Troy Spring question

[Jurgen]

Does anyone know if there is a cave at Troy Springs?
Backmount or Sidemount?
How long is the cave?

Thanks

Jurgen

[FW]

More like a "no mount". It isn't very long, and when the current is up, very hard to get into.

FWIW, I suspect the rangers would take a dim view of anyone trying to get into it.

[Line Squirrel]

No cave diving allowed, they see you go in with "cave gear" (3 lights, reels/spools, etc ) and law enforcement will be called. Your gear will be confiscated until your court hearing, which by the way, if the laws are anything like Michigan, they can confiscate your vehicle as well, it’s considered part of your gear since it got you there.....just fyi

Several years ago my dive buddy was fixin' to take Intro and wanted to get used to doubles in open water, including lights, reels, etc. The ranger said, "Nope, no lights or reels by anyone, including Full Cave divers."

[Cave Ranger]

Not that it's that important to me as I think Troy is fine the way it is but there is river access. Couldn't some cantankerous hardass swim in from a boat? I recall there being some sort of barrier but I didn't look at it that closely.
I dove Troy for the first time back in November and viz was around 50 feet. My buddy and I were diving Double LP 85's as that was all we packed for the trip. We also had 1 Safety reel each, HID lights with backup etc. We were rigged for Cave because that is what we had been doing earlier at another site. We had a little gas to burn off and some time to kill so we decided to check out Troy Spring.
We went into the high flow small Cavern and putzed around in there for a while and then we went over to the Paddlewheeler wreck and spooked a few Turtles.
I didn't see any sign saying we couldn't dive with doubles, reels etc. We never saw any Ranger. Is this some kind of unwritten rule or did I just not see the sign?

[Line Squirrel]

As far as I'm aware, the state park service has jurisdiction within 400ft from "Mean High Water or Ordinary High Water Line within the riparian lines of any state park unit".

So I guess this gives them the right, under Florida State Law, to limit access as they deem necessary.

[Serota]

Not knowing any better, a buddy and I did a cavern dive there last fall using doubles, lights etc.. The ranger we talked to not only didn't stop us, but was very interested in what we were doing, our gear etc.. In this case I guess ignorance was bliss; although it wasn't a particulary interesting dive.

[Gary]

Not knowing any better, a buddy and I did a cavern dive there last fall using doubles, lights etc.. The ranger we talked to not only didn't stop us, but was very interested in what we were doing, our gear etc.. In this case I guess ignorance was bliss; although it wasn't a particulary interesting dive.

Ditto. Soon after Troy opened to diving Kathleen and I headed there with sidemount gear. Didn't hear the no cave diving rule til much later. I had gone by a couple weeks earlier and scouted the place and took note of the rules - including the no solo diving rule - and came back later when I had a buddy.

I remember a couple tight spots but sidemount was fine. Here are my comments from the dive:

Lots of flow, little to see, fragile. Definitely hard to swim without contacting the cave, muddy brown coating on the rocks. The line is very recessed and in poor condition. It seems like about 200' there is a restriction not far past the start of the line - I'm not sure whether it would be passable backmount (it wasn't exactly easly in sidemount).

I also remember doing some line repair while we were in there. Not sure, probably 500-600 feet of cave passage to the end.

[Jurgen]

Thanks for your info.

I was doing a openwater dive with my grilfriend last weekend
at Troy, and at one point I went into the cave, just like 20 feet
to the beginning of the line and was wondering how far the cave is going.
I was diving with my doubles & lights, the park ranger saw me
comming out of the water but did not say anything about diving
with my cave diving gear.

Jurgen

[Limestone Cowboy]

No cave diving allowed, they see you go in with "cave gear" (3 lights, reels/spools, etc ) and law enforcement will be called. Your gear will be confiscated until your court hearing, which by the way, if the laws are anything like Michigan, they can confiscate your vehicle as well, it’s considered part of your gear since it got you there.....just fyi

What would they charge you with, and what would their evidence be? Last I heard (and I'm a native) there were no laws against diving with whatever gear you want (spearfishing aside).

I respect park rules, but threatening me with a LEO visit for a unprovable violation isn't much of a worry to me if I really wanted to dive it.

Drew