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Hudson Grotto
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Submitted By:
Jason NYC
Submitter Comments:
The grotto is used for training, open water diving, and is available for private parties and special events. The Grotto walls are hour glass shaped loaded with solution tubes and other objects to look at. The bottom is dome shaped, and the edges average around 100 - 110 feet in Depth. with the deepest spot, about 155ft in a small opening against the north wall. There are four platforms, Three of them just under the end edge of the dock, and one in the middle of the sink. The three platforms are layered like steps, the first one is at 20ft.,the second at 45 ft. and the third at 60ft. Tied to the white barrel there is a line that runs down to a 100 foot platform which is used for Advance Open Water classes. The Platform sits next to two boats and lines run to an old VW van, and other interesting objects sitting on the bottom. There are several thermo clines, the mid-water temperature can get pretty cold between 40 and 80 feet , however the bottom temperature usually stays in the low 70's. The water is tannic all year, and visibility can really fluctuate with the algae bloom. Cost is usually around 10- $20 for divers depending on visibility.
Directions:
Located one mile North from the intersection of SR 52 and US Hwy 19. Tower Drive is directly across the street from the Castriota Chevy Dealership. Hudson Grotto is on the left side of Tower Drive, just across the street from Scuba West dive shop.
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Diver
Reviews: (Please share your
own experiences by clicking
here!)
10/16/2007 Manda (Avg: 3.16 Review) - This was the last dive for my AOW. I explored several wrecks along the bottom. The sulfur layer was a little thicker than my visit two days ago. Bottom is very silty and can easily be stirred causing bad vis to be worse, so use caution. We managed not to stir things up. This location offers experiences for all divers. New divers should remain shallow, as surface light can be lost as soon as 50ft on some days. You should still bring a light to look into holes and solution tubes.
05/24/2005 Chuck at Plainfield (Avg: 3.01 Review) - Very friendly staff (Scuba West) and a pleasant dive site. I enjoyed the low-light situation from the tannic water. A dive light greatly adds to the pleasure of diving here. Aquatic life wasn't abundant, but it does exist and is also pleasant.
05/09/2005 Bill in Florida (Avg: 1.82 Review) - My friend and I set out to do all of the springs in Florida in the winter of 2004-2005. One Saturday he didn't get out of work until much later, so living in the Tampa Bay area, we went to the closest commercial spring/sink around - Hudson Grotto. To say the least, for the many dives I have logged, Hudson Grotto was pretty bad. Ambient light is lost at around 10 feet and from there on you plunge into total darkness with 0-1 ft. visibility. We got to the bottom at about 105 feet after passing through a horrible sulfide layer. Once at the bottom, after trying to look around (our expensive dive lights were useless), we decided there was nowhere to go but up. The water was cold and dark, and the heavy sulfide layer made us smell like sewer workers. On the plus side though, it was easy to get there, the road went right up to the grotto, it was not crowded, and the staff at Scuba West, which owns the Grotto, were really very friendly and helpful. All in all, though, if you are looking to dive a sink or spring in Florida, Hudson Grotto probably shouldn't be your first choice.
04/14/2005 Anonymous (Avg: 2.29 Review) - (no comment)
02/04/2005 Jason NYC (Avg: 2.47 Review) - My wife and I went to Tampa, Florida for a wedding and wanted to practice using our new DUI TLS350's. We figured the springs would be a good place to do this but we didn't want to drive 3 hours just to practice and the Gulf of Mexico was not cooperating. Thus, our hunt for a convenient dive began! Enter Ned DeLoach's DIVING GUIDE TO UNDERWATER FLORIDA. I love this book. Ned says, "This is a typical gulf coast sink that resembles a pond. It slopes gently to 15 feet where the sink walls plunge almost vertically to 110 feet. Below 80 feet there is a salt water level with a slight intrusion of hydrogen sulfide." I say, "This dive scared the hell out of me." Seriously though, not a good place to practice anything unless you are with an instructor or you are very comfortable diving in very low light conditions. I couldn't even see the first training platform (located at a depth of 20 ft.) from the surface! Eventually we did find it and could see the dock above us thanks to the noon sun shining down through the water. The visibility was about 20 feet but it was pitch black due to the tannic water. Our lights did nothing for us. The temp. was 68. We never went deeper than 22 feet. Hudson Grotto has so much potential though. The owners of Scuba West, located across the street from the gated grotto, were pleasant. They own and operate Hudson Grotto. The facility has picnic tables, a nice floating dock, underwater training platforms, covered classroom areas with blackboards and tables, parking, and nice signs explaining how the grotto came to be and how best to dive it. The total cost for this dive was just under $50 bucks including admission for two, 2 tanks and 2 sets of weights. We chose to do one dive only due to time constraints but I'm sure the friendly folks at Scuba West would have allowed us to spend the entire day there if we wanted.
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Diver
Averages for Hudson Grotto (1=worst,
5=best) |
Number of reviews for this site: 5
1393-6-5-21
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4.80
1.40
1.60
4.00
2.55
2.20
3.20