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Caloosa Dive Club Ginnie
Spring weekend dive, 20, 21 March 2009
Barry and Priscilla Erhardt went to Ginnie Spring on
Saturday, 20 March 2009. Barry spent Saturday, Sunday
and Monday diving. Priscilla went as a bubble watcher.
What a weekend it was. The weather was terrific and the
water was as expected, crystal clear. Barry marveled at
the hot springs in Florida where the water is a steamy
72 degrees. They spent some time looking to see if they
could find any other dive club members, but all they
found on Saturday were young spring breakers and it was
party time. On Sunday Barry and Priscilla met two
members from their New Hampshire Dive Club (Monadnock
Divers Club). Scott and Patty Robinson who are extreme
divers and Scott teaches Cave Diving, Tri-mix and other
extreme forms of diving. Diving into Ginnie Spring
Cavern was great, diving into Little Devil, Devil’s ear,
and Devil’s eye is always a terrific experience. You can
go as far as your training and experience will take you.
There are plenty of other activities to do there as
well. You can go tubing, the young people had a large
variety of tubes and floats that they were using,
kayaking, canoeing, snorkeling, swimming, etc. There is
a store that you can purchase or rent dive equipment of
all sorts, a small café, rentals for canoes, kayaks, and
tubes along with air fills for your tanks. There was a
lot to do. There is also camping of all sorts on the
grounds. Wow, so much to do and so much to see. You
could spend a week here.
Ginnie Springs is a very special place. It is a
collection of seven springs that make up the Ginnie
Springs complex. Ginnie Spring Cavern, the spring lies
in a circular pool that is 125 feet in diameter and
slopes down from the bank to a depth of about 18 feet.
The bottom is sandy with numerous limestone
outcrops/boulders. Beneath a limestone shelf is a large
cavern entrance perhaps 30 feet wide and from three to
six feet high. The entrance opens to a large chamber
called the Ballroom and leads to underwater passages
that have been measured to 1,100 feet and reaching a
depth of 57 feet. The spring is supposedly named for a
woman who washed her laundry at the site many years ago.
Each day, these springs discharge up to several million
gallons of crystal-clear water that is a constant 72
degrees, year round.
Ginnie Ballroom
The huge ballroom at Ginnie Springs is an excellent
place for the open water diver to experience overhead
environment. It's clear, spacious, not too deep, and the
current is minimal except at the grill blocking the
entrance to the cave system beyond. Bring a dive light.
This is the only spring in the Ginnie system where Open
Water divers may carry a light and one is required.
NOTE: In Little Devil, Devil’s Ear and Devil’s Eye
lights of any type are forbidden except for certified
cave divers. Anyone who is not certified cave divers who
enter these springs with any for of lights will be
removed from the park.
Little Devil
A long narrow fissure in the rock drops 42 feet to a
small cave opening on the upstream end. The current in
this spring is barely noticeable. Little Devils is a
vertical fissure that leads to the no-mount cave
entrance (must take off tanks and push them ahead in
order to pass the restriction).
Devil's Eye
A small round basin about 18' deep. The right side of
this cavern leads to another cavern just below the
warning sign, called the Devil's Dungeon. Take care
entering the dungeon as it's low overhead. At the lower
end of the Dungeon is one of the exits of the cave
system. Devil's Eye and Devil's Ear are two caverns that
connect about 60 feet into the cave.
Devil's Ear
There is an orange float ball on the surface at the edge
of the Sante Fe River is the opening to Devil’s Ear.
Swim to it, and down into the Devil's Ear Spring.
There's a log down about 15 feet, and below that is the
cavern entrance. Be prepared! The already strong flow is
amplified by the narrow vortex opening. There’s a cave
warning sign at 45 foot depth, the place where non cave
divers must turn back.T
Submitted by
Barry Erhardt
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