Underwater Wakulla

First open water class of 2023.

By RUSTY MILLER

We just had our first open water class this past weekend at Vortex Springs in Ponce De Leon. If you’re new to Crawfordville or the surrounding area and have not heard of Vortex Springs then you’re missing one of the jewels of north Florida springs. It’s what I have referred to as one of the west side springs, meaning you are headed towards Pensacola in order to get there.
It is a nice place to relax and take in some really beautiful north Florida wildlife. I would recommend you to look on the internet and their website to get all the information for a fun weekend.
We arrived at Vortex at 9 a.m. EST (8 a.m. central) and the temperature was a balmy 35 degrees with winds about 19-20mph which made it a bit colder with a high of about 40 degrees.
We got all the students registered at the dive shop and then my assistant instructor took them to the edge of the spring basin to give them the briefing on what was planned for today’s diving skills.
Did I mention it was cold?
After the briefing it was time to get our wetsuits on and our equipment set up. Normally I have the students do the 450 yard snorkel swim but with the wind cutting through a wet wetsuit I decided to wait until the next day when it was supposed to be a bit warmer and far less windy.
Once we all had our equipment on and we were ready to head to the water. Believe it or not, the 68 degree water seemed warmer to the touch especially when it’s 35 and blowing cold air around.
While my assistant instructor was watching the students go through their skills on the underwater platform, I was working with a couple of my rescue diver students to get them certified for their rescue card. We went through various rescue scenarios and after a while we completed what was left on the skills.
After they were done I moved over to watch the open water students finish the first part of their skills. We surfaced but did not get out of the water yet. After about 10 minutes we submerged and then they completed the second set of skills.
Then the time came to get out of the water – did I mention it was cold?
We hurriedly got out of the water and made it back up the hill to our staging area. We got the equipment disassembled and everyone got some dry clothes on then we loaded up the trucks.
After the debriefing the one thing everyone agreed on was that it was cold.
We still had one more day of diving to do at Vortex springs. After looking at the forecast for Sunday, my assistant instructor suggested we meet a little later in the morning so the temperature wouldn’t be as low as it was Saturday morning. I said OK and that we would meet at 9:30 a.m. central time (10:30 a.m. EST) because the forecast was supposed to be around 50-55 degrees with a high of 72 degrees.
I will let you know if the weather forecast was true and how the Sunday dive went in next week’s article.
Until then keep making bubbles.

Russell Miller is the manager at Wakulla Diving Center in Medart. NAUI Instructor #59999