Return to Deerfield Beach!

It has  been a while.  The shop had not been to Deerfield Beach to go diving since before the change in ownership.  They were looking for  a long weekend type trip that would not bust the bank.  I had mentioned the shop use to go  at least twice a year to Deerfield Beach to dive with Dixie Divers on the Lady Go Diver.    That mention made me the trip lead.

 Long drive there and back but the diving was excellent with a bit of current. One of the dives it was really moving  like 3-4 knots, Flying underwater, good thing it was a drift dive, actually it wasn't it was a wreck dive that turned into a drift dive.

We are planning to go again Spring of 2017 then again in the Fall if there are enough who want to go.  Come join us.

SSI ITS Training

ITS - Instructor Training Seminar
From SSI's Web Site for the ITS

The pinnacle of SSI’s dive professional training is the desirable Instructor Trainer rating. SSI Instructor Trainers are qualified to teach the Instructor Training Course (ITC) and prepare future SSI Instructors for their Instructor Evaluation(IE). This is one of the most rewarding and most challenging experiences an Instructor can perform.

The Instructor Trainer Seminar (ITS) is an international event where you will meet instructors from all over the world. You will experience intensive training and evaluations as well as the opportunity to build a personal network with people from other countries who share your passion. This is your chance to become “The Ultimate Dive Instructor.

A week in Charlotte NC at Open Water Adventures our ITS was conducted by Joe Guydeski.  A week of skills review, knowledge review, presentations  a lot like my Open Water Instructor Exam. The difference is a couple hundred diver certification I know the materiel really well. This week was about doing what other had done for me. Set those who are prepare up for success and how to council those who are not how to improve.  The main focus is to be able to prepare Dive Control Specialist ready their Instructor Examination. 

Skills where not problem, rescue was a breeze. Cramped badly during third lap of the 800 meter swim.  Struggled with 25 meter underwater snorkel.  I am use to doing it is 25 meter pool this was a 12 meter pool, the turn was killing me. I would get 3/4s of the way through and called it.  Worked on t,t where are there turns in the ocean anyway.  After some practice I got it. 

A great week at a great facility Looking forward to this new level of teaching.

People Pictures above are from Tige Pratt

SCUBA University 2016

SCUBA University is a 3 day event put on by Scuba Schools International (SSI) Tige and I wen to the first on last year in Charlotte NC.  This year it was in Raleigh NC. Same presentation by Doug McNeese  President of  SSI. The point is to show case successful shops by holding the event at local dive shop to see how they are implementing the presentation that Doug is giving.

The great thing about going a second time, is last May there was so much information that we could not absorb all of it.  We took what we could from last years event and implement, Our goal was to go back this year to refresh what we put in play then to see what we can expand on for 2017. 

A goo way to network with other shops in the region, meet new people and see how other shops are succeeding.

On the ride hope we sketch out a plan for the year, let's see how we do.

Discover Scuba for Ventures and Scouts

WOW! What  a weekend. My buddy Jim Chaplin stared in November posting notices for a Discover Scuba in January with Virginia Scuba.  At one point I think he told me he had 25 ventures/scouts and adults signed up.

In the end we had a total of 18 folks participate, we broke them up into two session one on Saturday morning, the second on Sunday afternoon. This was a mixture of Scouts and Venture Crews from all over the area. 

We have had scouts groups before but this was by far the best groups of young boys and girls we have had.

What made this a success; as with any event of this type, was planning.  Two instructors, a Divemaster and a Divemaster Candidate. As well we had scouts who were already certified divers help out moving equipment and logistics. 

The goal was for the scouts to have fun.  We went over the Discover Scuba Flip chart, hopped in the shallow water, went through required skills. Let them splash around the for a few minutes to make sure they where comfortable. Then we hopped out and headed to deep end.

A bit more instruction about decents and ascents and away they went. We all hung out on the bottom for quite some time.  Jim Chaplin brought a under water ping pong ball game, we had hula hoops to swim through. The scouts had a great time trying out their new skills.

After they were out of the pool and dried off, we went over the Scuba BSA paper work and they received their Scuba BSA patch to wear on their swim trunks.

Jim was using this event to gather interested in diving as well as planning for his annual Scouting Blackbeard trip.  I think he may have several takers.

As well, several of the scouts that could not make this weekend have signed up for our next pool date January 25, at last count we have 9 signed up so far.  We can always take more. Come join us!

DEMA Orlando 2013...

Dive Equipment Manufactures Association - DEMA  held every year alternating between Orlando and Las Vegas.  In 2013 it was in Orlando.  You have to be involved in the dive industry to have access to the show.  For Dive professional you have to be a Divematers or hire. If you run a dive shop you can owner, employee etc you get the ideal.

This was my first time going to DEMA. Since I had never been and I am helping the dive shop get a handle on thier database to be utilize all the features and functions my job was to attend the database provides week long seminars. Since it is an SQL database and I have been working on setting up a different SQL database for my day job I figured this would be double duty. 

Lot of stuff to learn on database side. Once that was complete each day hit the show floor to meet and greet. Had a get time., met lots of people.  Back to the shop to apply what was learned. 

Tec 40 Dives 2 and 3

Left out of Manassas to Lake Rawlings before 6:30 to be in the water at Lake Rawling before 10 to start the next two dives in my DSAT Tec40 training.

Was a lot of fun. Rachel made it a challange, as she should. Lots of task loading, to make you think about the "what if" with all of the gear.

Diving is diving - look here, breath here, kick.  This adds the option of  more bottom time and more depth. I am not so much looking for the depth but the bottom time.  That is not to say with some more experience  depth won't figure into this. There are several wrecks in south Florida that will put this training to use.

Now on to the real Open Water - the Ocean.  I will keep you posted.

Venturing in to Tec Diving

Rachel teaching Tec 40. Oct 2013Well it was bound to happen.  I have signed up for the PADI Tech 40 class.  Spent  week reading chapter after chapter, knowledge review after knowledge review to prepare fo this weekend classroom work and configuration secession. Rachel is our instructor.  I have been Rachel's student many times over the years. Once she started into tech I kept with recreational.

During the shop's rebuilding phase they continue to increase recreational diving and rebreather diving. But the open circuit tec diving has been hit or miss.  Over the few months Rachel has decided to step in and take control of the open circuit tec schedule.  This is the second batch of tec classes she has put together in the last month.  From what I hear she has classes planned for November and December as well.

Tec 40 is the into course to tec diving. You can go to 130 ft (same a recreational diving) but you can go into deco up to 10 minutes  with up to 50 percent oxygen.   Beyond Tec 40 is Tec 45 and Tec 50 using PADI's System. It is a building bock system to extend depth and decompression time.

Spent the last part of the class today breaking down several of my regulators and reconfigure them to prepare for next weekends pool and quarry dives. 

Will have to see how this goes.  I made it to this quarry sessions a couple of years ago but could not complete the open water ocean dives due to schedule conflicts, I am going to miss this classes ocean dives too, similar conflicts.  But i will get this done. I want this C-Card.  Not sure how much further I will go in Open Circuit Tec but I want to complete this.

SCUBAJAM 2013!

Another great year lots of teen divers enjoying a weekend of diving . Saturday and Sunday where great,  Seems to be a thing to rain doing the group dinner on Sunday;.  I was busy working with staff on events and the troop so I did not get many pictures this year.  Actually I have exactly 1 picture. 

August Open Water

Another great open water class, at Millbrook this time.  The water was the best conditions we have seen this year. You could actually see across the platform.  At the surface was very warm for Millbrook.  The really cold water was still at 30 ft and deeper.   The students did great. We had a great time.  Mpre certified divers in the world, that is a good thing.

What's Next art work complete and assembled.

---

Had no plan or thoughts to cobble together a  new dive training program.  As part of a discussion sitting around  the table with the guys at the shop  we wanted to have a way divers felt would move them along with their training. knowledge, skill level and confidence.  Did not create anything new, just repackage what is already being offered in a way that lets the diver feel accomplish.  Just a few months from idea to schedule. We are off to a good start.

Then we figured we needed artwork for a display end cap in the store.  About a month to get that all together, just a few years ago this would have cost a small fortune to do. It was not cheap but do-able.

This display will be hanging in the shop this Thursday afternoon.  that the next time I can get there. Once it is up I will add a store shot.

Update

on 2013-07-23 23:12 by Otter

And here it is in action. On display to infom all those who walk through the shop.  It looks AWESOME.  As I was leaving they moved it more towards the front of the shop beacuse they thought it looked awesome too.  :-)

Almost an Open Water Class today

This dive season has been challenging at Millbrook this year. As usual the water was it's normal cold back in April in the 40 degree range but it was pretty clear. May was about the same the water temp was not rising like it normally would due the rain, we have had a good bit this year.

From observation, but not by any scientific measurements, the picture you see here is the entrance to Beach one. There is a wooden platform with 5 or 6 steps.  Last fall the water level was so low only the last 2 steps were under water.  With this weeks past rain the entire platform is underwater and is about 18+ inches above the deck.  So that is 7 inches for each step plus the 18+ on top of the deck, that would put the total rise around 30 inches.  That is a lot of water considering the size of the quarry.

Somewhere between May and June a cloud of turbidity formed. This is not unusual there is always a layer of turbidity normally just above the thermocline and it is a few inches to foot high in the water column.  The density would vary from place to place in the quarry but never really dense.

When I was diving there in June, entering the water I notice something was different the surface water was very warm, warm like you would have in September around 70 degrees.  Once we descended I found out why. The turbidity layer started around 12 ft and went about 25 ft and it was like looking though pea soup.  Its density was such that sunlight could not penetrate that deep, it was heating up the surface water.

The end of June there was some more rain and divers I know where at the quarry they said the turbidity had seem to thin out. it was still not great but better.

Move a head to today July 13.  We had several inches of rain this week. Surface was warm, the descent had good viz down to 12 feet. Then it got ugly!  Taking my two open water students to about 20 ft holding a line I could not see them. The both grabbed my hand and pulled up, up we went.  They express their concerns about diving in this. This was if you could picture a green cloud in the water. I told there there was a good chance that if we got below it on the training platform it would be clear. I explained my past months experience. PADI standards say you can not leave a student unattended in the water. I explained that if they were willing we could go together in physical contact down line to the platform and see what the conditions looked like. If it was clear we could do the dive. They agreed.

Down we went. I have an Aeris AI dive computer, it is clipped to the chest D-ring on my BCD. It is always about 6-8 inches from my face. The digital display has reasonable size numbers and is easy to read. 16 feet was the last depth I could see. After that I could not see the computer the turbidity was so thick.  What was more disturbing as we continue down I swear the cloud turned from green to red.  That could be a problem. 

After what I thought was red, it became black and we where on the platform. Once my eyes adjusted it was clearer, 3-5 feet of viz, we where below the cloud but the only thing of note I could see was the phosphors glow of our three compasses, to read my computer I had to press the light button. 

Dive over, up we went.  I still swear the lower few feet of the cloud is red and that should not be. 

My divers where troopers, we are working on a plan  to go to Lake Rawlings.

Have to see what happens with the quarry. It may have too much water in it. Throwing off the ecosystem.  I will keep you posted. May just have to finish out the dive season at Rawlings.  It is just such a long ride.

Sunday Pool Dive

This morning I volunteered to go diving with Virginia Scuba, for the purpose of taking pictures of the classes in progress.  We had an Open Water Class, a Rebreather class and a few diver who wanted to work their skills or getting ready for a trip; some open, some closed circuit.

I took advantage of the opportunity to try out my new Hollis M-1 mask. I can not tell you how comfortable this mask. The mask skirt is excellent and creates a great seal. I had to take the mask strap off to put on the Virginia Scuba strap cover I can tell you of the dozens of mask that I have either had or have help students or divers with this task, the assembly that hold the mask strap to the mask was by far the most user friendly I have ever seen.  This is a  frameless, low volume mask, the overall design provides an amazing field of view.  

Here are some pictures from this morning's adventure.

Rebreather Class

Open Water Class

Rebreather predive

Open Water Entry

Talking Scuba with Ship 100

My buddy Jim Chaplin and I where asked by Boatswain Kayleigh of Ship 100 out of Gainesville to talk to the Ship about Scuba Diving.

Sea Scouts are part of the Boy Scouts of America, like Venturing Crew they are co-ed, but base learning leadership and having fun around nautical skills. 

Ship 100 wanted Jim and I to talk about the programs and options available through BSA.  We covered Snorkeling BSA, Scuba BSA and Scuba Diving and what is involved with each. Then we told them about BSA's High Adventure Camp, Sea Base, in the Florida Keys as well as other options and opportunities once they become certified divers.

I want to thank their Boatswain for inviting us to speak this evening and look forward to seeing them in the water diving soon.  

Tonight was also Ship 100's first anniversary as a unit. Congratulations!  

May you have fair winds and following seas. 

Troy Springs State Park - dive history in the making.

We started out this dive trip knowing the last days dive site would by majority vote. Starting with our first dive at Blue Grotto someone ask if we had been or where planing to dive Troy Springs. When we where at Ginnie Spring we where asked the same.  As a bonus on this trip we where able to get a quick tour of Halycon, which was very cool since most of my gear was is Halycon. They even suggested Troy Springs.  Since none of us had been there it seem fate was pulling us there.

Now as many of you know Virginia Scuba as of last July has new owners Tige Pratt, Chris Mullins and Kevin Angelilli. They have taken on Hollis as a line of gear. Chris  was one of the first to be trained as an instructor on Hollis's Prism2 Rebreather.  Everyone has been awaiting the release of the Hollis Explorer  which is a Sport Diving Rebreather since it was announced two years ago at DEMA.  While there have been others that have claimed to be Sport Diving Rebreathers, this unit in my opinion is in a class all its own and I think will be a game changer for Sport Diving.  Sport Diving is recreational-open water open circut diving.  Imagine instead of diving for 20-30 minutes  with an 80 cubic feet of air in your cylinder, how about up to 2 hours on one dive with one cylinder. Imagine what you could see or explore, no pun intended. There are wrecks and reefs that are begging to be redove by me with this kit. 

It so happen that Hollis posted on facebook earlier this week a picture of John Conway Hollis's Director of Training with six Explorers getting ready for the first Instructor Trainer course. On the 24th they posted a picture of John with the Instructors he would be training. All very exciting because Virginia Scuba has a preorder in for a couple of units. So we know we are getting close.

Saturday morning rolls around we as a group commit to going to dive Troy Springs. First we have to fill our cylinders, Tige had found Cave Country Diving in High Springs. We drop our cylinders off and wander around the shop looking at all the cool stuff they have, while they teach recreational diving, these folks are a tech diving shop . They are also a Hollis dealer, Tige as he tends to do, strikes up a conversation, the woman who was filling our cylinders and ringing our sale says "Where are you going diving?" He tells her Troy Spring. She say "Oh yeah John Conway going to be out there with the Explorer this morning"   We look at each other, what are the odds!

Tige checking out the ExplorerI had mention before in other post the difference in Florida State Parks, at Manatee Spring and KP Hole you have to sign your life away, surrender your c-card and pay to get in.  The entrance to Troy Springs looks like a one lane service road that seem to randomly have a pole with mail box on it on the side of the road.  At this park it is an honor system to gain access.  We paid our fee pulled into the parking lot and sure enough there is John and his crew gearing up to do their training on the Explorer. Tige has met and knows John as well as Matt, who wrote the manual for the Prism2 we did not hesitate going over to say hello and look, gawk, drool at the Explorers.  Let me tell you it is as cool as it looks. Matt gave a quick nickel tour of the unit, then we  let them get back to their configuring and dive planning. We went off to check out the dive site and set up our gear.

The water was so low here we could not use the platform or the stairs we had to do a beach entry here that is low. We were told at the end of the spring just before it joins the Suwannee river there is the remains of a riverboat that was burned and sunk.  You could still see the ribs and the keel. We will have to save that for a return trip, the water was too shallow to dive there.

The spring flow area was very cool, a deep slanted amphitheater shape down to where the spring flows out at about 75 feet. At the base there are several flows of various sizes and a couple cravens along the walls.  

Hollis Explorer in action

To top off a great dive the Hollis IT Explorer class entered the water about the midpoint to our dive. Since we where the only ones in the deep part of the spring we all seem to move on queue to a shallower depth to allow them to have the deep water. Most of us, or at least, Tige and I just hovered and watch history in the making.

Our dive was finished long before the Hollis group was. We had set up near the ramp down to the spring. As the first group came by I asked them how did it feel to be the coolest guys in the dive industry today.  They just laughed. They knew.

Our second dive we help James finish up his lost diver scenario, the last part of his Rescue Diver course. Which he did an excellent job. Mike was not thrilled about being drugged across the rocks but as a divemater he knows it goes with the job. 

For most of the day it had been overcast toward the end of our second dive the clouds move out the sun warm are bright and turtle came out from everywhere. We started couting but there got to be too many to keep track of and fun way to end the dive. 

Sad to see our great week of diving come to an end, it was a blast.  

What's next - Roatan if I can scrap the funds together.  I need to teach more, who wants to learn to dive or continue, expand on their current dive knowledge?  Several classes we can start here then go to Roatan and finish them there.  Come on, you know you want too...

Manatee Springs State Park

DUCK WEED! My first encounter. It is like large green grits floating on the surface. Looking at it from the banks you figure it is pond scum and will be nasty. It is just gritty.  That is what we found on Catfish hotel a sink hole depression-pond at Manatee Springs State Park. 

Once below the duck weed it was clear, but you had duck weed stuck everywhere. It is called catfish hotel for a reason there supposed to be a bunch of catfish in here. I found two or three small ones but the guys told me there where many of them on back on the shelves and holes in the walls. What was nice as our expelled air rose to the suface during the dive it created a large clear spot with no duck weed when we where exiting. I should say unless you where the last one, which I was, it did not take long for the duck weed to drift back an cover the nearly the entire surface again.

 Even after a quick rinse at the shower provided by the park, the duck weed still sticks.  We walk the short distance across the park to Manatee Spring. There where no manatee this far up the spring this morning, which is good because we could not go diving if they where. Some folks who where out enjoying the park said there where several manatee hanging out where the spring joins the Suwanee River a short distance away.

All of the springs we dove this week are several feet (4-5 feet) below normal. Some locals say it is lack of rainfall, others believe too much water is being pumped and diverted out of the aquifer into the aqueduct system for drinking water. All of which are a concern as well making entery and exiting for diving an interesting challenge, if not comical, in some locations. Most of the dive sites have either a ladder, stairs or platforms to help getting in and out of the water. These aids where where build for the springs normal water level. You take away 4-5 feet of water in some cases the ladders or stairs are just about or completely out of the water. So now there is a drop into very shallow water to get in and an awkward, and as I had made them, comical, exits trying to get back out. I can tell you some of my exits where not pretty.  I hope it is lack of rainfall and the area recovers with the next rainy season. I would like to go back and dive all of these site when they are near to at there normal fill and flow.

Manatee Spring is another high flow spring with a cavern-cave. The flow was sufficient that none of us attempted to enter the cavern. The silt area in front of the spring was filled with shells of all sizes and types. We spent most of the dive sifting through them. Everyone was looking for the elusive sharks teeth that are occasionally found. We had no such luck this trip.  Beyond the silt bowl shape created by the flow of the spring there was lush grass that filled the spring bed and lots of fish. We had seen more fish here then anywhere else beside Rainbow springs. 

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at the park. Had our picnic lunch, then we wandered around checking out the boardwalk that goes out over the swampy areas that runs parallel to the spring then out over the river. Where the river and spring meet there was indeed manatee sleeping on the bottom.

It was a great day.

Ginnie Springs

Ginnie Springs since early on when I first started diving the comments where "Have you been to Ginnie Springs, you need to go."  Simply if you haven't dove Ginnie Springs you must. Even with the water as low as it is all over the Northeast District of Florida Ginnie Springs is worth the trip.

Check in at the gate, next head to their Dive Shop-Outdoor Store and Camp Grocery. Sign your releases watch a intro video that explains the dive site and dangers of the caverns and caves. Then go diving.

There are two springs Ginnie and Devil plus the Santa Fe river to dive at Ginnie Springs. We started at Devil Spring. Devil Spring is a four-foot-wide fracture at the head of the spring system. It is 50 feet long and almost as deep. You who descend to the bottom of the crack the look up a to a great view as you look skyward.

You ascend from Devil Spring and drift down the run toward the Santa Fe River. Just before the confluence there are two more spring feeds, Devil's eye and Devil's ear.

Devil's Eye is a round opening, that is about 20 feet across and all most as deep. At the bottom is the entrance to a small cavern. Shaun was my dive buddy on this dive we explored this then when Tige, James and Mike arrived we watch Tige put James through his rescue diver training with Mike acting as "the victim"

Devil's Ear is a canyon-like opening located right where Devil Spring run joins the Santa Fe River.  The ear his a high flow spring. Trying to get to peak in at the bottom of the canyon is a challenge. The flow is so strong it can take your mask off if you look the wrong way or depending on how sensitive you regular is, the force of the flow can depress your purge button on your second stage.  The water from the spring and the water for the Santa Fe on this day had a definite demarcation point. The spring was crystal clear the river brown and muddy. A row of grass seem to frame the two flows that touch but did not seem to mix, it was a very cool to see. The spring is moving but calm, the river moving about 1 knot or so was rushing by.

Topside I found that many of the springs where diver can dive, beside picnic tables and pavilions they have gear assembly benches.  A place with a waist high bench and back where you can place and secure you cylinder, assemble your gear, the slip right into it when you are ready to go.  If you have ever been boat diving it is like assembling your kit on a boat but standing. Very convenient. 

Ginnie Spring is a large-bowl like depression that is about 15 to 20 ft deep and has a short run to out to meet the Santa Fe river. Here I spent the afternoon working with my divemaster candidate on some of the skills and workshops that will assist him to achieve his divemaster certification.  It was great to do this part of the divemater course in warm clear water. Once we where done, we assisted soon to be a Rescue Diver James with more of his surface scenarios need to completed his certification.

Later in the afternoon we cooked up some burgers and dogs on one of the grills waiting for nightfall. The we geared up for our night dive of the Ginnie Cavern and "the Ballroom". You enter the cavern into what is known as the upper room, it is large room it has can hold several divers, the limestone wall are almost polished from the flow of the water. You continue to the back of the room around a small out cropping and you are in a massive space called "The Ballroom". There where six of us on this dive and we could have easily fit another 10 to 12 divers before you felt a bit crowded.  There is a high flow spring feed at the bottom of the room, depth about 50 feet, the spring opening is gated off so you can not go further. As is typical of high flow springs that I have now seen and is noticeable in this room is the sediment the comes along with the flow creates and amphitheater silt sloping up and away from the flow. Lots of cool formations of rocks and limestone. While I am told the sunlight does pentrate into the the ballroom during the day, it is very dark at night. At one point during the dive we where all together we hooded our lights. it was dark.  There is a guide rope strung along the roof of the ball room that runs into the upper room so there is no doubt which way is out. Which is a nice touch.

This is on my list to do again.

Crystal River Manatee Snorkel

Went over to Crystal River this morning to Crystal River Lodge Dive Center and rented a pontoon boat.  
We watch the required video to make sure we did not interact inappropriately with the manatee. Florida's Fish and Wildlife (FWC) patrol the shores and water ways near the manatee protected areas in Crystal River. There is $100 fine which they can write on the spot (i.e. you are in the water they paddle up to you or they call you to shore) and hand the ticket to you in a zip lock type baggie so the ticket stays dry. The other fine is 1 year in jail and $100,000 if you enter a manatee protected area. Yes we watched the video.

Chilly in the moring. Great ride out to one of the locations where the manatee hang out. The protected areas are marked off with ropes and floats. In the middle of this area they have a small swim area where snorkelers can interact with the manatee.  The tide was very low, plus the area is way behind on rain fall so the water was silted up and cloudy. You could not see more then 4-5 feet.  Then all of the sudden these huge manatee swim over to check you out.

You can single hand scratch them, they like this and it helps remove the algae that grows on their skin while they winter in the springs.  They are smart and they have a trick. Once you start scratching their back they roll over to let you scratch their belly, when you don't expect it they trap your hand between there flipper and body and start swimming a way with you. The problem is they head for the protected areas (yes the 1 year $100,000 fine area) they don't know they just want to take you home to keep scratching them. FWC is just waiting for you to cross the line. 

Plus there is a self appointed manatee watch group that paddles around the area on kayaks to remind you of the rules and point out the slightest infraction, they are kind of a bummer. I understand their enthusiasm but they are sort of a kill joy. They stopped by, did their due diligence and moved on.

The water was warm, waist deep at any point and lot of fun to see the manatee. 

Devil's Den

Finished our two dives at Blue Grotto, packed up and headed just up the road to Devil's Den. Had heard of Devils Den but had no idea what it was. 

Tige was telling me about his previous visits and I was still not getting what he was saying. Pulled on to the property, looks like it was once a horse farm, in this part of Florida there are lots of them. See signs for tent camping signs for RV camping. Then there is one little sign that says office.

There is a board walk through this wall of bamboo. Pass the bamboo the boardwalk turns left to a building. Through the door to a one room dive shop. Small and efficient operation, the guy behind the counter had said they had not had a diver all day, he was thinking of closing early.  After the filling out the usual dive releases,  we exit to the right, there is another door that leads outside on to a porch, walk along the porch, down the steps to this wonderful garden area. Picnic tables, pavilions, a fire ring and a cavern entrance. The entire area is dominated by a massive beautiful southern live oak covered in Spanish moss. You could almost forget you where there to go diving.

We kit up head down the cavern entrance steps, then down the stairs to the platform. I will still like to how they installed those stairs.  Devils Den is a sink hole that the roof collapsed in on ages ago. The platform rest on the rubble of the roof of the cavern. Sunlight streams in lighting the cavern and stabbing though the water creating amazing colors and patterns on walls below the water line.

The cavern is a bowl with a cone of rubble in the middle so you dive around the cone and check out all the cracks and crevasses along the outer wall. A couple of places are marked to let divers go no further in to the cavern system; other places are barred off so divers won't be tempted, get stuck and create problems for others.

Great dive, had lots of fun exploring this cavern.