When has it NOT been the Wild West of the Scuba scene? Pretty sure people in the 80s and 90s felt the same way. For me the big difference is that cave/tech diving gets more coverage and exposure to the general public.Originally Posted by CaveSloth
A place like Buford clears up and the word gets out overnight. There is a damn FB group dedicated to posting current conditions. Sorry i didn’t get to dive it before the boardwalk.
It was such a pain in the ass years ago. Some days youd wslk straight to the spring. Some days it would look good and then youd get a surprise when you sink to your buttcheeks in mud. And some days the mosquitos were so thick from the wet conditions that youd be anemic before dropping a tank in the water.
But now I really miss that pain in the ass factor. Getting there was as rewarding as the dive.
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I never dove it pre-boardwalk, but now that I live 25ish minutes away, I'd be really pissed if it gets closed as it's the only place I could dive locally that I'd actually WANT to go. I've been during the week and we were either the only people there, or one of two groups of two divers each.
I guess the basin at the Nest would be an option for gear checks as an open water dive, but then I'd end up getting blasted on social media/forums for something I wasn't really doing (diving the cave), so it's not worth the hassle.
I knew the boardwalk would be trouble, but thought maybe the sign in process would slow it down some. I'm not for government interceding in out lives, but I wouldn't be upset if the management put a daily limit on divers like they do on hunters (at least they did at one point).
I've been to Buford many times on weekdays, weekends, and holidays and never saw a soul before the boardwalk. The only sign of other divers was either the line that people would set up to mark the best way through the mud or graffitti on the rocks.
Well,as I recall, lugging sidemount 80s through ass deep swamp water seemed to be a very effective feature for limiting cave tourists'.D.H.
Why is that would be a shock. I have not seen yet freedivers annoying or threatening my diving opportunities. They are usually young folks truly interested in sport perhaps having oversized balls that make older farts like myself jealous. Why cave divers would have an exclusive right on Buford cavern? Is it really more dangerous than OW divers diving Blue Grotto, Paradise, Ginnie Ballroom, Hudson, Hospital Hole, Croaker Hole, Forty Fathom, etc.
My experiences with free divers around cave country and in Mexico have been negative. And I personally don’t believe Buford to be a safe cavern. It is a true overhead, it’s deep, and when it’s it’s normal sparkling blue the depth becomes deceiving. It’s easy to get deep quickly and not realize it.
Oh, I forgot to add that it’s also more remote than most of those you mentioned which means that er services aren’t going to get there quickly. And finally there has been quite a bit of graffiti which has started to increase with more divers diving it.
I've had issues with freedovers using rocks to get down to their limit and then dropping them causing them to land very close to my head. Almost been hit by a couple drop lines and have been bumped during deco. While a lot of the Freedivers I've interacted with have been great people with good choice in beer, there are some who are fairly cantankerous. I'd argue Buford is more dangerous than the ballroom or bg due to its shape and depth. As long as you're not near the edges of Hudson you can also avoid overhead pretty well. No one group has a right over any other to these sites. I just don't look forward to the idea of trying to maintain an airway all the way back to the road at buford due to a mistake on anyone's part.
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