(no subject)
I just finished showering after our night dive in Ginnie Spring. What a gorgeous dive! Dan, Amanda, James and I were the only divers making a night dive. We arrived at Ginnie's dive shop at approx. 8 pm. We piddled around in the dive shop taking a look at the souvenirs, food, and dive equipment available for sale. We ended up only buying ice cream sandwiches and renting air tanks.
We arrived at the dive site at approximately 8:30 and proceeded to unload the equipment and get it set up. We mutually decided to just let this be a fun dive and not bother with cameras or any superfluous equipment. A beautiful nearly full moon was out providing a good bit of extra light. We kitted up and walked to the stairs leading down to the spring. Initially, James and I climbed down the wrong set of stairs and ended up standing on slippery rock with water barely reaching our knees. He and I then climbed back up to the ground level and went to the correct set of stairs where we met up with Dan and Amanda who were running a couple of minutes behind us in walking over to the spring. We all climbed down the stairs after the non-scuba folks cleared off the stairs. Thankfully, the water reached our waists when we climbed into this section of the spring.
At 9:15 p.m we submerged ourselves and proceeded to swim to the mouth of the cavern. When we entered the cavern, we beheld a beatiful sight. :) The cavern is even more beautiful and awe-inspiring at night than it is in the daylight. We circled the cavern a few times and played with our lights and played in the current. The current was not flowing as rapidly as it was when we visited last year. This made it much easier to swim close to the source of the spring's water that flows into the cavern.
When I reached 1500 psi, we all proceeded to exit the cavern. At 9:39, James and I began our 15 ft safety stop and reached the surface of the water at 9:43 p.m. Dan and Amanda broke the surface a few seconds later, and we were all out of the water at 9:45 p.m. This was perfect timing on our part because our rented tanks had to be returned to the shop by 10:00 p.m. We were very thankful that we returned the tanks to the shop on time.
I think this is one of my all time favorite dives and I look forward to our next visit to this spring.
We arrived at the dive site at approximately 8:30 and proceeded to unload the equipment and get it set up. We mutually decided to just let this be a fun dive and not bother with cameras or any superfluous equipment. A beautiful nearly full moon was out providing a good bit of extra light. We kitted up and walked to the stairs leading down to the spring. Initially, James and I climbed down the wrong set of stairs and ended up standing on slippery rock with water barely reaching our knees. He and I then climbed back up to the ground level and went to the correct set of stairs where we met up with Dan and Amanda who were running a couple of minutes behind us in walking over to the spring. We all climbed down the stairs after the non-scuba folks cleared off the stairs. Thankfully, the water reached our waists when we climbed into this section of the spring.
At 9:15 p.m we submerged ourselves and proceeded to swim to the mouth of the cavern. When we entered the cavern, we beheld a beatiful sight. :) The cavern is even more beautiful and awe-inspiring at night than it is in the daylight. We circled the cavern a few times and played with our lights and played in the current. The current was not flowing as rapidly as it was when we visited last year. This made it much easier to swim close to the source of the spring's water that flows into the cavern.
When I reached 1500 psi, we all proceeded to exit the cavern. At 9:39, James and I began our 15 ft safety stop and reached the surface of the water at 9:43 p.m. Dan and Amanda broke the surface a few seconds later, and we were all out of the water at 9:45 p.m. This was perfect timing on our part because our rented tanks had to be returned to the shop by 10:00 p.m. We were very thankful that we returned the tanks to the shop on time.
I think this is one of my all time favorite dives and I look forward to our next visit to this spring.