Sneak Dives

[JE]

I want to reply to DeWayne's & Cindy's comments about landowner relations: It is always best to be respectful to property owners by asking them if they will allow you to explore what may be a lead on their land. This goes a long way to improving relations between divers & landowners. By simply being friendly & having a casual conversation with them, they will more than likely show you where these 'secret' karst windows are, & would be enlightened to see maps & photos of what may lie beneath their pastures & woodlands. Please show our Florida landowners the respect they deserve, & don't overdo it by being too friendly, either. A casual encounter is the best way.

[D1V3R]

What about the 2 OW divers that did a sneak dive into the devils eye using fishing line as a guideline and sharing a tank, and unsuprisingly got tangled up and died?

[Caver95]

what is a sneak dive?

[phreaticus]

Hey Forrest..

Would that be Sheck and Dana Turner (or was it Holtzendorff?) on that sneak.....? One was depth blackout, and one was convulsions/02 tox deep in Uno, if I am not mistaken?

Straatsma

[Cindy]

I want to reply to DeWayne's & Cindy's comments about landowner relations: It is always best to be respectful to property owners by asking them if they will allow you to explore what may be a lead on their land. This goes a long way to improving relations between divers & landowners. By simply being friendly & having a casual conversation with them, they will more than likely show you where these 'secret' karst windows are, & would be enlightened to see maps & photos of what may lie beneath their pastures & woodlands. Please show our Florida landowners the respect they deserve, & don't overdo it by being too friendly, either. A casual encounter is the best way.

When I say sneak dive I am talking about checking out areas on land that has neither fences nor signs. If there is either, then I ask. Most of the places I go without contacting owners first is hunting land, state forest, timber land, recreational or abandoned. When I do find something I go to the county tax office and contact the owner. There are rarely homes anyplace around. Many times the owners don't even know they own the area. One place I spent six months trying to contact the land owner in the Bahamas. The land went on a tax sale and my friend who is the tax collector in that county let me know I could dive it. If the land has an owner on it or sign then, of course, I ask them first. I don't like getting shot any more than anyone else. What I don't do is go through all that trouble to ridge walk or if the area doesn't go. It takes just too much work. I'm not talking about somone's backyard in High Springs. I have checked out many, many places over the last eight years. I have never been shot, arrested or told no by a land owner. Thanks for the advice though, I'll be sure to be more casual when I talk to the owner next. Cindy

[DKKearns]

My dive buddy and I decided to sneak into Morrison Spring years ago for a night dive. There was a group of divers on a bus from Alabama making a night dive there, and so cheap college students that we were, we decided to blend in with the group so the owner would think we were part of the already-paid Alabama contingent and we'd get a free dive. As clever as we thought we were at the time, we failed to notice that we were going down as the group was getting ready to leave. Sure enough when we came up, we were the only divers in sight...of the owner who was standing there waiting for us and not in a good mood. Seems in a clear spring at night, it isn't hard to spot high powered dive lights. We managed to get on his good side (he let us live) and came back the next day to make amends (i.e, pay). Still, there was that moment of panic when we surfaced...

[JE]

"Most of the places I go without contacting owners first is hunting land, state forest, timber land, recreational or abandoned." {Cindy}


Ditto-!

JE

[wingman]

Let's hear some sneak diving stories, cmon tell me tell me some stories I'm bored and a long way away from the caves.

Sid never been on a sneak dive (seriously)

Well I have an opportunity for you to lose your virginity in the marianna area (seriously), need a buddy to develop a story real time...what say you sid, come on down and bring your scooter... Bill, still a sneak virgin but looking to fix that.

[Sid]

Yeah we could do something really sneaky like throw the scooters in at edd's dock, and scooter over to JB for an hour or so, and then dive it for free, yep that would save 25.00. I 'm going soon, need to get my timing belt changed and then I will be rolling rolling rolling, keep the power flowing, keep those reactors going with the cores aglowing, scram em down, start em up, scram em down, start em up.... T.....M......I (sung to rawhide). Sid sitting in the dark.

[normblitch]

My dive buddy and I decided to sneak into Morrison Spring years ago for a night dive. There was a group of divers on a bus from Alabama making a night dive there, and so cheap college students that we were, we decided to blend in with the group so the owner would think we were part of the already-paid Alabama contingent and we'd get a free dive. As clever as we thought we were at the time, we failed to notice that we were going down as the group was getting ready to leave. Sure enough when we came up, we were the only divers in sight...of the owner who was standing there waiting for us and not in a good mood. Seems in a clear spring at night, it isn't hard to spot high powered dive lights. We managed to get on his good side (he let us live) and came back the next day to make amends (i.e, pay). Still, there was that moment of panic when we surfaced...

I'm of a vintage to remember when Ginnie was "free" on Wednesday nights...I still remember what the back of Wes's van smelled like...

<g>

Norm