Tell me about Blue Hole...

I'm headed to N. FL in March with a high school marine biology group... one day they will be tubing at Itchetucknee St. Park and I understand there is some cave diving here.... i've never been so I was hoping for a little info. They call it Blue Hole... is this the same as blue spring? A bit of info on this system would be awesome, as it may change our plans or at least alter them if the diving isn't right. the website says full cave...do they allow cavern divers. I"m full cave and would love to dive a new system, but we have some cavern divers as well that may want to dive. Would you suggest diving this?

Blue Hole (aka Jug Hole) is an advanced dive. Sidemount recommended. It takes something >1/4 mile hike with gear just to get to the water. I wouldn't recommend it under the circumstances.

I don't know if they allow cavern divers or not there...but if you are backmount, you won't get out of the cavern anyways. The bedding plane restriction, about 100' in, is too low for 99% of backmounters to make it through. I wouldn't recommend trying in backmount, either....it will just tear up the cave. This restriction is, BTW, where the line starts.

This is a beautiful - although short - system, but sidemount is necessary to explore it fully. The cavern would be an interesting dive, if they allow cavern divers in there.

Mike

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by IowaCaveDiver

I'm headed to N. FL in March with a high school marine biology group... one day they will be tubing at Itchetucknee St. Park and I understand there is some cave diving here.... i've never been so I was hoping for a little info. They call it Blue Hole... is this the same as blue spring? A bit of info on this system would be awesome, as it may change our plans or at least alter them if the diving isn't right. the website says full cave...do they allow cavern divers. I"m full cave and would love to dive a new system, but we have some cavern divers as well that may want to dive. Would you suggest diving this?

---

Its called Jug Hole, or Itchetucknee Blue Spring/Hole. Some more info is here - http://www.floridacaves.com/jughole.html

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MikeH

This is a beautiful - although short - system, but sidemount is necessary to explore it fully. The cavern would be an interesting dive, if they allow cavern divers in there.

Mike

---

Yup. The first time I dove it I didn't get far past the cavern zone anyway. It was like the Wizard of Oz in there. You know when Dorothy is spinning around in the tornado and see's other people floating by. So it was with my buddy. :lol:

Ok, so i'd agree after checking out some of the info on Jug Hole that It would not be the most appropriate spot for us on this trip...i'm the only one that might be able to dive it, and I'm only just getting into sidemount. Any other suggestions of a place where people could go tubing/swimming and there would be a good cavern dive for some newbie cavern divers? A small group of students will be completing a cavern course a few days prior and the leader of the group was planning on me taking these kids to Itchetucknee so they could tube and I was going to dive the cavern to check it out for next year's trip... we will be going to Ginnie the following day and have been there before, we just wanted to find something to change it up a bit for one day of the trip.... any suggestions?

Madison Blue Spring is about all I can think of in that area that would be good for swimmers and cavern diving.

Madison Blue Springs looks like an awesome destination... i've never dove there before, but from the website it looks like exactly what we'd be needing....unfortunatly it is several hours from where we are camping (manatee st. park) and the day I'm looking to do this dive, we pack up camp and head to tampa, which is in the opposite direction.... any other alternatives? I was thinking maybe little river? I believe they will do their cavern training at Peacock as they did last year, and all the students have dove at manatee, just the as open water divers though....what other options can you think of?

I hate to say it, but it sounds like Ginnie has everything you are looking for.. except maybe price. You can tube down the river, cavern dive, and cave dive, all at the same place. There are other places for swimming & diving together, but I don't know of any that have tubing also. BTW - the Itchatucknee is a WONDERFUL tube ride. It is also great for snorkeling. I would hate to the kids miss it (crystal clear water etc.).

we are headed to ginnie the day before, we just wanted to find something different for the students to check out...we havn't ruled out Itchetucknee, but we were just hoping to find somewhere the cavern divers could make a dive as well as the other students could swim or tube or whatever.... tubing isn't a must, just an idea. I wish Madsion blue was closer.... that seems like a great place to head to.

-Matt

Devil's Den is pretty cool. you might want to check out the 'cavern dive' page in the resources section to see what is out there.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by IowaCaveDiver

we are headed to ginnie the day before, we just wanted to find something different for the students to check out...we havn't ruled out Itchetucknee, but we were just hoping to find somewhere the cavern divers could make a dive as well as the other students could swim or tube or whatever.... tubing isn't a must, just an idea. I wish Madsion blue was closer.... that seems like a great place to head to.

-Matt

---

If youll be at Manatee Springs, then you may want to check out Crystal River, with Kings Spring. There is some cavern diving, plenty of swimming, snorkeling, and manatee observation. However, youd need to rent or charter a boat.

Be aware that the cavern nearly always looks kinda like this inside....

http://www.denninger.net/cluster2.jpg

Its not terribly deep nor does it go real far, but you still want to be careful - just due to the traffic levels.

BTW the 'tees are all over King Spring right now, and they're friendly.

We dive King Springs on a different day... so I'm still looking for something else... I think the first year students dive king spring, and this dive I'm looking for is for the returning second year students that have already been on the trip before... so these students won't be diving king spring, but they will have dove it the previous year.... any other suggestions?

Here is the list of cavern dives I mentioned:

http://www.cavediver.net/archives/bestcaverns.htm

Blue Grotto is nice, but not a lot for surface people
http://www.divebluegrotto.com/indexflash.html

Devil's Den is pretty cool too.

Blue Jug is a perfect dive for cavern level. The trek to the water may kill a few people, but the survivors will have a great dive. :-D For intro and full cave, the restrictions can be done in a single tank backmount, but you do have to swim on your side.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MikeH

I don't know if they allow cavern divers or not there...but if you are backmount, you won't get out of the cavern anyways. The bedding plane restriction, about 100' in, is too low for 99% of backmounters to make it through. I wouldn't recommend trying in backmount, either....it will just tear up the cave. This restriction is, BTW, where the line starts.

This is a beautiful - although short - system, but sidemount is necessary to explore it fully. The cavern would be an interesting dive, if they allow cavern divers in there.

Mike

---

I believe people who bring in too large of tanks and sidemount at Jug will tear up the cave. -- a backmounter with too large of tanks will not even make it through the bedding plane restriction so I wouldn't consider them people who can tear up the cave, but anyways, it is easiest for me to suit up and walk to the water with double medium pressure backmounted :evil: 72's. I don't have to take 2 trips this way and don't have to mess with pushing a cart. I can be in and out with a cave dive under my skin in less than an hour! Nothing like a little exercise before and after a dive, right? Anywahoo ya gotta zig to the left just getting in the bedding plane restriction and follow a taller path. To get through Diamond Sands I push a little sand out of the way then go through upside down. It's quick and easy. Ya can make it to the end of passage on thirds. Just have to remember to go to the right on the way out to get through the bedding plane.