SMA FLIES INTO IMC; NOT INST RATED.

Narrative

I WAS FLYING BACK FROM A W PALM BEACH BUSINESS TRIP AT 6500 FT. THE CLOUDS BELOW ME WERE SCATTERED AT TKOF. UPON REACHING OCALA; I NOTICED THAT THE CLOUDS BELOW ME WERE BECOMING BROKEN TO OVCST. I HAD FLT FOLLOWING DURING THE DURATION OF MY FLT AND HEARD ZJX GIVE ANOTHER PLT INSTRUCTIONS FOR AN ILS APCH TO OCALA. I CALLED ZJX TO ASK IF GAINESVILLE WAS IFR. HE TOLD ME TO LISTEN TO ATIS AND FIND OUT. ATIS WAS RPTING FOR GAINESVILLE 800 AND OVCST; VISIBILITY 2 MI. I ASKED THE AIR TFC CTLR IF I COULD HAVE CLRNC FOR A SVFR APCH. HE TOLD ME NO PROBLEM. GNV WAS LNDG ON RWY 10 WITH USING THE LOC BACKCOURSE FOR NAV. I HAD BEEN TAKING IFR LESSONS AND WAS ONLY 3 LESSONS SHORT OF COMPLETION AND I HAD FLOWN THAT PARTICULAR APCH SEVERAL TIMES. AT THIS TIME IT WAS DUSK. I BEGAN TO MAKE HDG CORRECTIONS TO JOIN THE LOC. AT THE POINT WHEN I WAS ABOUT TO JOIN THE LOC; THE AIR TFC CTLR (ZJX) TOLD ME THAT HE HAD JUST TALKED WITH THE GNV TWR AND THEY WOULD NOT LET ME LAND IN GAINESVILLE. I THEN ASKED ZJX WHERE THE CLOSEST ARPT THAT WAS VFR FOR ME TO LAND. HE SAID JAX CRG WAS 1200 BROKEN WITH RAIN SHOWERS AND 3 MI VISIBILITY (VFR). I PROCEEDED TO CRG AT 5500 FT. WHEN APCHING THE ARPT; THE APCH CTLR ASKED ME TO DSND TO 3000 FT AT WHICH TIME I WAS IN CLOUDS AND RAIN. I WAS THEN ASKED TO DSND TO 2000 FT; STILL IN RAIN AND CLOUDS. THEY HAD ME JOIN THE LOC FOR RWY 32 AND CIRCLE TO RWY 5. I JOINED THE LOC AND WAS OUT OF THE CLOUDS BY 1100 FT AND MADE A VISUAL APCH ON RWY 5. IN RETROSPECT; I SHOULD HAVE TURNED AROUND OR FOUND AN ARPT WHEN REACHING OCALA AND REALIZING I WAS APCHING IFR CONDITIONS AND LANDED AT AN ARPT CLOSE BY UNDER VFR CONDITIONS. ALTHOUGH I WAS NEVER LOW ON FUEL OR IN ANY SIGNIFICANT DANGER; IT WAS VERY STRESSFUL AND POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS IF I HAD LOST MY ENG OR HAD ANOTHER PROBLEM.