OK. Hmmmm. I guess it could be a cave 1 dive if conditions are right. Would a cave 1 diver who was new be likey to silt it out and have to make a zero viz exit? Or is the visibility issue unrelated to disturbing silt in the cave but more of a current conditions phenomenon?Originally Posted by cmint
Here are some that I am unsure about. Are any of these GREAT for an Open Water, Cavern, or Cave 1 / backmount diver?
- Devil's Den
- Ginnie (Little Devil)
- King Spring
- Lineater / Stevenson
- Madison (Martz Sink)
- Royal Spring
- Wakulla (Cherokee Sink)
Yep, I sourced my list from there. It took me many hours to narrow it down to only those sites that would be suitable for my criteria. I had to read every single entry in depth including the condition reports. Perhaps if there were some additional columns in the data there it would be easier to use for my purpose. Maybe "good for beginners" and "sidemount recommended" or something.
Royal you want to limit to open water and avoid the cave no matter your certification.
You mentioned Lafayette in an earlier post, this one may not meet your criteria for good visibility.
"Not all change is improvement...but all improvement is change" Donald Berwick
Little devil is pretty quick Down & Up for OW. Cavern lets you bring a light to look around, but not much to see.
King spring can be an interesting ow dive. It?s been a few years since I was there, but there is definitely some cave/no light zone there.
Martz is not Somerwhere I would take anyone who is not full cave. The drop zone is very silty, and there is a pretty low restriction and jump to the gold line.
Royal.. ow only.
Thank you all for the feedback. Here are the lists as they currently stand:
Recommended springs for Open Water divers:
- Alexander Spring
- Blue Grotto
- Blue Spring (Orange City)
- Cypress Spring
- Devil's Den
- Fanning Spring
- Ginnie (Ballroom)
- Ginnie (Devil's Ear)
- Ginnie (Devil's Eye)
- Ginnie (Little Devil)
- Ichetucknee (Blue Spring / Jug Hole)
- Jackson Blue
- King Spring
- Little River
- Madison (Main)
- Manatee (Catfish Hotel)
- Manatee (Main)
- Morrison
- Peacock (Orange Grove)
- Rainbow River (KP Hole)
- Royal Spring
- Troy Spring
- Vortex Spring
- Wakulla (Cherokee Sink)
Recommended springs for Cavern divers:
- Alexander Spring
- Blue Grotto
- Blue Spring (Orange City)
- Buford Spring
- Cypress Spring
- Devil's Den
- Ginnie (Ballroom)
- Ginnie (Devil's Ear)
- Ginnie (Devil's Eye)
- Ichetucknee (Blue Spring / Jug Hole)
- Jackson Blue
- King Spring
- Little River
- Madison (Main)
- Manatee (Catfish Hotel)
- Morrison
- Paradise Spring
- Peacock (Main)
- Peacock (Orange Grove)
- Vortex Spring
- Wakulla (Cherokee Sink)
- Warm Springs
Recommended springs for Cave 1 divers:
- Bozel Spring
- Buford Spring
- Ebro Blue
- Ginnie (Devil's Ear)
- Ginnie (Devil's Eye)
- Hole in the Wall
- Jackson Blue
- Lafayette (Blue Spring)
- Lafayette (Green Sink)
- Lineater / Stevenson
- Little River
- Manatee (Catfish Hotel)
- Peacock (Main)
- Peacock (Orange Grove)
- Telford
- Twin Cave
- Vortex Spring
- Wakulla (Cherokee Sink)
- Wakulla (Clearcut Sink)
- Wakulla (Emerald Sink)
If we are talking about recommendations, I would not recommend royal, Madison, or jug to open water divers.
The cave at royal is dangerous, Madison spring basin is not that big, same with jug. We don't want divers to get bored and hear the siren call. Possible and recommendable are different.
I think king is the same but I also think it might depend on tidal influence, how much open water visibility there is. Been a while, and I would like to go back.
Thank you!! I am definitely looking for "recommendable", otherwise I would just go based on CaveAtlas.com which is more like "possible".
I would like to edit my other posts with this updated list, if we could all work together on it I think it could be useful to be "stickied" somewhere. Here is the updated list based on feedback:
Recommended springs for Open Water divers:
Recommended springs for Cavern divers:
- Alexander Spring
- Blue Grotto
- Blue Spring (Orange City)
- Cypress Spring
- Fanning Spring
- Ginnie (Ballroom)
- Ginnie (Devil's Ear)
- Ginnie (Devil's Eye)
- Ginnie (Little Devil)
- Ichetucknee (Blue Spring / Jug Hole)
- Jackson Blue
- King Spring
- Little River
- Manatee (Catfish Hotel)
- Manatee (Main)
- Morrison
- Peacock (Orange Grove)
- Rainbow River (KP Hole)
- Troy Spring
- Vortex Spring
- Wakulla (Cherokee Sink)
Recommended springs for backmount Cave divers:
- Alexander Spring
- Blue Grotto
- Blue Spring (Orange City)
- Buford Spring
- Cypress Spring
- Devil's Den
- Ginnie (Ballroom)
- Ginnie (Devil's Ear)
- Ginnie (Devil's Eye)
- Ichetucknee (Blue Spring / Jug Hole)
- Jackson Blue
- King Spring
- Little River
- Madison (Main)
- Manatee (Catfish Hotel)
- Morrison
- Paradise Spring
- Peacock (Main)
- Peacock (Orange Grove)
- Vortex Spring
- Wakulla (Cherokee Sink)
- Warm Springs
- Bozel Spring
- Buford Spring
- Ebro Blue
- Ginnie (Devil's Ear)
- Ginnie (Devil's Eye)
- Hole in the Wall
- Jackson Blue
- Lafayette (Blue Spring)
- Lafayette (Green Sink)
- Lineater
- Little River
- Madison (Main)
- Manatee (Catfish Hotel)
- Peacock (Main)
- Peacock (Orange Grove)
- Twin Cave
- Vortex Spring
- Wakulla (Cherokee Sink)
- Wakulla (Clearcut Sink)
- Wakulla (Emerald Sink)
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