Me and #1 son on a dive clean up day at park

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:05 pm

about 25 of us cleaned the beach area - found lots of yucky stuff

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:08 pm

Crap, I haven't gone diving in years. Need to go get wet sometime. I've been out of it long enough that I'll need a familiarization course.

darcy · Post by **darcy** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 1:34 pm

cheers to you 'n' the group for doin' that!

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 2:04 pm

It was fun and they had prizes...ladies on the far right won the prize for most underwear collected....my son and I got prizes for best tennis ball. Got a nice retractable clip for my light.

FP - you've got all those springs nearby, don't you?

nitro237 · Post by **nitro237** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 3:06 pm

Wow ! I didn't know Santa was a diver

Looks like fun

mile

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 3:50 pm

where u think he gets all those presents?

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 4:21 pm

Yes Darcy, lots of fresh water springs and caverns. Also done some nice drift dives on the Rainbow river.

One of my favorite dives was the Blue Grotto: http://www.sfdj.com/springs_issue/bgrotto.htm

Believe it or not, you only need Open Water certification for this. The main cavern is 50 feet deep. Then there is an additional 50 foot "U" shaped vertical cave that although it looks scary as hell (you need lights), but even though it's 100 feet at it's deepest, it's actually Open Water certified because they have an emergency air bell above it for free ascent in an emergency. Closest I'll ever get to a real cave dive.

They have platforms rigged up in the main cavern to keep you from stirring up sediment, and if you go in the morning the water is clear as glass.

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 9:15 pm

Grotto looks neat. Let's all go there this winter when the snow's a flying up north. That'll give Darcy plenty of time to get her OW cert.

darcy · Post by **darcy** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 1:03 pm

lol, ~ i betta stick w/snorkeling

v.* nice grotto, FP

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 2:02 pm

You can snorkel the Blue Gotto Darcy, although you'll miss out on some interesting things.

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 8:36 pm

We can go on my birthday, 2-16. that way FP and Darcy have to pay my entrance fee!

darcy · Post by **darcy** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 3:18 pm

boy,, you have that all figured out, don't u, john?

FlyingPenguin wrote:You can snorkel the Blue Gotto Darcy, although you'll miss out on some interesting things.

oh, that is for sure, i know! i once followed a fish for 20 mins while snorkeling,, took that long for the dayem fish to turn on its side so i could snap a decent pic from above, lol : ). if i were underwater, that woulda been different! did do a helmet dive in aruba once,, that was pretty freaky for me @ 1st

Key Keeper · Post by **Key Keeper** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 3:40 pm

wvjohn wrote:ladies on the far right won the prize for most underwear collected

Gross....