What are some good open water dive spots in High Springs area?

[xylix]

Besides the Ginnie Springs Ballroom, what's another good open water dive place within an hour or so from High Springs? My wife and I are heading down and I promised her I would take her on a couple of open water dives in between my cave dives.

I've only been a couple of time and have just been to Ginnie and Peacock so far.

Thanks in advance

[icestac]

Orange grove?

[Rich]

Catfish Hotel, Devil's Den and Blue Grotto are all within an hour of High Springs, hope this helps....

Safe diving,

Rich

[navycaver]

Blue Grotto and Devils Den down the road in Williston. II teach OW at both places. Hit them on a weekday if possible prior to weekend rush. Avoid Sat-Mon if possible.
Hope this helps.

[xylix]

Perfect, thanks for the info. I will take her to Orange Grove one day and Blue Grotto and Devil's Den on our last day. I'll give Catfish a try on our next trip.

[Half-Fast]

Troy Spring. http://www.floridastateparks.org/troyspring/default.cfm

[scoupland]

I haven't been in Orange Grove in about a month but it is usually covered with duck weed. The viz in the basin varies from clear to cloudly. She will need a light to dive there.

[Unregistered User]

Royal Spring has always been one of my favorites. It has a large basin and the cavern barely meets the definition of a "cavern". The cave entrance has a menacing look to its entrance, so that may be enough to discourage exploration by inexperienced divers. There is a platform in o/w, steps down to the water level, free to dive, and rarely visited (except by me this weekend with an o/w diver who wants to get an idea of spring/cavern/dpv diving in controlled environments). Did I mention it's free?...

[Marc Bryan]

I would go with Troy for one of the days. It is a great basin, and then the run to the river contains a little history as well via the slight remains of the Madison.

[Leslie Sapp]

One of the biggest concentration of springs on the Suwannee is in Luraville to Branford stretch. We do what we call "spring hopping" which involves grabbing a mask and (shudder) a snorkle and trying to hit as many as we can in a day. Most of them are an easy free dive for a healthy swimmer, so we rarely put tanks on except in the larger ones. (Troy, Madison Blue, etc.)
If you catch the Suwannee when it's reasonably clear, there are some shoals a few miles above Troy that have a lot of fossils in them.
Download my Google Earth file of Florida springs, and have fun!