Morrison Spring!

[eric myers]

Last week Monday, October 17, 2005 while vacationing in Panama City Beach, Florida my wife and I drove to Morrison Spring just outside of Bruce, FL.

Morrison Spring is owned by the State and so it was free!

I arrived and the first sign we saw said, "Alligators and Snakes may be present in the water." My wife saw the sign and said no way you are not going diving here!

We pulled up to the primitive boat launch area (no concrete just sand) and I got out of the vehicle and approach two 60's plus divers who were apparently just completing their SIT.

So I said to them, "So how bad are these alligators and snakes?"

To which one of the gentlemen replied "the alligators are all over you during the entire dive...they just won't leave you alone...and the snakes oh boy the snakes."

All laughing!

To which the other one replied, "no seriously I have been diving here three years and have never seen either one, except for freshwater eels."

So I introduced myself and found out Charley and Andrew were members of the Penscola Dive Group the "Baracudas." I aksed if they minded if I come with them on their next dive and again he said, "yeah we don't want you to come...of course with a smile."

Asking about the underwater topo and lay out Charley invited be to the sand on one knee like a football coach he drew out the following description:

We enter here at the primitive boat launch, my flag over there is tied to a platform in about 20' of water. When we get there we usually take time to do a quick equipment check. Then there is a line leading to the tree tha lays over the sinkhole (see photo) at about 40'. Then we drop down into the bottom of the sinkhole. At the bottom of the sink hole is a sign saying "Prevent your Death" and a line leading into the Cavern. There is some out flow and it can push you somewhat upwards so you want to be negatively bouyant. After entering the Cavern you will see that the line dead ends into the wall and there are no caves to enter max depth is 90'.

Freshwater eels were all over the place, as wells as catfish, some bass etc. Before entering the cavern the visibility was 200' + and there were probably at least one ton of prize winning Sunfish and Bluegills in the water. I did see on 5# Northern Pike or Prickel or whatever they call it down there. The Cavern was really cool. The photo below is the enterance to Cavern #2 and is not as cool as the other.

After :30 minutes of total dive time at 90' and upon exiting the water I told my wife..."I am definitely doing that again." Morrison Spring was easily 100 times better than Vortex Spring from a non-cave diving recereational standpoint. If I lived in FL I would probably dive that Spring at least a dozen times a year! It was a great dive. The water clarity was almost carribean and the photo of the surface supplied by the website and attached here does not do it justice. Best I can figure about the picture of the surface as supplied is that it was cloudy that day and as a result the water looks steely which was not the case on the day that I experience it!

Like I said previously, those photos are forth coming! But use these right now to wet your appetite!

To learn more about Florida's Freshwater Springs got to:

See Photos at:

[voodooconstant]

the snakes oh boy the snakes... hah!  nice report.  Would like to see more pictures!!! 

[Mike O]

I was happy to read about your dives at Morrison, Vortex and the Strength since I am very familiar with them all after living in Panama City for 4 years.

I was last at Vortex in March 04 with the whole family the kids really liked it, There is a ton of great diving in PC (wrecks, Bridge spans, Navy junk piles) since this is where the US Navy trains its divers.

My favorite is the Empire Mica off Port St Joe, its a British freighter sunk by a German U-boat in WW2.

I am new to Wiscuba and it was nice to see someone enjoying the diving in my former playground.

Mike