Blue Grotto

Location

Size matters. This helps explain the popularity of Blue Grotto, the largest, clear-water cavern dive in Florida. Not only is Blue Grotto the biggest such site of its kind, it almost always offers exceptional visibility — the very factor that draws divers to this part of Florida in the first place.

Located in the heart of Florida’s spring-diving country, Blue Grotto offers breathtaking dive opportunities for underwater explorers of nearly all experience levels. Due to the unique nature of this site and the management’s efforts to make diving here as safe as humanly possible, visiting divers do not need special Cavern Diver training or certification to enter this underground realm. Just as in nearby Ginnie Spring cavern, Devil’s Den and Paradise Spring, all that is required is common sense and a willingness to follow important safety rules.

Park-Like Facilities: Among the first things divers will notice upon entering Blue Grotto is its park-like atmosphere. The spacious, manicured grounds extend in all directions, under the shade of tall, decades-old Live Oak trees. There is ample parking — all of it immediately adjacent to the water.

Between the parking area and the water are several covered pavilions. These provide a close and convenient place to suit up — regardless of weather. With advance notice, groups such as dive clubs or dive stores can reserve an entire pavilion to themselves. In addition to the picnic tables divers will find in each pavilion, there are a number of barbecue pits throughout this area for whipping up pre- or post-dive meals.

On the far side of the parking area is an open-air volleyball court, available to all Blue Grotto guests. Closer to the entrance is a colorfully painted bathhouse, with separate mens’ and ladies’ changing rooms and warm showers. Although rinsing equipment is not really necessary after diving Blue Grotto’s clean, clear water, should divers accidentally get dirt or sand on their equipment while changing, they can wash it off at any of a number of nearby rinse stations.

The Diving: The first step in diving Blue Grotto takes place before visitors ever leave the dive center. As part of the registration process, the staff will show divers a short — but very informative and entertaining — orientation video. The video shows and tells everything divers need to know to get the most from their visit to Blue Grotto. It covers many important cavern diving safety procedures, such as keeping two-thirds of each diver’s starting gas supply in reserve to exit and taking advantage of the permanently installed, continuous guideline. It also outlines steps divers can take to help preserve the exceptional visibility for others.

After suiting up, divers descend wide, concrete steps leading to the site’s open-water basin. As they look down into the water, the first thing divers notice is its extreme clarity. Blue Grotto almost always remains crystal clear, even when visibility at other area sites has been affected by seasonal flooding, high water levels or diver traffic. Thanks to a unique filtration system, visibility at Blue Grotto generally exceeds 100 feet and can reach as much as 200 feet as divers enter the cavern area. There are no strong currents with which to contend and no thermoclines; the water remains a comfortable 72 degrees year round.

Immediately below the entrance area, divers will notice a number of large platforms. The open-water basin at Blue Grotto is a popular training site among area instructors. The platforms provide a place for both students and certified divers to touch down without disturbing the bottom.

Certified divers who follow the procedures outlined in the orientation video may carry dive lights and enter Blue Grotto’s immense cavern area. As they do, their first stop should be the Grotto’s unique, six-foot-wide air bell, centrally located on the ceiling, just inside the cavern entrance. Up to six divers can surface inside this hexagonal-shaped dome. There they can talk with one another or view the surrounding scenery through polycarbonate windows. The air bell is continuously ventilated with fresh air from the surface, so it remains free of excess carbon dioxide and other contaminants.

Located near the air bell is Blue Grotto’s permanently installed, million-candle-power underwater lighting system. This supplies further illumination to add to that provided by divers’ own hand-held light. It also provides a beacon to guide divers back to the air bell upon their return from the deeper part of the cavern.

A permanently installed, heavy-duty guideline runs the circumference of the site. The guideline not only provides a convenient tour route around the cavern’s perimeter, it also supplies a means by which divers can pull themselves along and, thus, cut down on fins strokes that could adversely affect visibility.

A bright yellow polypropylene line at a depth of approximately 50 feet bisects the guideline route. As outlined in the orientation video, less-experienced divers should limit their penetration to this point. Even so, however, they will still get to see all of Blue Grotto’s most impressive features, such as the dramatic view of the entrance, or historic Peace Rock.

If you shoot stills, some of your best photo opportunities may be right at the cavern entrance. Here it is possible to frame a shot that captures the outline of the cavern, the clear water, schools of fish and even the outline of trees overhead.

Advanced divers can venture even further into the cavern, reaching maximum depths approaching 100 feet. If they choose to do so, however, it is important they follow the procedures outlined during the orientation and maintain hands-on contact with the guideline at all times.