2009 CDF Social

[RN]

First, it is 175 miles from the heart of cave country.

For some JB is the heart of cave country and the other locale is...well...

I understand the concerns, but I also heard that the CDS Workshop, which was held in Marianna last year, had the largest attendance in several years. Maybe people just need an excuse to get out of town...


Bob, I've been to an Arizona Lake on Easter Sunday. That makes Ginnie look like a ghost town. Just imagine standing room only in the water along the shore line and several souped up car stereos blasting Hispanic boompa music all day and NIGHT long. The cops couldn't even drive to the locations of the fights that broke out over whose stereo was louder!!! I did that once!!!

[J_glenn06]

I like the locaction just would like the date to be diffrent like SOONer lol

[BobK]

We have finalized the location of the CDF Social at Lafayette Blue Park. The date is July 4th. I'll post more information about activites, food, and so forth in a little while. The park is currently getting "refitted" and will have pretty nice facilities by July. If you're up in the area stop by and take a look. I hope to have a dive report on Monday

Thanks,

[RN]

Hopefully Lafayette Blue Park is better about this, but they said the same thing about Morrison being refitted and it's still closed...has been for over a year now!!! Yes, I know, Morrison is county managed and Lafayette is state managed, but it did take several more weeks than planned for the road grating in Peacock to get finished...

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I believe its the state permitting thats holding up Morrison from opening back up.



I miss Morrison :/

[deepdiverbob]

No disrespect, because I know organizing things is a very tough chore, however I cant help but notice you asked for feedback here, and just about all responses seemed to be against either the location, or the date. Yet the date and site still was selected as originally proposed. Did you receive other feedback via PM, e-mail or phone calls to come to this conclusion? Again, I dont mean to rock the boat here, just curious.

[tj]

When holding a social lots of issues have to be taken into account, and we sought feedback that would make it impossible to hold the social at Lafayette. We didn't get any. We need to hold it in different locations when possible. Ginnie Springs hasn't seen the last CDF Social, but we need to hold the meetings elsewhere and Jackson Blue and Lafayette were only ones in real contention. Jackson Blue just had a Workshop (CDS) there, but aside from a cave diver cleanup a few years ago, after it just opened, Lafayette Blue hasn't had much exposure. This will be good for Lafayette Blue State Park.

Picking the date is the hardest thing... and in the past, it has changed even after we picked one... hurricanes and conflicting event dates are reasons that come to mind. We had our largest ever social on July 4th... don't rememeber the year... but it was great... just super congested. Lafayette Blue State Park could be crowded, but not as extreme.

They are not closing the park while construction takes place. We had a great day and dive there last Sunday, in the middle of construction and equipment... and we were well received.


The state is building a new restroom/shower building, more walkways, an ADA ramp and much larger parking lots. They are even building a parking lot next to Green Sink JUST FOR cave divers. Unfortunately they don't have funding for any steps there (and they could sure use some). I have the park supervisor's contact information if anyone, or any agency wants to look further into that endeavor email or PM me. Sounds like a great project.


Oh, and having a social, in Florida, ONCE a year is not a rule...

[Sludge]

Did you receive other feedback via PM, e-mail or phone calls to come to this conclusion?

Yes, we've been talking about it since before the December 31 Social. As has been noted, we alternate holiday vs non-holiday when we can. It seems locals complain about having it on holiday weekends, and travelers complain about non-holidays. We just try to please as many as we can.

One memorable social was July 4, 2003, held at the River Rendezvous near Mayo. People dived Peacock, Cow, Little River, Telford, whatever in the morning, then came to the social around noon, then after all the festivities, went diving again afterwards. We hope that will happen this year. We certainly don't expect fifty divers to dive LB all at the same time.

No disrepect was taken, Bob. Believe me, the moderators have put a LOT of thought and discussion into the date and place. I'm hoping that folks that live sort of in the area will show up for the social, even if they don't want to dive that weekend. I really don't expect Lafayette Blue will be the madhouse Ginnie will be.

Oh, and having a social, in Florida, ONCE a year is not a rule...

A bunch of people that made the Galaxy Dive said we need to do it again this year. I expect to be there. Maybe CDF 2009 Social #2!

[BobK]

No disrespect, because I know organizing things is a very tough chore, however I cant help but notice you asked for feedback here, and just about all responses seemed to be against either the location, or the date. Yet the date and site still was selected as originally proposed. Did you receive other feedback via PM, e-mail or phone calls to come to this conclusion? Again, I dont mean to rock the boat here, just curious.

Guess I'm late getting back to this, but we did have other feedback. After considering it all, we came up with this decision. Like most things, time will tell if we have any idea what we're doing

[BobK]

Looking for someone to volunteer the use of a large grill for the social. The park has small ones, but we could end up with a cooked food backlog if we just use those.

Thanks !