Alexander Springs

Alexander Springs is a great beginner dive site and a place to get familiar with your gear. The sand is not as fine as other, more silty springs and tends to get stuck in your gear, or hair or any other uncomfortable crevis it might get an opportunity to. I got a free-flowing octo after doing some bottom drills. Visibility is wonderful and you can see 60-100 ft easy, with a beautiful blue hue (bring your red filter if you have a camera). The bottom of the spring boil will give you some nice rock formations with a few surprises and a cave that you're not really allowed to muck with. It's a mid 30' dive at its deepest, but is relaxing and easy. There is an abundance of marine life including turtles, bass, brim, placosthamas, freshwater eel, gar and more. There is even a mating pair of gators at the spring that you might catch a glimpse of. The walk is long from the parking lot, especially laden with gear, but entry into the dive site is very easy when you get there. They don't like divers using the bathrooms at the lot as there is a shower at the beach to rinse off with to cut down on cleanups. An early dive in the winter will almost guarantee you a private experience. Later dives will earn you a few snorkelers and/or swimmers. Summer months will be rather busy with swimmers and snorkelers, and vis will suffer. Bottom line: the earlier the better. Overall I love this spring. It's small, but beautiful, and well worth the $5 entry into the park.