The Underwater Times Central Florida Diving News and Reviews

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1 The Underwater Times Central Florida Diving News and Reviews March D ayo D ive C lub UNDER THE RAINBOW How To Enjoy one of Florida s Best Freshwater Dives on the Cheap and Easy Spring is here. The days are sunny but not too hot. It s a great time to beat the crowds and revisit one of my favorite Florida dive sites. Packing will be easy, because I won t need tanks or other scuba gear just mask, fins, snorkel and a 3 mil wetsuit. The destination is the Rainbow River, one of the best freshwater drift dives or drift snorkels in the country. If it were summer, I d leave Winter Park before 7 am to beat the crowds and afternoon thunderstorms, but on a nice day in March or April, I ll let the 1-4 traffic die down a bit and ease out after nine. It s a 90 mile ride up the Florida Turnpike and across Highway 484 to the town of Dunnellon. PAGE 1 The destination is KP Hole County Park, which is located on the west bank of the river, three miles north of Dunnellon on Highway 41, and about a mile downstream of the headwaters. Operators such as American Pro Dive offer Rainbow River dive charters aboard a pontoon boat, and from Wednesday to Sunday there s a water taxi that will ferry you upriver. These are both good way to get wet, but I have always preferred the DIY method.

2 PAGE 2 I ve trailered a small boat and launched at the park, but there s an even easier and less expensive option that allows you to go solo or with a small group, without having to hassle with dragging a boat along. For easy river access, pay the $5 admission fee at KP Hole Park and rent a canoe, which will run you $8 an hour. You ll need a diver down flag, but if you forget to bring one, you can also rent that at the park concession. It s less than 100 yards from the parking lot to the canoe dock, and there s a bath house for changing, and showers for afterward. Take only what you need in the canoe, and remember that the entire river is a preserve, so there are no glass containers or cans allowed. Snacks and drinks will have to be carried in some type non-disposable container or jug. The idea is to keep the river clean by not allowing anything that could be chucked overboard. On a mild to warm day, I usually slip into my wetsuit up to the waist before boarding the canoe, and wear a T-shirt for the paddle upriver. I also prep my snorkel or dive gear ahead of time and lay it out within easy reach of the canoe seat. It s about a mile paddle from the launch ramp to the point at the headwaters beyond which boats are not allowed. With some modest paddling effort, the trip shouldn t take more than half an hour. Getting into the water is the trickiest part of this scenario, because the banks of the river are either private property on the left side, or wild jungle on the right. It s tempting to try to pull into the riverfront park at the headwaters, but as a number of large signs will remind you, this is owned by a private homeowner s group, and they don t like trespassers. No problem, just stop the canoe over one of the large patches of sandy bottom in the middle of the river, position your diver down flag upright in the canoe, finish donning your wetsuit, add mask and fins, then hit the water. There s no such thing as a standard procedure for exiting a canoe while

3 wearing dive gear, you just have to be a bit resourceful, move slow and avoid big movements that could tip the boat. If you are using full scuba gear, it s usually easier to hang it over the side and cinch it up once you are in the water. Not as hard as it sounds, because if you chose a good landing spot, you ll be in five feet of water on a sand bottom. Once everything is adjusted, it s time to head down river. I use a small cavern reel to keep control of the canoe, which will drift with the current at about the same speed as you do. I also like the idea of having a large floating object nearby, as it provides extra visibility for passing river traffic. The Rainbow River is a six-mile-long spring run that is fed by a number of small vents rather than a single large cave opening. Together, these vents pump out between 400 and 600 million gallons of pure fresh water a day, making Rainbow the fourth largest spring in Florida. Along most of it s length, the river is from five to ten feet deep, with alternating areas of sand-and-limestone bottom, and thick patches of eel grass. Diver can glide over the eel grass with ease, but because you will be at or near the surface at least some of the time, I find a tank is more trouble that it s worth. Snorkel gear allows almost total freedom of movement, and helps you sneak up on the fish life, which is abundant. There are some deeper PAGE 3 sections at about the one mile point that drop down to 20 feet or better. These holes can provide a good test of your freediving skills, but if you d rather blow some bubbles and stay longer, I d recommend setting up your rig ahead of time, leaving it in the canoe for the first part of the drift, then pulling up to the bank where you see the rope swings. This is not only one of the only places on the river where you can come ashore, it s also right next to one of the largest deep holes. A number of shops use this site for check out dives, so you may not have it to yourself on a weekend afternoon. You can finish the drift from the headwaters back to KP Hole park in about 40 minutes, take an hour if you dawdle a bit at some of the more interesting spring vents and formations, or spend all afternoon if you hang out at the rope swing and explore the deep holes.

4 Two hours usually seems about right when I go with my son and some of his buddies, and the entire day costs us a few $5 admissions, $16 to $20 for the canoe rental, and some gas money. We aren t the only ones who enjoy this river - not by a long shot. In summer, the park fills often fills to capacity, but most of the crowd is headed down river on rental tubes. By heading upstream, you ll miss that circus, but may still have some kayakers and idling pontoon boats to watch for. River traffic will be much lighter in Spring than in Summer, and if you can play hookey on a weekday, you might have the river to yourself. My son Nash and his buddies have been enjoying Rainbow River trips for years. These photos are from Resources kphole.com therainbowriver.com rainbowriverwatertaxi.com americanprodive.com PAGE 4

5 Dive Report Hydrotherapy at Hospital Hole PAGE 4 By Patricia Simone February was coming to and end, and the Got2Dive team was eager to get in the water. But Mother Nature had not been cooperating for the past two months especially on the weekends. Once again, the forecast for the first weekend in March called for high winds and waves on the East Coast and plummeting temperatures. We were determined to get wet, and decided to take advantage of the still-mild weather on Thursday, February 28. Our plan was to combine some canoeing on the Weeki Wachee River with a dive to explore the Hospital Hole. This deep sinkhole, which is also known as Fish Hospital, is located in a wide bend in the river. The story behind the site s name comes from early settlers, who thought that sick fish came upriver to this location to recuperate and be restored to health by the healing river waters before returning to the sea. With lots of sunshine and a high of 73 degrees expected, we packed up the canoe and headed west on Route 50 to Weeki Wachee, then on past the intersection with Highway 19 towards Bayport, and left on Country Road 597. We met up with our dive buddy and surface supporter Felicia, and launched our canoe from Roger s Park, which is located about four miles from the river s headspring. A short paddle around a couple of windy river bends brought us to Hospital Hole. The crystal-clear, 74-degree water made it easy to locate Troy Springs the edges of this submerged sinkhole, and we could see schools of fish and manatees bathing in the supposedly therapeutic depths. With great anticipation, we geared up and made sure our trusty surface supporter Felicia was ready, and our dive flag in place. As soon as we started our dive, we were greeted by several manatees at the entrance to the hole. Like us, they seemed to be enjoying their liquid therapy.

6 We also saw several momma manatees cuddling and nursing their babies. As we continued downward, we could feel the changes in the water temperature known as a thermocline. At a depth of 30 feet we saw a manatee peacefully sleeping on a silty ledge. The hole is reported to be 140 feet deep, but our dive plan called for a max depth of 60 feet to avoid a dark, smelly sulfur layer. There s no marine life below the sulfur, and the murky depths don t make for PAGE 5 good video. We spent our dive explored the limestone ledges and walls, some of which are covered with amusing graffiti, and we noticed several solution tubes along the walls. One was large enough to poke my head and shoulders up in to see the beautiful sunlight filter in from above. The water didn t have the crystal clarity of a spring basin, but it was refreshing, and there was a lot of life. The schooling fish added an extra element of enjoyment, but without a doubt, the best part of this dive was seeing all the manatees that congregate at this site. Hospital Hole is a unique site because it has something for everyone: SCUBA divers, snorkelers and swimmers can enjoy a plunge in the refreshing and some say healing waters of the Weeki Wachee River. And the best part is that it is open year round, never gets rough, and is free for anyone who has access to a boat, kayak or canoe. Cleanup Time Mark your calendars and pack your gear bags for a true local dive. Dayo Scuba is once again supporting the City of Winter Park s Keep Winter Park Beautiful lake clean-up, which will take place at Lake Virginia on Saturday April 13th. The event is part of Winter Park s Earth-Month of Service, and it s a great chance to get wet with some of your fellow Dayo Divers while also doing something good for the community. The event will most likely be staged from the Dinky Dock Park, and the Dayo crew will be cleaning both above and below the water. Rumor is that there may be a barbecue cookout afterwards. Check our Facebook page for details, or visit the Dayo Scuba website for updates.

7 PAGE 6 GEAR TIPS Surface Support Choosing and Using a Surface Marker Buoy One piece of dive gear that has gone from a maybe to a should have in recent years is the surface marker, aka the safety sausage. They re consider essential items at high-voltage drift diving meccas such as Tobago and the Easter Pacific islands, and are required on most of the South Florida boats especially in the West Palm area. There are a number of good reasons to carry a surface marker, even when you are dropping down an anchor line to visit a wreck, or drifting a reef with a divemaster who is towing a group surface float. If you drift off the wreck or become separated from the group, deploying a surface marker can alert the dive boat to your location, and provide a secure path to the surface. A surface marker isn t a lift bag. A bag is used to bring heavy objects to the surface, is usually round or rectangular, and doesn t rise far out of the water when on the surface. Markers are designed with a longer, thinner profile that will rise higher above the water s surface to get you noticed. Marker s need not have a lot of buoyant capacity, but experience has shown that bigger is usually better within reason. The type of loaner markers that some diver operators supply are usually only a couple of feet high when inflated, and just a few inches in diameter. At the risk of sounding locker room, length matters, and so does girth. Many veteran drift divers consider a five- to six-foot long marker to be ideal, with a minimum diameter of six inches. A thicker marker is more likely to remain upright, while a thinner float may collapse when under inflated or used in heavier seas. Another variable that creates some debate is color. Bright orange is a perennial favorite, but florescent yellow and green are also popular choices. Boat captains will tell you that any of the three can have small advantages under certain lighting conditions, but most feel that color can be less important than contrast and movement. Markers with two distinct colors are easier to see in low or hazy light, and movement from wind and wave action can make a upright marker

8 more visible to boat traffic. Most markers roll up fairly small when deflated, and can stow in a BC pouch or be clipped to a harness. I like to keep mine in an elastic stuff sleeve that s attached to my wing-style BC, lateral to my ribs and close to the body to reduce drag. The next consideration is the line reel you ll use to deploy and control the marker. Reels come in a wide range of shapes and sizes. For personal use, compact cavestyle jump reels or finger spools are best. They pack small and can be clipped to the marker and stowed in the same pouch to simplify deployment. Finger spools are the simplest solution, but can be a bit more challenging to deploy and operate. I store the reel and marker clipped together, and mount them on the right to allow an easy cross-draw with the left hand. Once the marker is out, I have my right free to work the retaining straps, unfurl the marker and ready the reel. If you are new to this, the best way to avoid fumbling and entanglement problems is to begin from a position of stable neutral buoyancy, and take things slow. Once the bag is unfurled and floating free, give it a small burst of air from the power inflator just enough to allow it to drift upright, but not shoot for the surface. The next step is what separates the pros from the out-of-control neophytes. If you blast a large burst of air into the marker from the power inflator while holding on, you ll instantly become positively buoyant. And if you then vent your BC to compensate, then you will go negative the moment you release the marker for it s ride to the surface. A more elegant solution is to transfer air from your BC to the marker using the power inflator s dump valve. Dual-color markers provide contrast when moved by wind or wave action. When the boat is far away, size matters. This keeps your buoyancy unchanged while you make final adjustments prior to releasing the float. Once you send the float upward, you can then make smaller and more controlled buoyancy adjustments to hold position. I usually don t bring myself back to neutral buoyancy at this point, and instead stay a tiny bit negative. This allows me to hang on the ascent line with just enough pressure to keep the float upright once it reaches the surface, and it also allows very precise buoyancy control as I begin the ascent. One more tip worth mentioning is to limit the amount of line on your reel. If you know your max depth will be 100 feet, carrying a reel with 500 feet of line just creates potential entanglement problems if dropped, and can be more difficult to manage. PAGE 7