I can describe my time in Florida by saying caves, caves, caves; though it doesn’t depict my experience. I dived some of the world’s best caves, attended a race day at the world famous Daytona speedway and dived on one of two air craft carrier wrecks in the world. None of this however describes the people, whom for me really made the trip. 

After flying into Jackonsville (FL) I started the 2.5 hour drive to Fort White, which would become my cave diving base for the next week or so. Within 30 minutes of arriving at Amigos Dive Center I was given gas, sorb, lead, a buddy and a place to say; 60 minutes after that I was well into the famous Devil’s Eye syste at Ginnie Springs. Wayne at Amigos is certainly the man if you’re diving cave country and even had a DIY 24×7 fill station (O2, He, EAN) for those late night fills! 

Hooking up with some relative locals was easy and my empty calendar was quickly filled with a plan to dive some long and spectacular cave systems (did I mention long?). With CCR dives from 2-4 hours and penetrations of over a mile, it’s not an environment for the untrained or faint of hearted. 

The Cambridge Dictionary defines flow as “…to move in one direction, especially continuously and easily”. After diving some of these caves with high flow, my definition is something like “…a force possessed by the wrath of satan. Unyielding and powerful, it has the ability to strip skin off your finger tips to the point where you bleed”. 

Moving on Merrits Mill Pond I was priveledged enough to dive a cave system called Spring Board with Edd Sorrenston at Cave Adventures. I can say that it was of the most impressive places I’ve ever been, and it looked remenisent of something on National Georgraphic documentary. Spectacular white limestone walls and passages that seemingly went on forever. 

Finishing off my trip with a few dives on the USS Oriskanny was fun, but plagued with weather issues. Two of my four days were cancelled due to bad weather, and the underwater conditions on the days we dived weren’t great. In all though I got two nice, albeit deep and long dives in. You definately need more time on the wreck to give it a serious go.