Crowds at Ginnie Springs

Went to Ginnie Springs a week ago, was going to dive the ballroom with someone who had never been in a spring. I like the ballroom and she would have, also.

But we didn't do it, because there were literally a hundred people in line at the shop, signing in. It would have taken us an hour and then I suspected we would have been faced with this wall of people when trying to dive. I asked one of the GS people if there was an event, and he said no, just the normal crowd.

I've been gone from the area for a few years, but when I left you could sign in within 5 or 10 minutes. What has happened in the meantime, and is this really normal for GS now ?
If so, what are the good times to go, if there are any

Don't go on a weekend, don't go on a holiday, especially don't go on a holiday (3-day) weekend, and never never go on Memorial Day or Labor Day weekends.

I'm at Ginnie 8-10 times a year, but always in October and February, and almost always on a weekday. So I've never seen the crowds, and have never had to wait more than a few minutes to sign in.

But I have heard the stories, and seen the pictures...looks like a good place to avoid on a summer weekend. Unless you like crowds and noise and what we in the ER call the "summer drunk & stupids". I, myself, do not.

I'd imagine that the staff in the closest ER have some Ginnie stories, along the lines of "We was out to Ginnie Springs, and I says to my brother-in-law, Hey, Bud, hold my beer a second and watch this!"

Mike

Everything mentioned is right on! I live just down the road. NEVER plan on diving on a holiday. It's not that there's a lot of divers on site, ( most of them are smart enough to say away ) but you have to contend with thousands of drunks, bubbas, drugs, noise, bad music and the list goes on. Finding a parking place will take an act of God! Have I left anything out?

Today I was in Ginnie, completely forget the holiday and a friend came from Spain, si se wnet.It was not that bad, I guess the bad weather help... question: the first Jump right, is after Key Hole and going to the Bone Room?

I'm repeating myself, but here goes: Devil's is a great system. That being said, Devil's is a great dive any random Tuesday in February. Otherwise, it sucks.

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Originally Posted by AJRO

Today I was in Ginnie, completely forget the holiday and a friend came from Spain, si se wnet.It was not that bad, I guess the bad weather help... question: the first Jump right, is after Key Hole and going to the Bone Room?

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Yes.


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I went and camped the last Saturday before school started two years ago... never. again.

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Originally Posted by BobK

Went to Ginnie Springs a week ago, was going to dive the ballroom with someone who had never been in a spring. I like the ballroom and she would have, also.

But we didn't do it, because there were literally a hundred people in line at the shop, signing in. It would have taken us an hour and then I suspected we would have been faced with this wall of people when trying to dive. I asked one of the GS people if there was an event, and he said no, just the normal crowd.

I've been gone from the area for a few years, but when I left you could sign in within 5 or 10 minutes. What has happened in the meantime, and is this really normal for GS now ?
If so, what are the good times to go, if there are any

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Aside from Ginnie there are many options for open water diving on weekends. I tend to avoid Ginnie on weekends during the summer. Once schools start back up it isn't so bad. After Labor Day it's great! During the summer Ginnie is best during the week, there will still be people, but not as many as the weekends. If you have to go on a weekend get there EARLY. Makes signing in easy. Best yet, get an annual pass and get to know the staff well. I have had really easy check ins on weekends at Ginnie just by knowing Rose (Thanks Rose!!!) and a few other staff people. They see me and know I have a pass. Divers with a pass are the easiest check ins they have there.

About what I expected. My timing sucked :-)
Thanks.

We dive with friends occasionally on the weekend during prime season... getting there by 6am helps a lot, the number of highly intoxicated people is minimized but not completely eliminated

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Thanks

Most of the people signing in are rafting or snorkeling. I was at ginnie this past month and there was well over a hundred people in the shop but when i finally got down to the ball room we were the only divers there.

Looked like this at 8am this morning.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...4c8eebb11c.jpg

We had the place to ourselves and only saw 3 other divers and we looked everywhere.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...ea56619ed5.jpg


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Looked the same at 10AM. Glad everybody is afraid of Ginnie during the holidays.
It's not hard. Either show up late or if you're lazy like us plan a secondary location if it's a zoo at the checkin line.

8 hours in, did you drop line in the back?

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Originally Posted by patpicos

8 hours in, did you drop line in the back?

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He took a nap.

You're timing it incorrectly.
I dive Ginnie most every weekend, come and go before it opens, it's awesome early.
Wife and I had poe springs to ourselves for a nice sunset swim this weekend.
The middle of the day is for napping, bbq or swimming, not hauling heavy things around in the heat.

We dove it Saturday morning. There were only a few people there when we arrived. As we were packing up to go a little bit of a crowd was starting to build. We also dove it Sunday afternoon. There were a few swimmers there about 4, when we got through and were packing up it had almost cleared out completely.


If you dive it at least once a month or more, it makes the season pass economical, and you have the benefit of being able to come in before and after hours.