Underwater Wakulla
By RUSTY MILLER
October is winding down, the nights are getting cooler, and the afternoons are getting dryer. This means open water checkout dives in the ocean will end after Oct. 30th. I will be having an advanced class on the weekend of Oct. 29th and 30th with the (3) advanced ocean dives on the 29th.
Does this mean that we are done with scuba classes? No, it means we will be doing our open water checkout dives in the various springs. The four main springs I like to use for my early fall and winter checkout dives are the west side springs, Morrison Springs in Walton County, and the Vortex Springs in Ponce De Leon, they are about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Crawfordville. The east side springs are the Blue Grotto in Williston and Devil’s Den springs in Williston. Both of these springs are about 2 hours from Crawfordville.
Each of these springs offer different landscapes under water. Morrison Springs offers 68 degree water and a large area to do the basic open water skills even with a large amount of other divers. It has a medium size bowl to get down to about 30-35 feet. There is a rather large tree that is positioned across the top of the bowl and it’s about 20-25 feet under water. You can then descend further down to the entrance of the cave. You will start to feel the flow of the water out of the cave system before you get to the large tree lying across the bowl. It will tend to push you back away from the cave entrance rather forcefully.
Remember that unless you have a cave diving certification you cannot enter into the cave. When I first started diving in Morrison Springs there was not the pavilion or stairs that go down to the beach or were there any boardwalk system or floating platforms. You could park on the sandy parking lot then you could just walk to the edge of the water. The spring had little soft shell snapping turtles that would swim around your feet. When our daughters where 8 and 9 years old they would try to grab the little turtles, then one turtle didn’t like being messed with and literally chased my 9 year old out of the water and back onto the beach. It stayed there at the water’s edge waiting to get her if she came back in. We still laugh about to this day and both of my daughters are in their early 40s.
When we first started diving Morrison Springs, the cave entrance was in about 45-50 feet of water but over the years the bowl has filled in with the sand from the walls so that now at the entrance it is smaller and it is only about 30-35 feet deep. The only reason there is an entrance is the flow is powerful enough to keep it from getting completely covered up.
The only real downside to Morrison Springs is the river. When we have had several days’ worth of rain in that area the river will back up into the springs and the only clear spot will be at the mouth of the cave where the water flow is at its strongest. You can go on the Walton County recreation website and they will tell you the clarity based on a number scale 1-5 (1) being absolutely clear with (5) being almost zero visibility.
Next week I will take you in your mind to the Vortex Springs just a few miles down from Morrison Springs. Until then continue to make bubbles
Russell Miller is the manager at Wakulla Diving Center in Medart. NAUI Instructor #59999