Icewind's Ramblings

The Blue Grotto and Devil’s Den Williston, Florida Highway US 27 Alt Johnny and I made several dive trips to the north-central Florida area in and around Williston and Ponce de Leon to The Blue Grotto and Morrison Springs.  In the 1960’s these were little more than farming pastures with friendly owners who would let people dive the clear water with constant temperatures.  I revisited The Blue Grotto several years ago on one of my Florida trips from Alaska.  Driving down Alt. 27 saw the sign and turned around and headed down the dirt road to the dive site.  I thought it would still be little more than a pasture but was pleasantly surprised to find a small store, dive headquarters, and several bunk houses and camp ground.  Things have changed over the years since we last dove there.  Devil's Den is near the small town of Williston; Florida this fern-draped sinkhole offers a unique geological setting and was actually once thought by early settlers...

Morrison Springs Ponce de Leon, Florida County road 181 Morrison Springs was one of our favorite dive spots on many of our Florida trips but it also had the most danger to it.  One of Northwest Florida’s best-kept secrets was known to more Georgia and Alabama folks than Floridians.  And they weren’t talking.  It had to do with the jewel of a Panhandle spring, a turquoise pool surrounded by stately cypress trees whose aerial roots stand taller than a man. Below the surface, clear, 68-degree water wells up from a spring cave source over 90 feet deep. Morrison Springs is just far enough off the beaten path in this sunny pine and cypress country to be special for any diver lucky enough to find and dive the site. The shallow pool reflects the overhead blue sky and if the water is clear and the bottom clean of silt, it resembles a giant sapphire.  Unlike some springs with a deep, black hole source, this one takes visitors gradually into its shallows from a gol...

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 wheth...

Troy Springs Branford, Florida US Highway 27 Troy Spring is home to a beautiful freshwater spring that feeds the Suwannee River near Branford, Florida.  Johnny and I stopped here on our way to Pensacola to dive the spring and in the Suwannee River, enjoying the crystal clear spring water which ran into the river.  Like most rivers in northern Florida, the Suwannee River is tannin colored water with the clear spring water flowing into it. The Madison wreck on the bottom of the Troy Spring run is a stern-wheel riverboat built in 1850.  Owned by James M. Tucker, the boat was specially designed to navigate higher up the Suwannee than any other steamer then on the river.  The wreck of the boat remains on the bottom of the spring run to this day. Troy Springs is quite large, the open spring head drops off from a depth 15 feet around the steps close to the entry point to a maximum of 70 feet.  The spring empties into a...

The Empire Mica Wreck Panama City Beach, Florida History of the Empire Mica The British standard type Ocean tanker Empire Mica was built in 1941 for the Ministry of War Transport at Haverton Hill, Teeside, by Furness S.B. Co. of Haverton Hill on Tees.  She was 479 feet long, had a 61 foot beam, displaced 8,032 gross tons and was powered by 674 nhp triple expansion engines.  She was managed by Anglo-American Oil Co. Ltd. of London. On June 29, 1942, while en route from Houston and New Orleans to the United Kingdom with a cargo of 12,000 tons of clean oil, she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-67 and sunk off the west coast of Florida.  The next day one lifeboat with 14 men aboard was rescued by the vessel Sea Dream.  A total of 33 crewmen were lost. Today the remains of the Empire Mica lie 64 miles from Panama City and 20 miles south of Cape San Blas in 115 feet of water.  Her bow section is intact, and divers will recognize her two boilers...

Crystal River Manatees Crystal River, Florida US Highways 19 & 98 The first time Johnny and I went to Crystal River was on a dive trip with his dad towing the boat to Florida from Atlanta.  It was a combination trip as his dad wanted to swim with the Manatees in Crystal River and also dive the “Empire Mica” wreck off Panama City Beach, Florida.  We headed out over the long Thanksgiving weekend and drove first to the Tampa area to Crystal River.  We drove during the night and arrived early in the morning for our dive and snorkeling adventure with these big lumbering mammals. I remember when I first heard of manatees.  It was in elementary school, when we were talking about endangered species and what that meant.  I was more concerned about the gray wolves but I remember thinking manatees sounded pretty cool, too. During the winter months, the manatees that call the waters in and around the Gulf of Mexico home often have to seek warmer s...

Fast Cars and times in Atlanta, Georgia Both Johnny and I had a great work ethic and saved up money to buy our first cars, a Plymouth Fury and a Ford Mustang. I worked at the Colonial grocery store in Skyland shopping center and pretty much did it all.  I started out as a bagger and the ladies liked me since I did not put the heavy items or can goods on top of the bread.  I also double sacked everything as this was when you used paper bags to put the groceries before plastic bags came out for use.  I stocked shelves at night and worked every two weeks on a crew who stripped the wax off the floors then refinished them before morning.  Two things that paid better was being a cash register checker and working in the produce department.  I became assistant manager working there while in high school as the manager had a little drinking problem and management could not get rid of him because the union always stepped in.  I placed all the orders and rec...