After snorkeling with the manatee and a quick lunch at Sonic, we headed over to American Pro Diving Center to catch a ride on their afternoon run down Rainbow Springs (aka Rainbow River).
Signed all the necessary releases, bought the tee shirts, loaded up and followed the APDC truck with the trailer pontoon boat to KP Hole state park. The state of Florida has a vast and varied park system, checking in ranges from the equivalent of National Park style ranger check in stations at the park entrance where you have to provide and leave your C-card with the rangers to an envelope honor system. KP Hole is a popular park, great facilities, your first stop is the cashier station to pay, while we did all of our ID checks with APDC and where diving with them we did not have show them again, then we received a colored wrist band, I am guessing on busy days it helps them figure out who's paid and what type of visitor you are, swimmer, snorkeler, boater, tuber, diver, etc
The boat was loaded in the water, we loaded our gear on the boat in the parking lot before Quinn our captain took the boat to the boat ramp. We got on the on board and I soon discovered I was going to be the special needs diver for this trip. At Devils Den that title had fallen to Tige. He realized he for get his fins at that bottom of the cavern entrance, had to go get them, once down on the platform her realize he forgot his mask. Today it was my turn. Since we where snorkeling in the morning I had taken my BCD and regulators our of my bin. In the parking lot I had loaded my gear on the boat. Got on the boat and realized I was missing by BCD, quarter mile round trip to the van to get my BCD and realized my regulators were not on the boat either. Back to the van. Needless to say I got my chops busts for this.
Rainbow Spring is beautiful. KP Hole is not far from the head waters, the water is clear, it flows about one knot it is the way every body of water should look. We rode up spring about mile, to mile and a half, from what Qinn told us north of our splash location is was shallow and grassy; to shallow to dive.
Giant stride into the spring move off to the side out of the main current to wait for everyone to get in the water then drift out as a group into the current. All you needed your fins for was to steer the current moved you along. Depth ranged from 4 feet as you crossed the grassy mounds to 22 feet in the are where local dive shop do their training. The channel is 10 to 14 feet deep. A great drift dive.
There are several high flow underwater streams that you pass on the way, on of them the flow would fill eight olympic size swimming pools a day. Lot so popcorn spring, flow that bubble up through the sandy bottom. Followed a good size turtle for a few seconds but a few of his fin kicks and he was gone out of range.
On the grassy shallow area some of the grasses had these small light lavender blossoms, in a 1 knot current! Did not event attempt take a picture, by the time I saw them I was past them and could not slow down. At the end of the dive there was another high flow spring that came out of a cavern, you could dive in to the cavern, just big enough for one diver to go in at a time then turn around take a picture, then let the flow shoot you out into the spring. Fun way to end the dive.
Do this dive if you have the chance. Remember dont kick, use your fins to steer. Four of us; our dive was an hour and five minutes. Our other buddy pair used their fins, kicked and they where done in a little over a half hour.