Underwater Wakulla

Second open water class of 2023.

By RUSTY MILLER

Let me continue with my article on the open water weekend last week.
Day 2: I asked the students to be at Vortex springs at 9:30 CST/10:30 EST Sunday morning because unlike the cold air and windy conditions it was forecast to be warmer and not too windy. When we arrived the sun was out and it was 55 degrees with 2-5mph winds out of the south. The park was a little crowded compared to Saturday.
All the students arrived at the requested time and looked very well rested. We unloaded the gear from the truck and placed it under the hotel on a couple of picnic tables. Once they were briefed on what was going to happen on the first dive it was time for them to get their wetsuits on and grab their mask, snorkel, booties, and fins to get in the water and do the 450 yard surface snorkel swim.
I normally have students do that swim on the first day but since it was so cold I decided to wait until the second day.
After their swim they assembled their gear and we were ready to get in the water. Did I mention it was getting crowded? By the time we got into the water the water had a lot of stuff kicked up but you could still see well enough though.
On the first dive I had my assistant instructor position himself at the entrance of the cavern facing outward so when I sent the students down to him he would be able to keep them from entering.
Once he was in place I motioned for the first two students to come to me on the decent line and sent them slowly down to the bottom. It’s about 45-50 feet to the entrance of the cavern so they get to feel what almost two atmospheres feels like and how you tend to sink a little faster because the pressure starts to slightly compress the wetsuit. Just as the first two students headed down the line about six meathead divers rush over the ledge kicking up silt and debris to muck up the visibility for a moment so I went to where the two students were on the line to make sure they were OK and they were.
They made it to the bottom fine and stayed there a few minutes with my assistant instructor and then they slowly made their way back up the line. I then had a couple more come over to the line and sent them down to the bottom for a few minutes and repeated that until all the students were back at the platform. We then surfaced and took a surface break for about 45 minutes, ate some snacks and talked about the dive.
By the time we got our surface interval done it was around 3pm EST and it was time for them to change tanks and get back into the water for their first dive as open water divers.
Like every class I take to the springs I’m very proud and honored that they trust me enough as their instructor. I’ve been an instructor for about 37 years and every class is important to me just to see the expression on their face when they finally understand the passion that I have no matter how many thousands of dives I have made in my diving adventure.
This dive I let my assistant instructor take with the newly certified divers while I got some dry clothes on and proceeded to break down my gear and to start loading the truck.
When the divers got done and back to the tables the crowd had thinned out greatly and the temperature was about 75 degrees. We finished loading the truck and headed back at around 4:30 pm. It really was a fun diving weekend.
Remember to make bubbles and be safe.

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