The insipid disquisition of a burghal savage: "Between the two of us, we make one whole diver"

That seems to be a running theme with Scott and I. When I first got starting in class for diving, Scott didn't have an octo on his gear. " What could go wrong?" he grinned. He got one though, for the ginnie trip and slowly since we have begun to look like real divers. After ginnine springs, I had a wicked ear infection for three weeks, bad. Ended up at the ER at 4am. After the healed we were already planning a trip to paradise springs. Paradise is a small hole in the ground in ocala off 441.

Scott and I arrive there around 10am and meet the owner of the dive park. It is a private spring on this guys land that he opened up to the public for diving. He had us watch a video and sign our lives away, wished us luck and off we went.

We drove over to the parking area next to the gazebo and got out. "Do you see a spring?" I asked. Looking around there was not much nearby, a horse paddock and the gazebo and a small patch of oak trees. " Do we jump in the horse trough? " I asked. We walked over to the oaks and found a small trial down to a 10 or 15 Ft wide pool. Cool. We geared up and stared down the trail.

We begin our decent and swim down in to darkness. I switch on my dive light and shine it around, the cavern is so large that I cant see the walls. I find the guide rope and use it to pull myself down. I can see scotts light about 10 feet below me. The small light piercing the inky blackness. We descend further. We reach the sign at 100ft. I stopped and look back to the surface, I turn off my light and float. I can see the opening, small like a quarter, the pale diffuse blue grey light like the reflection of the moon in the ocean at night. Floating there, feeling the darkness surrounding me, the water is cold and silent, only the rythmic sound of my own breath. Scott is exploring further down, the flash from his camera sending echoes of light from behind me. I give a slight kick and slowly rise toward the upper wall. There are large sand dollars, the size of dinner plates, embedded in the ceiling. Other fossils and whale bones are there also, a view of life frozen in death. In this cold dark place, time seems to have stopped. I am looking on things that haven't seen the daylight since the dinosaurs relinquished control of the planet. I stare at them and imagine the world then, raw and wild and new.

I push off the wall and drift back down to the bottom, Scott is done photographing the area and we slowly begin our accent. As we move back up through the cavern toward the surface, I see more signs of old life, things from a bygone era, lining the walls, like a museum. We exit the spring and pack our gear. It is bright and warm outside, it's is friendly, but I have to say, I like it better down there.