Ginnie Springs

Ginnie Springs
High Springs, Florida
US Highway 236 off Highway US 27

There are three things that I remember about our Ginnie Springs dive: a visit to my aunt and cousins, an alligator, and of course, the dives. We first drove down to my aunt’s house to spend the night and visit everyone before we started our adventure.  We stayed two nights with them in Pensacola before heading off driving down Highway 98 past Panama City through Apalachicola where we spent the night in a roadside pull off just off the water next to a marsh.  We were going to go to Crystal River to swim with the manatees but changed our minds the next morning after our gator encounter and figured we would hit the “big 3” of north central Florida; Morrison Springs, The Blue Grotto and Ginnie Springs.

The roadside pull off clearly said “no camping” as we drove off the highway but since we were not going to put up our tent we figured it would be more like a few hours stay.  The debate was whether to sleep in the car which was packed full of our dive gear and camping stuff.  We were in my Mustang so there was not a lot of room inside anyway.  We used the Coleman stove to make our dinner while we enjoyed a nice sunset.  We decided to pull out our sleeping bags with Johnny grabbing the concrete picnic table top while I lay down on the slab that surrounded the table.  Either way, neither of us has a comfortable place to sleep.

We both slept lightly with the gnats and mosquitos buzzing around inside and outside our sleeping bags.  Johnny woke first and climbed off the picnic table as I started to stir inside my sleeping bag.  He started yelling at me to stay inside my sleeping bag and not to move while he got the camera out of the car as he wanted to take a picture.  I thought it was for the crappy place we slept but soon found out the real reason for the yelling.

Sleepily, I did not know what was going on so I slowly unzipped my sleeping bag partway and peered out.  I did not see anything and Johnny was still yelling to stay put.  I started to crawl out and placed my hand down on the ground to help me get up.  About that time I realized what he was yelling about.  My hand was on the back of a six or seven foot alligator lying next to the concrete slab.  As I put my weight on his back to get up the gator slowly opened his mouth wide and that was all it took for me to jump straight up.  I started hopping away from the picnic table and the gator while trying to not make any noise to startle him.  It did not work as I was hopping in my sleeping bag in one direction the spooked gator quickly turned and headed to the water, slipped in and went about 10 feet from shore.  All you could see were his nostrils and two eyes on top of the calm water.

It scared the crap out of me but both of us started laughing as we quickly loaded the car to head out of there.  We dove Morrison Springs that morning but did not make it to the Grotto and went to Ginnie Springs for an afternoon dive instead.


A few hours north and many worlds away from Disney, the tannin-dyed Santa Fe River winds its way through the woods of north central Florida, headed for the Suwannee River.  This is the real Florida. Although the river is dark during most of the year from the tannin, there are dozens of crystal clear springs that add a burst of clear, refreshing water to the Santa Fe.  


Seven of these larger springs make up Ginnie Springs close to High Springs, Florida.  Ginnie Springs is one of the clearest springs in Florida.  The 72-degree water is perfect for river tubing, swimming, snorkeling, scuba and cave diving.

This natural phenomenon is kind of like diving in a big bottle of spring water.  Put a face mask on and you'd swear the fish are floating in air.  


Today this freshwater spring is nestled on a 200-acre forest setting featuring campsites, a country store and bath facilities. 


When we dived there in the late 60’s most of our spring/cave diving sites were in pastures or tree lined sections on someone’s land.  Getting permission to be there and dive meant talking with the landowner who was always happy to allow us to use the property.

The long drive back to Atlanta was mostly quiet as we were tired from our mini-adventure.  There were several times during the drive where we laughed like crazy that we did not get eaten by the alligator and have someone driving by “discover our bodies” very close to a no camping sign.

Ice

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