Before we get trolled to death on this one, let’s be upfront: Dragnet’s Joe Friday never said, “Just the facts, ma’am” (just as Captain Kirk never said, “Beam me up, Scotty”). Nevertheless, this has become a catchphrase everyone recognizes, even if they don’t know its (supposed) origin.
The facts are what we will be addressing here. Long before there was social media to help things along, dive sites have been surrounded by a mist of speculation and misinformation. Blue Grotto is no exception. Let’s debunk some of the most pernicious of the tall tales regarding the Grotto.
“Only certified Cavern Divers may dive Blue Grotto”
Not true. So long as they remain above 60 feet and within sight of daylight, any certified diver is welcome to explore the cavern at Blue Grotto.
Some people will tell you that you must possess Cavern Diver certification to enter any natural overhead environment. That’s also not true. There are, in fact four ways to cavern dive while maintaining a high degree of safety. These are:
- Follow the “No Lights Rule:” If you don’t take a light with you, you are unlikely to go anywhere you can get into trouble.
- Go with a qualified Cavern or Cave Diving Instructor: This is popular in Mexico, but you can find instructors in north-central Florida who will do this.
- Obtain Cavern or Cave Diver training and certification: This is arguably the best solution and will give you access to the broadest range of sites.
- Stick to just certain dive sites: There are the four commercially operated dive sites in north-central Florida where any certified diver can explore the cavern with a high degree of safety.
This last point pertains to:
- Ginnie Spring
- Devil’s Den
- Blue Grotto
- Paradise Spring
What do these sites have in common?
- The caverns do not connect to a maze of underwater passageways where divers could easily become lost.
- None of these sites have a history of divers wandering into them, becoming lost and then not being able to find their way out.
- There is a broad consensus among cave diving instructors that these four sites are the sole exceptions to the first three rules on this list.
Divers must understand, however, that just because it is okay to dive these four sites without special training and equipment, the same is not true elsewhere.
“Only certified Cave Divers may dive Blue Grotto”
Again, not true. The vast majority of Blue Grotto is open to any certified diver. The sole exception to this occurs below 60 feet. Here you lose sight of daylight.
The major diver training organizations, as well as the NSS-CDS and NACD, define cave diving as entering a natural overhead environment beyond sight of daylight. Most of what lies below 60 feet at Blue Grotto meets this definition.
There are actually a few places at depth where you can look back through small openings and see a glimmer of daylight. However, to get to these points, you must first swim through what is clearly a cave. Also, just because you can see a glimpse of daylight, this is not how you came in, nor is there any guarantee you can get out this way.
The only way to cave dive with a reasonable degree of safety is to take a Cave Diver course and use cave diving equipment. This includes using a dual-orifice manifold or valve, sidemount or a CCR with adequate open-circuit bailout.
Again, these aren’t our rules. They were formulated by organizations such as the NSS-CDS and NACD, and followed by all the major diver training organizations. They are enforced at state parks and most privately-operated dive sites.
Because it’s okay for certified divers to explore the cavern at Blue Grotto, it’s okay to take students there as well”
This is true, provided you are a qualified Cavern or Cave Diving instructor teaching a cavern or cave diving class. Otherwise, taking students into any cavern is an excellent way to get your instructor ticket permanently canceled. This isn’t just a training agency standard. It’s an RSTC standard applying to all member agencies.
The Training Director of one of the major diver training organizations recently told us he has no less than three quality assurance cases outstanding against instructors who had taken students into the cavern at Blue Grotto. We did not turn these instructors in (although, had we seen them, we would have been obligated to do so by standards).
The instructors in question were reported by other instructors who were teaching in the Grotto at the same time. If you do this, sooner or later someone will rat you out.
If you need to take students deeper than 30 feet, take them to the ocean or sites like Troy Spring or Orange Grove Sink. Here you can reach depths of just over 60 feet while remaining in open water.
“There is a large chunk of rock in the ceiling at Blue Grotto that’s just waiting to fall on people”
This statement would be accurate only if you change the word is to was. This happened a few years back. A slab of rock from the cliff near the waterfall separated from the surrounding rock during a late-night storm. It took out one small platform and severely damaged a larger one. No one was in the water at the time.
This sort of thing happens at all Florida springs and sinkholes. If you dive other nearby sites, you will see the floor littered with rocks and boulders that have separated from the ceiling and fallen.
How often does this happen? Only very rarely. What we described here was the only time it happened at the Grotto since Tom McQuarrie bought the property in 1963. This doesn’t mean it can’t happen in the future, not just at Blue Grotto but at any spring or sinkhole.
The only time we’ve heard of a rock of any size falling on a diver was in the mid-1970s. A six-foot slab of rock fell on famous cave explorer and videographer Wes Skiles at Telford Spring, pinning him to the floor. His buddies said he resembled a giant turtle with only his arms and legs sticking out. Wes’s buddies pried the rock off of him, and he swam away, none the worse for wear.
You are probably more likely to perish in a car crash than be crushed by a rock at a Florida spring. Nevertheless, if you want a guarantee that this won’t happen to you, stay out of overhead environments. Otherwise, accept the minuscule risk and get on with your life.
“How many people die every year?”
A couple of months ago, we fielded a rather bizarre phone call from a person demanding to know how many divers die every year in Blue Grotto and what was killing them. If you operate a dive site that hosts several thousand divers a year, eventually the odds will catch up with you.
There have only been three such incidents that we know of in the past two decades. These involved heart attacks and, in one instance, an error on the part of a visiting CCR instructor. These are things that could have happened at your local lake or rock quarry. None were the kind of incidents that would be unique to the Grotto.
The caller later jumped online and accused us of covering up a hideous (and nonexistent) death toll. We were not amused.
Don’t be afraid to ask
If you see, hear or read something about Blue Grotto that just doesn’t seem right, don’t be afraid to ask us about it. We will answer your questions honestly.
But, as you’ve read, there is a good possibility that the information is just plain wrong.