Royal Springs is a FREE county park in North Florida, open every day from 8am-5pm. Although you'll only find port-o-potties for bathrooms, there are really nice diver benches, picnic tables and some covered pavilions, easy parking, and even an underwater diver platform towards the bottom at about 20 feet - great for classes or kneeling on the bottom without silting it up. Other parts of the dive can get to about 50 feet deep where there is a small cavern at the bottom. There is no cave diving allowed at the bottom of the cavern, even for cave certified divers.
Royal is a beautiful blue basin that flows slowly out over a little rock river into the Suwanee River. Like all freshwater springs in Florida, it stays right around 72 Degrees Fahrenheit year round, making it a great winter dive also.
The water is crazy clear until disturbed, at which point it can silt out pretty fast, so try and enter from the river side so any silt flows out and away from the boil.
In some cases, muddy water can backflow from the river which will “brown it out”- check Troy Springs State Park website for clues; If Troy is “browned-out”, odds are that Royal is, too. (Link Below)
They’re near each other and have similar setups, so they also make a great pair for a day trip of diving or scuba classes.
Royal Springs is a rare, hidden gem in North Florida that’s rarely crowded and has only a short walk down to the dive.
And make sure to save some time after your dive to show off your aerial skills if you want to try leaping from the jump platform into the water. For those that would rather show off their grillin’ skills, Royal has you covered there, too.
Finally, there’s a boat ramp with access to the Suwanee river, which is also a great place to drop the dive gear off at the main diver benches.
20051` 157th Lane
O’rien, FL 32071
386-362-3004
Royal Springs Website: suwanneeparks....
BROWNOUT CHECK:
Troy Springs State Park Website www.floridasta...
Produced by sweetwaterscub...
Voiced by Jonny Green
Special thanks to Katie Reich for diving, plus Eric Yarborough and Vincenza Fanara for jumping!
Video & Script by Kenny Dyal
20 авг 2024
