Blue Grotto Dive Resort

Useful Information

Location:	3852 NE 172 Ct, Williston, FL 32696. Located northwest of Orlando near Williston.#+ I75 from South exit at Ocala, follow Hwy 27 west, through Williston. I75 from North exit at Gaionsville, follow Hwy 121 south to Williston, turn right on Hwy 27. After 2.8 km turn left on NE 172 Ct. (29.38789018148074, -82.48649451797534)
Open:	All year daily 8-17. Closed Easter, Thanksgiving, 24-DE, 25-DEC. [2024]
Fee:	Diver USD 57, Night Dive USD 57, Snoprkeler USD 22, Non-Diver USD 6.49. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave River Cave Doline Cenote
Light:	n/a
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Blue Grotto Dive Resort, 3852 NE 172 Ct, Williston, FL 32696, Tel: +1-352-528-5770.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

2013	site purchased by David Myler.
OCT-2013	exploration and survey by Andreas Hagberg, Kyle Harmon and Kirill Egorov.

Description

Blue Grotto Dive Resort is an underwater cave with a cenote-like opening. There is a wooden platform south of the spring, with a staircase leading down to another platform which floats on the water. The almost circular cenote has a diameter of up to 27 m, a hole in the middle of a lawn with vertical walls and lake 5 m below, the water is 12 m deep. The "cavern" is a huge water-filled chamber on the northern side, the floor forms a slope to the north going down in a 45° angle. The so-called Upper Cavern has a 20-m wide underwater entrance and is up to 18 m deep. Most of this chamber is in the so-called daylight region, the short part at the entrance of every cave which is illuminated by the daylight from outside. It is followed by the Lower Chamber, which is not illuminated by daylight, it is actually a cave, up to 30 m deep. In other words, the shaft is separated into three different parts which require different skills and equipment. There are platforms underwater, ropes, and numerous stops with speleothems, which of course have names.

However, this is the scuba diver part which only requires scuba diving skills and is used by diving schools. It is called either the "grotto" or the "cavern" And then there is a second part, to strictly separate it, they even made a second webpage with a different domain. This is the actual cave diving part, and they call it the "cave". It's the other end of the cave passage which runs south, not north. This passage is a wide, almost elliptical chamber, which is completely water-filled, and has the size of a football field. Access is from the platform floating in the lake, but there is also an artificial well into the chamber with a concrete staircase. The chamber has a crack in the ceiling with two small openings to the surface, but while they are big enough to let in some air, they are not large enough for divers.

This site is a water-filled cave with a collapse doline in the middle, which is used for scuba diving, both recreational and diving schools. The site is privately owned, its necessary to sign a waiver, and if you have no diving partner, you must book a diving instructor. We listed this site because its easily accessible, but it is actually not a tourist cave, not even a typical karst spring. It's a water-filled cave intended for divers. It is used by dive schools, and for the extra thrill of diving an "almost" cave it's quite popular. Nevertheless, it's possible to see the cenote or doline from the surface for a small entrance fee.

The name Blue Grotto is quite ridiculous, we have listed dozens of blue grottoes on showcaves.com but this is actually not one of them. It is a water-filled cave, a cenote, and like any other of those deep, water-filled holes it is blueish, a result of the large amount of dissolved limestone in the water. To keep it apart, we used the name of the company in the heading, instead of using the name of the cave.