Anybody care to post conditions in the Devil system from this weekend? I am interested in going Monday.
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Anybody care to post conditions in the Devil system from this weekend? I am interested in going Monday.
Mike, the mainline is dusky as is the Hill 400, the Bone Room and the Split. Flow's increasing every day while the water level is dropping. It's crystal clear in Sweet Suprise, Mainland and past the Hinkel. Hope this helps.... :)
Safe diving,
Rich
It's been getting better and better. The flow is back to what it has been in the last year or so. The Ear was reopened today.
thanks everybody
I just completed my NACD Cave DPV course there with Larry Green. Conditions were good and Larry is a great instructor. I would highly recommend him. Very thorough.:clapper
Brian
If you can get there anytime soon, do it...and bring your camera!! The dark river water is right over the ear, and the current is swirling in clear spring water. This is the time for those amazing photos that only come along every now and then. The mix of the tannic and spring water give that "water on fire" look. I could have sat at the log and watched all day it was so beautiful.
By the way, congratulations Brian. We talked with you on Saturday. I was the guy with the tattoo sleeves that with the two younger guys. Larry is a great guy for sure!!
Dove Devil's today but the highlight was hanging out on the breather in the run between Ear & Eye with 3 manatees <G>. Awesome, they were rolling over on their side letting me scratch their bellies....very cool!
Mike BE CAREFUL!!! Although they may have the same dimentions as Manatees, it might have been a drunken female tuber! In the tannic water, it's hard to tell... :yawinkle:Quote:
Originally Posted by mmcauliffe
When I came up out of the eye, I was delighted to be eye to eye with one of the Manatees. I followed it almost to Little Devils where it turned and swam back toward the river. About 10 min. later, I asked a kayaker, who had paddled up to Little Devils, if he had seen the manatees. He laughed and assured me that manatees "never come this far upstream". A perfect illustration of why one shouldn't believe everything one thinks....
Besides that the cave diving was good too, with excellent viz. and typical flow.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mmcauliffe
OK Mike that's it buddy !!!! You owe me a keyboard for that one !!!!! Although I would have said it if you had not !!!! :clapperQuote:
Originally Posted by Mike Edmonston
Nevermind that is awfully early for Manatee to come up river anyway??Quote:
Originally Posted by Serota
I was a witness, they were real Manatees. I had just said the night before I wanted to do a manatee dive, then boom, there they are for over an hour. Most enjoyable dive I have had in a long time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Edmonston
Last September I was solo diving at the St. Andrews jetties in Panama City Beach and I came eye-to-eye with a lone manatee. I never expected to see one there, either.
I AM SO JEALOUS <---yep, that's me yelling! I've wanted to get around some manatees in the water ever since I moved to Florida...just never has happened. Thanks for sharing Mike! I really am glad you got enjoy them.Quote:
Originally Posted by mmcauliffe
The ony manatee I ever saw was at Wakulla last year, I was standing on one of the docks so I wasn't in the water with it.
This was a first and pretty darn cool.
WOW! I am totally jealous...I knew I shouldn't have worked yesterday! Although I'd be worried that my exhaust bubbles and the sound of the dpvs would scare them...of course Mike doesn't have to worry about either of those things...Quote:
Originally Posted by mmcauliffe
Thanks for the comments on completing Cave DPV. It was nice to meet you. I am now looking to do more cave scootering...:smt081
Brian
that sounds fantastic, mike!
see you thurs...
No bubbles is nice but I had an hour or so with some at Blue Springs before they closed it to diving when they are in the run. We did not go to them, they came to us and were very interested. While staying still on the bottom they would swim up face to face and check us out. I even had one tug on my fins along with having them try to roll me over with their flippers. Amazing experience. Of course it was before I got a housing for my camera but a friend got a lot of shots on his that day.Quote:
Originally Posted by EGIB
Sorry for the hijack, but I was lucky enough to get some photos this past winter.
http://inkmantpa.smugmug.com/photos/...51_852CB-L.jpg
http://inkmantpa.smugmug.com/photos/...50_dHa8C-L.jpg
There are lots more in my galleryhttp://inkmantpa.smugmug.com/gallery...27911150_dHa8C
The manatees are still hanging around Devil's. I was swimming around with one for a couple of minutes yesterday afternoon. Actually, it was doing a little fin hopping across the bottom.
We were just beginning our dive when it came out of the tannic river water into the run, past the Eye, and then back towards the river. It took its time just cruising around looking for food. It was a small one, I'd guess maybe about 1000 lbs.or less. I've been snorkeling with them before in Crystal River, but it was pretty cool to be on scuba with one in clear water!
The manatees were back again today!!
Nice pix, inkdiver!
Here are a few pictures I've taken over the years at various sites. I've seen them in the Indian River, off of Sebastian in the ocean, near Orman Beach, and in Blue Spring and Crystal River.
I saw that big one today, just off the Ear. Man what a big beast.