Red and Green

"Red and green" was the theme of the day... but not for Christmas spirit or early holiday celebrations. 

The "Red" part of the day began at Amigos Dive Center in Ft. White, Florida where we met Jim to film Wayne showing off one of his new fancy gas mixing sticks. Jim had a beautiful RED camera to film the commercial. It was the first time I'd ever seen one.. it's absolutely beautiful!

Maybe some day I will actually operate the RED camera. Just standing in its presence is pretty intimidating right now... it's a beast of a camera! 

Wayne and I after filming...  hahah I think the heat got to us at this point. After a long morning of sun and 100 degree temperatures, he brought out his hillbilly teeth!

I spy with my little eyes... a camouflaged tail-less lizard! Andy somehow spotted this little guy at Amigos after we were done filming. It's pretty amazing how well he blends in with the bark... I wonder how he lost his tail?

After lots of fun filming and learning to fill air, nitrox, and oxygen tanks (30 tanks total!!), we were all ready for a refreshing swim, so we took some crazy muddy back roads, and after a few adventures along the way, we ended up at Troy Spring. This is where we started the "Green" part of the day - the water had a very green color from all of the algae... not the best for taking pictures but it was still a neat dive! The hot weather attracted quite a few curious spring-goers who were pretty fascinated by our dive gear and what we were doing diving "all the way to the bottom" (~70 feet). 

Looking up at the sun from about 15 feet underwater. The water was so green! And sadly it was also down about 10 feet despite the past few rain storms that have passed through. Still hoping for more!!

Looking out into the main spring basin from the small cavern.  Even though the water has a greenish tinge, it is still clear enough to see 70 feet up to the surface.

Kids cooling off in the spring near the bottom of the stairs. I love all of their colorful tubes!

There is also a ton of green algae on the rocks where the spring run starts, but in the shallower water, it appears crystal clear. Sadly you used to be able to swim over this rock and snorkel out the spring run and explore the sunken boat. Now you can go under this rock (it's fun to get sucked out through the small passageway by the current), but when you get out into the spring run it's only about 1-2 feet deep max. I bet it was amazing when it was 6+ feet deep.

Despite the 100 degree temperatures, we were pretty chilly by the end of the dive. The 70 degree water gets to you after a while of little movement. So, we decided to go freediving and swim around ... the perfect end to an awesome day.

Warming up at the surface... going for a swim in the sky :)

A few more pictures are in my album Gills on Facebook.