Florida · about 5 km from Ponce de Leon
Vortex Spring
- Max depth49 m (161 ft)
- CertificationCavern
- Water temperature≈ ~20 °C (~68 °F)estimated, no reports yet
Diving and fills
Dive here with
No dive centre guides here yet. Do you dive here with guests? Add your centre for free →
Fills nearby
- Fill stationCave Adventurers (Marianna)Air, nitrox 32 % (banked), trimix (advance notice), O₂, helium, argonRoute ↗
What it looks like
Vortex Springs - Cave Dive What's Inside Vortex Spring? Cave Diving Disaster in Vortex Spring He Never Came Out! Vortex Spring Cave Tunnel Entrance *Go No Further While You’re Diving Recreational SCUBA!
All 5 videos and posts
Videos and posts
From other divers, via YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. They only load when you click; after that, Google's or Meta's privacy rules apply.
Vortex Springs - Cave Dive What's Inside Vortex Spring? Cave Diving Disaster in Vortex Spring He Never Came Out! Vortex Spring Cave Tunnel Entrance *Go No Further While You’re Diving Recreational SCUBA!
- Facebook
sharkquestadventures
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Other people's footage, not advice: how someone else dives here says nothing about what suits your team. Dive within your training.
The dive
A busy dive park with classes and camping; water ~20 °C. The first passage runs ~90 m to the Piano Room. The spring delivers ~28 million gallons a day.
1 earlier accident or incident has been reported at this cave. Read what happened ↓
Profile and sections
A busy dive park with classes and camping; water ~20 °C. The first passage runs ~90 m to the Piano Room.
The spring delivers ~28 million gallons a day. Ownership has changed since the 'Doc' Dockery era.
Practical: the 1991 grate is locked; staff unlock it for certified cave divers.
- Depth and profile
- Basin ~60 m across, ~-15 m in the middle · cavern to the grate at ~-32/-35 m, ~90 m in · beyond it to ~-49 m (one source; greater depths are also quoted) · ~500 m of cave mapped
- Configuration
- All configurations.
- DPV: Not DPV-suitable (estimate)
- Short cave behind a grate; little gain.
Who can dive where
- At least Cavern
- Configurations: Backmount / twinset / Sidemount / CCR / Small cylinders / no-mount (speleo sumps)
- Goes down to 49 m (trimix or deco may be needed)
This is how the planner decides who in your team may dive this cave. Rules your own trip adds (organizer, a mail, the AI) show with your trip.
How to get there
Private dive park (Vortex Spring Adventures, 1517 Vortex Springs Ln, Ponce de Leon); dive pass $25 per person; open daily (dive shop Mon–Thu 10:00–17:00, Fri–Sun 8:00–17:00, Central time, as of Nov 2026). Stairs and a floating dock; camping and lodging.
Around Vortex Spring
Fills1 fill station · 75 km
Cave Adventurers (Marianna)
5211 Limestone Ln, Marianna, FL 32446
Air, nitrox 32 % (banked), trimix (advance notice), O₂, helium, argon
Daily 8:00–18:00 (InDEPTH business directory)
Edd Sorenson's cave centre on Merritt's Mill Pond: CCR service and training up to CCR cave, guided dives, pontoon rental to Twin Caves and Hole in the Wall, scooter rental for Jackson Blue, lodging via Karst Kottages. Fills while you wait. The fill prices on the older website (air $5 single / $10 doubles, nitrox $0.11/cu ft) are probably outdated.
The links to Booking.com are affiliate links: if you book through one, DiveTripPlanner earns a small commission. You pay the same.
Caves nearby2 within 28 km
News
All (1)
Accidents and incidents
What happened at this cave before, with the sources. No names are given; read it as a lesson for your own planning.
- Before the grate was installed in 1991, several open-water divers died in the cave. In 2010 a diver disappeared beyond the grate (never found); another fatality followed in 2012.
Access and rules change: check what applies locally right before your trip. Source: GDELT Project and the news feeds of diving magazines. Search for more news ↗ Searched automatically, last on 13 Nov 2026.
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