Buford.

[dsmylie957]

Anybody dive Buford this weekend?


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[lowvoltguy1972]

I was there 3 weeks ago and it was pristine.

[phreaticus53]

Sunny and not too hot last week, 80 ft. viz. in the cavern, no flow from the little spring vent area at 140, which was expected due to the extreme drought in Central Florida. This info from Will Walters , who is 80 years old and the original explorer of Buford, in 1973. He's still diving!

[Six Feet Under]

Anybody have an update for how it faired with all the rain/storms we had in the last few days?

Hospital Hole was completely trash today... took all of 2.5 minutes to realize that dive was going nowhere and come back to the surface LOL

[Andrewj]

Crystal clear from top to bottom on Friday (4/28/23).


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[Six Feet Under]

Surface was clear today and swimmers reported good viz as far as they could see - not sure why image is flipped but nothing I can do about it from my phone.

[Six Feet Under]

Did two dives at Buford today with my buddy (advanced OW). System was 100% clear as far down the permanent line as I could go while keeping us within his NDL. We were the only people there when we first arrived around 9:45-10am, a KISS rebreather class showed up about five minutes after we did and got in the water at the same time as us on dive #1, then they were finishing up their second dive as we geared up for ours. Probably 4-5 freedivers as well, but everyone kept the basin clear and didn't stir anything up, so it was absolutely gorgeous all the way through. Was kind of surprised it looked the same as Saturday, considering all the rain we had last night (Sunday) - poured in Crystal River and Weeki Wachee both, apparently. There was some standing water along the tram path and around the boardwalk.


Dive #1 - 122 feet, total run time 36 minutes, start 11:43am

Dive #2 - 109 feet, total run time 39 minutes, start 1:44pm

[Nitrogenius]

Did two dives at Buford today with my buddy (advanced OW). System was 100% clear as far down the permanent line as I could go while keeping us within his NDL.

So just to understand or clarify a potential misunderstanding you are taking a buddy that is advabced OW as in having no overhead training whatsoever into a cave on a permanent line and consider it ok and safe as long as you stay within the NDL?
I hope I did misunderstand this, but just in case I didn't, have you considered what potential benefit staying within the NDL would have when diving in an actual overhead environment?
The whole point of the NDL is that a diver in an emergency can directly ascent to the surface and this is the limit the diver has been trained for: Emergency rely on buddy or direct ascent to surface.

[rddvet]

So just to understand or clarify a potential misunderstanding you are taking a buddy that is advabced OW as in having no overhead training whatsoever into a cave on a permanent line and consider it ok and safe as long as you stay within the NDL?
I hope I did misunderstand this, but just in case I didn't, have you considered what potential benefit staying within the NDL would have when diving in an actual overhead environment?
The whole point of the NDL is that a diver in an emergency can directly ascent to the surface and this is the limit the diver has been trained for: Emergency rely on buddy or direct ascent to surface.

Buford is considered an ?open water safe? cavern just like paradise. . Im not saying I agree or disagree with that premise but it is the precedent that has beeb sent. People have been ow diving and snorkeling there for years.
I would argue his friend was much safer being with an experienced cave diver as compared to the other 100s of people diving there with zero knowledge of the dangers. Idk the op but he doesnt deserve heat for it.


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[Six Feet Under]

So just to understand or clarify a potential misunderstanding you are taking a buddy that is advabced OW as in having no overhead training whatsoever into a cave on a permanent line and consider it ok and safe as long as you stay within the NDL?
I hope I did misunderstand this, but just in case I didn't, have you considered what potential benefit staying within the NDL would have when diving in an actual overhead environment?
The whole point of the NDL is that a diver in an emergency can directly ascent to the surface and this is the limit the diver has been trained for: Emergency rely on buddy or direct ascent to surface.

Correct, it was misunderstood. Our MOD (28% @ 1.4 pO2) was 132 feet, which is not in the cave at all.

Both of us hit 122 feet on that dive, near the beginning of the permanent guideline where it is tied into the cinder block on the bottom. I followed the guideline for a few feet (swimming above it maintaining about 120 ft depth) for a few dozen feet and turned around, while he checked out that USMC memorial stone someone left at the bottom.

The "OW divers into overhead environments" issue aside, I would not leave an actual dive buddy that I know and like (we've been best friends since middle school) at 100+ feet and go on a side quest when I know they don't have a redundant air supply, just in case.