Top Snorkeling and Scuba Diving in Hernando County

Weeki Wachee can best be described as a fresh water spring with a theme park built around it. In between dives you can watch the mermaid show that takes place right there in the spring. Divers must be accompanied by local dive shops with permission to enter and dive. Located on US 19 in the heart of a very small town called Weeki Wachee. It's about an hour and a half north of Tampa, Fl.

Dome shaped sinkhole where groups of manatees gather in the winter months. Jack fish and eels can also be seen. Rent a canoe in the town of Weeki Wachee Springs and travel a short distance upstream from the canoe dock on the gentle Weeki Wachee River to find sinkhole where many manatees gather in the winter seasons. Shallow water around the sinkhole allows shore-like entrance. Small buoy marks the sinkhole. Rent a canoe through a local store and travel from the parking lot at Rogers Park canoe launch east up the river.

Individual diving will not be permitted. Individuals wishing to dive at the spring, must contact one of the registered dive shops for availability and pricing. Weeki Wachee Springs is about 12 miles southwest of Brooksville at the head of the Weeki Wachee River. It is just south of State Hwy 50 on the west side of U.S. Hwy 19. This is a well known landmark and will be very easy to find. Look for the swimming mermaid signs all over the interstate and state highways.

This is an advanced dive. Do not take this lightly. Do not screw it up for the rest of us. Getting to the nest was often as hard as the dive. It was best to go with someone who had been there several times before since the hunting roads can become an incredible maze. This is an extremely advanced dive due to the distance from help and the depths found here. If you have never seen the Little River well pipe, done the Peacock Grand Traverse, and hit the Hinkle restriction, all on on a swim dive, then you probably should not be diving here. There is no open water, cavern, intro, nor apprentice to cave level of diving conducted here unless under the control of an instructor. With a team of 3-4 divers using HIDs and scooters, one can really just start to get an idea of the size of this place. Access is gained through the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area. The access is about 10 miles north of the Hwy 50/Hwy 19 intersection. There are some good directions with pictures at this site: http://www.ezscuba.com/eagle's_nest.htm When you dive there, please make sure to leave a copy of either your annual pass or the stub you got after paying at the ranger on the vehicle dashboard so that law enforcement may check it while you are in the water. Please also leave a copy of your cave certification card as well as you would at Peacock and be sure to sign the log book. If you want to see the waypoints, you can see the track here. Although the words overlap, the first point after the entrance is the first Y-split, soon followed by the second Y-split and then the crossroads. Eagle's Nest is a large cave system on Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area property about the woods near Weeki Wachee. Access is now available for the general public. The good news is that a good road has been provided all the way to the sink and a wooden deck and staircase have been installed for easy access. The bad news is that the sink is now 12 miles from the current access even though it is less than a mile from the closest paved road. If you use a Garmin GPA with Mapsource, then you can import this Mapsource track, or click here to see how the track appears. The state has put in a lot of time and effort to improve the road and build a dock and ramp system to enable divers to have easy access. This is a great deal. The price to dive here is $3 a day or you may purchase an annual Wildlife Management Area pass for $26.50 at local hunting supply stores or even Wal-Mart. Eagle's Nest is also known as Lost Sink.