What are some good open water dive spots in High Springs area?

[xylix]

Besides the Ginnie Springs Ballroom, what's another good open water dive place within an hour or so from High Springs? My wife and I are heading down and I promised her I would take her on a couple of open water dives in between my cave dives.

I've only been a couple of time and have just been to Ginnie and Peacock so far.

Thanks in advance

[icestac]

Orange grove?

[Rich]

Catfish Hotel, Devil's Den and Blue Grotto are all within an hour of High Springs, hope this helps....

Safe diving,

Rich

[navycaver]

Blue Grotto and Devils Den down the road in Williston. II teach OW at both places. Hit them on a weekday if possible prior to weekend rush. Avoid Sat-Mon if possible.
Hope this helps.

[xylix]

Perfect, thanks for the info. I will take her to Orange Grove one day and Blue Grotto and Devil's Den on our last day. I'll give Catfish a try on our next trip.

[Half-Fast]

Troy Spring. http://www.floridastateparks.org/troyspring/default.cfm

[scoupland]

I haven't been in Orange Grove in about a month but it is usually covered with duck weed. The viz in the basin varies from clear to cloudly. She will need a light to dive there.

[Unregistered User]

Royal Spring has always been one of my favorites. It has a large basin and the cavern barely meets the definition of a "cavern". The cave entrance has a menacing look to its entrance, so that may be enough to discourage exploration by inexperienced divers. There is a platform in o/w, steps down to the water level, free to dive, and rarely visited (except by me this weekend with an o/w diver who wants to get an idea of spring/cavern/dpv diving in controlled environments). Did I mention it's free?...

[Sludge]

Royal Spring... cave entrance has a menacing look to its entrance, so that may be enough to discourage exploration by inexperienced divers.

Hasn't helped yet.

[Unregistered User]

Hasn't helped yet.

Actually, it has helped the handful of o/w divers I have taken there. The method involved me swimming into the cave entrance and kicking up an insane amount of silt right before I make the turn to the left. The o/w divers (who I brief before the dive) can then see for themselves how nasty it can get, all from the 'relative' safety of the cavern. Upon surfacing, one of the remarks I always hear is "Wow! I couldn't even see you at all and then only a glow from your light"-or something similar to that effect. Those divers were made aware of the dangers while still having a good, safe dive. Since the OP is a cave diver, it seemed reasonable to me that he could perform the same thing and give his partner a memorable (in many ways) dive. And another plus is that my silting will probably blow out the entrance for the weekend keeping other o/w divers out of there as well.
Of course, now that I have brought this up, Murphy's Law will be in full effect and conditions (viz, tannin) at Royal will be awful for Saturday!