Manatee Springs

[ajimmythekid]

It is great fun doing all that, *and* running a reel. Sheck made his students run a reel into the head spring to pass his course.

Yes, the first few times with the reel was fun , forgeting to keep my finger on the spool & spooling out 150' on line all around behind me,lol

[atedeschi]

where is the closest place to get fills if wanting to do two dives hear. Or is there any place along the way from Little River to Manatee?

[jj1987]

where is the closest place to get fills if wanting to do two dives hear. Or is there any place along the way from Little River to Manatee?

Steamboat Dive Inn 386-935-2283, it's right near the public boat ramp there in branford, and Dustin is a GREAT guy to deal with. He'll give you $100 if you sit in his tank filling bath for 15 minutes too! Closest fills to manatee is blue grotto or devils den.

[cavemark]

It's cheaper to rent an extra set of doubles on the way there. I would be looking at at least $18 and a two hour round trip including fill time.

[jeandiver]

Fills at Blue Grotto very expensive if you have doubles. Trust me on this one.
I'd take an extra set , as mentioned before.

Jean

[jj1987]

Fills at Blue Grotto very expensive if you have doubles. Trust me on this one.
I'd take an extra set , as mentioned before.

Jean

I heard nitrox was upwards of $15 a tank. I know air is over $10 for a fact.

[cavemark]

I heard nitrox was upwards of $15 a tank. I know air is over $10 for a fact.

Sorry, I didn't clarify the last time. I would be loking at $18 in gasoline and a two hour round trip. Add to that $30?? for a nitrox doubles fill (a lot of fill stations don't care how full the tank is they will charge you the same) and you are looking at $48 for one dive? I can go to Cave East and have my tanks filled with 32% (if I were to use the full 2/3) for about $14 ($.09/cf). You can rent a set of doubles there for 10$ a day. That would make the same dive $24 and I wouldn't have to drive anywhere between dives. If the fill station is close and they didn't charge a ridiculous price then it makes sense to drive between dives for the fill, but at those prices you could save enough in about 25 dives to buy another set of doubles.

Mark

[Line Squirrel]

I would be looking at $18 in gasoline...

$19...oops, now it's 20...21...22...STOP!!!

I put $95 in my van [32 gallon tank] the other day and my van was not even that close to empty AND I see the price has gone up at the station I use another .10 since then.

[LiteHedded]

fills at devils den are cheaper
I paid 7 bucks to top off my doubles there
don't think they do nitrox tho