the mid 80's --early 90's Summer night diving

[JE]

In the beginning, there were no hours posted or gates tended. One could simply have a wild hair, drive to Luraville or Ft White, at any hour of day or nite & dive until the rare gases fizzed out. Often, a late midnite excurison to LR or P1_2- or 3 or Bonnet & Telford would render one a blissful, quiet, gentile dive without anyone bothering them. To egress from Little River as the sun came up & the days first visitors stepped foot on the staircase was sheer satisifaction of knowing the job was done, & a hearty breakfast awaited nearby at some local diner. {Bill's maybe}
Tis no more.....its all gone. Gates & hours now, Law & security nearby. You can still get some good diving in at Ginnie, but the others are now closed unless other permissions have begotten. The turn of the Century brought a different book of rules & regulations. I am not sure if it is for the better. Surely there are still quiet waters hidden from the masses, to be enjoyed at will. Those of you who have been around awhile know of them, & probably will never post their where-abouts of hidden gems. I don't blame them. Nor will I. It is my choice.
And Yours !

[rchrds]

Buy a boat.

[reiterman]

+1 for buy a boat

[JE]

Buy a boat.

I have 6 of them now, i don't need anymore.....though it must be nice to have your your own Apache !

[rchrds]

Ha, no Apaches here. Those things don't stay running long enough to be useful.

Anyway, I sympathize with your original post, I made many late night dives in the early-mid 90s- we usually dove after work until midnight, and then culminated at the waffle house in Alachua. (Late show time at work.) Nothing beats doing your shallow deco with your light off watching the moon and suddenly having naked college girls jumping in the spring to beat the heat. I might admit to having done too much deco in certain locations. We shifted to the boats to get to harder to get to locations, but it made the nights longer- add an hour on either end to get the boat up and down the river. Pretty soon I quit going to the usual spots (the places they have made parks and added gates) and now I hardly miss them. Time to move to somewhere that the security and police haven't caught up with the populace, and nobody cares about cavers or cave divers . I have just the country in mind....