaken not stirred in a Collins glass.
I've been diving there, off and on, since 1988. The sinkhole and cavern are great for Openwater and Cavern training. It's also a nice Openwater and Cavern dive. You want to try to dive there during the week so you can avoid the weekend crowd and the inevitable "mud puppies".
The cave is small and shallow and only requires a single tank with dual valves. You can get plenty of bottom time on a single aluminum 80. I've made several dives in the cave via the shaft and the slough, but it's only accessible now if the water level in the sinkhole is high enough to cover the ground. The wooden supports holding the aluminum ladder in the shaft collapsed several years ago. The last time that I looked down it, one of the wooden supports was stuck in the shaft and blocking entry.
Ed has been trying to sell the property for years, so an announcement of it being up for sale is nothing new to me.
Everytime I have been there in the past year he has talked about getting a bottle company in there so I think the deep pocket corps are going to get this one if they want it. The ad might say a cave divers blah blah but its going to be the mighty dollar that drives this guy.
Maybe I should buy it. The cost you can get away with charging for air there would pay the loan off in a year or two.
Water has been being pumped out of the cave system for years now. The last time that I was there(which has been about a year), the pumping apparatus was still in place.
To add to that I beleive he mentioned that he got approval to pump more out each day. 125mgal/day sound right? Might have been 125K. Anyway I personaly dont agree with anybody pumping and shipping water anywhere. Most of it seems to go to snobs that dont want to drink from the fountain at work.
I don't see the problem here guys.
These are the same landowner rights at work which everyone in the community seems to think are perfectly valid and valuable in regulating our access to caves, whether by governments, individuals or companies.
I personally hope he gets top dollar for it from whoever is willing to pay that top dollar, no matter who or what that might be.
The true test of support of individual liberty is when you support someone else's right to do things that you disagree with or would not personally do, because you support the underlying rights and principles rather than your personal benefit or advantage.
I don't see a problem either with him having water pumped out of his own property. Considering the unexpected expenses(i.e. wall collapse repair) that he's had to go through, it's one way of helping him recoop his losses. Besides, it moves the water faster out of the sinkhole and into the cave slough and keeps the sinkhole clear for the divers.
These sites should have never been available for private purchase in the first place. I let everyone I know that drinks bottled spring water that I have probably utilized my P-valve on my drysuit in that very spring in support of the bottling companies.
After having swum behind you, All I can say is that is Nasty :twisted: Glad I don't drink bottled water :roll:Quote:
Originally Posted by OutlawCaver
Keith