Florida Springs Trip - Countdown

SpringHill Suites by Marriott Gainesville

Address: 4155 SW 40th Blvd, Gainesville, FL 32608

Phone: (352) 376-8873

 

Total Travel Estimate: 600 miles - about 9 Hours with no stops

 

• Hotel rooms are prepaid under the name Carolina Dive Center – Jim Sedore.
• Your name will be associated with your room.
• You will need to bring a credit card.

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Saturday

We leave hotel at 8:30 am. Be prepared to leave for the day. All divers must bring their dive gear and one scuba tank with them. Bring you lunch and snacks with you.

Scuba Diving at Devils Den Springs 5390 N.E. 180th Ave Williston, Fl 32696

Phone: (352) 528-3344

Students will complete Checkout Dives 1 and 2

Sunday

We will leave hotel at 8:00 am.

All divers must bring their dive gear and one scuba tank with them. Bring you lunch and snacks with you

Blue Grotto.

3852 NE 172nd Ct, Williston, FL 32696 (352) 528-5770

Students will complete Checkout Dives 3 and 4

Blue Grotto has a Disc Golf Course if you want to play after diving.

  

Monday  Morning – Springs Dive

We will leave hotel at 7:30 am. You must be checked out of hotel by 7:15 am.

Ginnie Springs Outdoors, LLC

7300 NE Ginnie Springs Road

High Springs, FL 32643

Phone:             (386) 454-7188

We need to arrive at the Ginnie Springs at 8:30 am and finish diving around 11:30 am.

Students/New Divers will complete Peak Performance Buoyancy Certification Dives.

Dive Gear:

Divers who are completing check out dives or are renting gear will need to pick up the gear at the dive shop prior to the trip. Each diver on the trip will need to bring with them.

• two air tanks
• BCD
• Regulator
• Wetsuit
• Dive Weights.

Other Scuba Gear Needed (not supplied for students)

• Divers must have a flashlight for diving in Caverns.
• Divers may want to consider Hoods and/or Gloves.
• Divers should bring their Certification cards AND logbooks with them each day.

 

 

Owning My Own Scuba Gear

Owning your own Scuba Gear will greatly improve your diving experience and safety. The more familiar you are with your dive gear, the less time you will spend underwater “thinking” how to use your equipment and allows you to focus on enjoying everything there is to see.

Having your own dive equipment is a major factor in achieving maximum enjoyment of diving. While you can rent gear, do you really want to rely on much-used rental equipment for your personal safety and enjoyment of diving?

Below are some benefits of having your own diving gear:

• Safety. Quick acquisition of skills such as buoyancy control, and the subtleties of swimming and streamlining have got a lot to do with the equipment you use. As such, fit and comfort are the prime selection criteria for selecting most scuba diving gear, and in achieving maximum underwater safety and pleasure. The best way to ensure that your gear fits correctly and comfortably is to wear your own.
• Have the exact features you need. Features are what distinguish one item of scuba dive gear from another. When you purchase your own scuba diving gear, you get to choose the features you really need. But this is not the case for rental equipment as they may be lacking in particular features. For example: Weight Integration. Choosing your own gear is fun, adds greatly to your knowledge of diving, and ensures that the gear you dive with does what you want it to, the way you want it to.
• Gives you a peace of mind. This is because you will know the condition of your own gear and you will know how to operate it properly and maintain it in a responsible manner. Thus, this sense of familiarity will give you confidence in the performance of your own equipment.
• You will dive more. It’s a fact diver who own their own gear do more than divers that have to rent gear every time they go diving. Owning your own dive gear is actually cheaper then renting over the long run.
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This trip is a unique training opportunity. We will have multiple dives to train you on proper use and buoyancy with your dive gear. If you are considering your own Dive Gear PLEASE purchase it before our Springs Trip.

 

When it's time to leave the hotel, make sure you're in your car on time, with the tank full and ready to go. We won't be making any stops on the way to each location, so be sure to bring your coffee with you.

Each day we leave the hotel for the entire day. Bring a change of clothes each day. Northern Florida weather can have large swings. Check the weather the day before you leave and bring appropriate clothes. We will dive rain or shine, and the air temperature will not impact our diving. The springs are a constant temperature.

 

The hotel rooms have refrigerators. You will want to bring your breakfasts and/or lunches with you each day.

Consider bringing a folding/camping chair for use between dives at each location.