Cavern Suggestions

[rddvet]

My buddy and I are recently cavern certified and are slowly building our overhead time and skills before moving further in cave training at the beginning of the year. We're in the Tampa area and finally both have a full weekend off to hit a couple of spots. Since we don't get up to the panhandle very often, we considered taking the opportunity.

I dove Morrison years ago as a newly cert'd OW diver, and would like to see the inside of the cavern that kept calling to me during my training. So the original plan was drive up to Morrison firday and dive it on Saturday and come back this way and hit Jackson Blue Sunday. Edd's been really helpful with gear purchases over the phone, and I wanted to finally see the shop in person. Plus I've been told JB has a good cavern. Most of our dives thus far have been in the Peacock system.

After reading about annoyances at Morrison, I thougt I'd see if there were any better suggestions. Any caverns that you feel are either really cool or that are excellent training caverns that may be a better choice than our original plan.

All suggestions are welcome even if they're no in the areas of Morrison and JB. I'd be happy to have a list of must dos so I can start checking them off before cave. Thanks in advance

[JerseyJersey]

madison and orange grove have nice caverns

[Sludge]

Are you talking THIS weekend? If so, you definitely want to go to Edd's Customer Appreciation at Jackson Blue on Saturday.

[Tom Kreider]

+1 Orange Grove

[huxley]

Morrison is a nice cavern and you can practice running lines in there without silting it out. It's huge and you will have fun. You can hit vortex once you are in the area. quite a few open water divers there and you have to pay to get in. If you guys have time friday you can do a dive in the afternoon and use the opportunity to to a night dive at vortex and get tanks filled for the saturday trip to morrison. other than that the millpond is the only other place around there that I could think off.

[JE]

there are many good caverns to practice in: Even Little River, which BTW was one of my favs, because it forces you to develop your skills in a high flow situation. Some others: Ginnie Ball room of course, which is great. Devils Den & the Iche -Jug hole are cool. The Jug is actually my all time fav cavern to learn in. Manatee Springs {Catfish} is also a high flow cave/cavern to to develop your skills in. Here is a listing of all the springs & parks in Florida that are diva-able:
http://www.caveatlas.com/cave_systems.asp?co=
Have fun & be safe
^)^
je

[gasdiver]

In 82-83 time frame, a few years before I was cave certified, I dove Big Dismal in O/W gear. We built a rope ladder to get out. The dive was not worth the trouble, but it was an adventure. We also dove Little Dismal basin on the same day. The viz was crap because of the cave divers doing deco in the basin. Years later I learned that Sheck was exploring that system during the same time frame. I had no idea who he was at that time, but it was probably him and/or his team members who were decompressing when we made our dive. I can only imagine what went through their minds when they saw us "what kind of dumb-ass would make an o/w dive in this hole?"

[MDiver429]

Paradise Springs has a HUGE Cavern

[GIS-Rockstar]

I wouldn't rule out Morrison because of those grumpy divers. I'd definitely choose Morrison over Vortex (not really that fantastic of a dive to justify the price in my opinion; also I don't know if there is much of a cavern or not - I believe the cave system is gated off at some point and I'm not sure what level of overhead training will get you the key to unlock it). There's a sea wall off to the right of the pavilion at Morrison (if you're facing the spring) that we ended up using to don our gear; simple and effective.

I also recommend JB on Saturday (outstanding cavern zone and crystal clear/bright), and Madison Blue whenever. If you go to Madison, walk over and take a peek at Martz sink. That is something to see!

Right now, I'd say that Morrison, JB, and Ginnie (Ginnie IS worth the $30 fee) springs will be your clearest/brightest/best cavern practice spots. Go back to Peacock in the winter when it clears up a bit.

(My buddies and I are cavern now; feel free to holler for some Peacock Springs diving any time.)

[scuba_shark_fart]

We're thinking October 28th-30.