Warning: Diving in underwater caves is an
ultra-hazardous
activity. No one should dive in caves without proper training and equipment.
No amount of open water experience can prepare you for the cave environment.
Many Open Water Dive Masters and Instructors have died intending to explore
underwater caves. Fact: Open Water Divers have a very bad safety
record in caves when they have not been thoroughly Cave trained and certified. Partake in an IANTD Cave Diving course and
learn to Cave Dive safely, please.
Respectfully yours, Patti Mount, President IANTD (Cave Certified Diver in 1978)
Little River isn't the largest or the longest cave in Florida, but it will
provide a good dive with some variation in cave types. It begins with a
steep drop to 65 feet where the main line begins, and then drops again
through the "chimney" to 90 feet. Here it levels out and travels
along a low horizontal fissure, with a large tube in the center. It is
easy pull and glide, but when the water level is low, there isn't much
need. After a few minutes of swimming, you arrive at a large plastic triangle.
To the left is the Serpentine passage. A few feet into the Serpentine passage
is a left turn which brings you to the Harper Tunnel. If you take the
Harper tunnel, it soon narrows down to a small room where you can take
your tanks off and go forth with your no-mount stage bottle. It continues
on. To the right is the merry-go-round. Both the serp and the MGR tunnels
meet at another plastic triangle. (@ 16 minutes travel time referred to
as t.t. from herein.)
At Telford watch out for the locals on the weekends. The water here has
a reportedly high level of nitrates and other nasties. Be sure to use your
earplugs here. The Dive can be started at either Telford Spring which opens
into the river, or you can slide into Terrapin Sink which is the furthest
from the river in the woods. The stretch between the spring and sink can
be boring and is usually silted by open water divers. Once into the small
opening at Terrapin, tie off directly to the main line jump. Telford is
divided into some very obvious types of cave. It begins as a low, wide
silty passage, and then changes to an inverted "T" with a wide
horizontal fissure and a tall vertical fissure above. There a few jumps
to either direction here. You will soon come to the end of the "T"
passage. It ends in a very distinct lip, where the cave drops off. This
is a great place for stage bottle drops. Next is the "breakdown"
section. This consists of very jagged, highly porous limestone and a lot
of depth changing. The maximum depth of 68ffw (20mfw) is at this point.
After a while this will end and the cave will open into larger passages
reminiscent of the Peacock system, but not nearly so large. The rock here
is very white, in contrast with the previous "T" which was brown,
and the "breakdown" which is covered in geothite. This continues
for a long while, to 2,500 feet (750 meters) or so, and then you will come
to another section of vertical fissure. Some of this is sort of narrow,
and requires a little "slanty swimming". This is short, and again
opens up, this time into a passage with parallel lines. The cave is again
open, but getting shorter (3-5 feet). It is also very shallow here, sometimes
less than 40 feet (12 meters). Look at a map
of Telford.
The Dive List
Ginnie Springs is one of the most popular tour cavern and cave systems
in the area. There are many different caves on the property; Ginnie Spring,
which has been gated at the cavern area, is popular with lots of open water
divers (unfortunately - PLEASE get trained), and cavern students. The other
three, Devil's Ear, Devil's Eye and Little Devil, are the most popular
systems in the park. Devils Ear and Eye connect, Devils Eye just being
a nice way to enter the system without getting pummeled by the huge outflow
out of the ear. There are any number of good dives here, unfortunately
most of the outer ones have sustained heavy damage from cave students.
Most of the Geothite has been worn away by divers in heavily traveled areas
(anywhere you can get without a stage bottle). The Hinkle restriction is
the bragging rights of people without scooters, which is a nice single
or double stage dive depending on how well you know the system, or a no
stage dive if you have a scooter. The view gets better and better the further
you get back into the cave system. Here is a photo of the keyhole, shamelessly
stolen from Ken Sallots' Cave Divers Corner. Be aware of Ginnie's park entry fees. Look at a map
of the Devil's Ear.
The Dive List
These springs have
been under some controversy as of late concerning their "openness".
The final word, is that it is closed due to the landowner, but it really
is open because the landowner doesn't own the land that the spring is actually
on. We are trying to get further clarification on this point. This is a
pretty cave. There is a large tree in the entrance pool, which makes for
a pretty exit. The downstream is pretty, but gets rather low, and supposedly
the upstream is side-mount country, though some say otherwise. Look at
a map
of Cow Spring.
The Dive List
Peacock is a popular
dive site in the Branford area. The other sinks in the same system are
Pothole, Olsen, Challenge, and Orange Grove. The photo is Olsen, with the
safety rope strung across it (for climbing in.) The system typically has
very large open rooms with white limestone. Many divers favorite part of
this dive is between Peacock and Olsen. The best way to see most of the
system without staging is to start at Orange Grove, swim upstream to Challenge,
then coast downstream past Olsen, Pothole, and to Peacock. An excellent
dive is the Cistern circuit and the trip to the Crypt. The first jump into
the cistern line is at the "horseshoe" jump to the right about
200 feet (60 meters) past Pothole. This is a very pristine passage, and
there is not much evidence of diver passage. If your skills are lacking,
please save this for later. You can follow the Cistern line all the way
to Cistern with only one jump. There are low spots in the cave where tannic
water has intruded into the cave and settled in the lower areas. There
is a definite temperature and visibility change. You can also see the stains
on the limestone where the tannic water has left it's mark. Beware of the
lines at Cistern Sink. There are two lines coming up from opposite directions
that travel up the small Cistern Sink slot together. The slot is small
and very silty, and there is a very real potential for entanglement, with
no easy rescue by buddies possible. If you want to continue on towards
the crypt be sure to connect the two lines, either with a reel, or by clipping
the lines together, and make sure indicate the way you came in. After Cistern,
the passage gets smaller and rather twisty. This is a very pretty passage.
It opens up at the jump with a boulder pile on the right. The line is in
the silt on the right side of the boulder pile. The Crypt is a large room
beneath a collapsed cave area. There are two T's in the line just before
the end of the line. They supposedly connect on either side of the large
boulder at about 200 ffw (60 mfw). There is also the Peanut Tunnel which,
as you enter Peacock, is to the left, and makes a very pretty swim up to
either the Peanut restriction, or you can cross over at the crossover tunnel,
and back to the mainline between Olsen and Pothole Sinks. Peacock is a
state park and requires a $5 daily pass. Maximum Depth on the mile circuit
described is 66 feet (20 meters). Look at a map
of the Peacock system.
The Dive List
Peacock Three gets its own section because it is so totally different from
the rest of the Peacock system. Primarily, it is a siphon, which has such
bad visibility most of the year. That is why it is infrequently dived.
However, it is sometimes "clear" with 40 foot (12 meter) visibility
and it is impressive. The darker colored walls, combined with poor visibility
make the cave appear much larger than it really is. Like the Tallahassee
Power Cave, this is "use your bright lights" country. Following
the main line leads through a large passage, smaller than the Peacock main
passage, but it is still good sized. There are a a couple of places in
the cave where surface rubble has washed down into the cave during heavy
rains. It is very interesting to see river rock in piles on the silt floor. Taking
the Henley's Castle jump which is in the middle of a large open room, is
a rather impressive jump, as jumps go. Following this line for about 100
feet (30 meters) leads to a tie-off on a long jut of limestone, directly
over a vertical pit to 130 feet (39 meters). With good visibility, you
can see the sides of the pit from the top, but with less than 30 foot (9
meters) of visibility, the sight of the line dropping vertically into the
abyss is ominous. Dropping to the bottom of the pit, the line enters a
low bedding plane for about 50 feet (15 meters). Beware, the bottom is
sandy, but visibility will drop easily, and worst of all, the line is loose,
and will easily wander to the right, which is too tight for backmounts.
Stay to the left going in and to the right going out. At the end of the
bedding plane, the line drops into another pit, dropping to 181 feet (55
meters). This is a little less vertical, but still very impressive. The
line is tied off at the bottom, but the passage appears to continue at
the bottom.
The Dive List
Cheryl Sink is just south of Tallahassee. It suffers from long bouts of dark
water caused by tannic acid. This continues on most of the year. If you
manage to hit a clear time, it is an interesting dive. There are three
passages out of the sink. One is to Split Sink which is on the same side
of the road in the woods, about 60 feet (18 meters) deep. The second one
is to Emerald Sink which is across the road and the passage is also about
60 feet (18 meters) deep and the third one is to the Black Abyss. The Abyss
passage is as deep as 120 feet (36 meters), with the actual pit dropping
to a restriction at 190 feet (57 meters) and continues on. Bring your brightest
lights here, the passages are huge and the walls are very black.
Look at a map
of Cheryl.
The Dive List
Emerald is another site that suffers from tannic acid most of the year.
If it is clear, this is a beautiful dive. The Sink itself is almost 100
feet (30 meters) deep. There is a large log across the water at 10 feet
(3 meters) and another that is stuck in the bottom that rises to the first
log. These are great for decompression use. There are two passages out
of the sink, one to Split and Cheryl Sinks at about 60 feet (18 meters),
and the Downstream Cave, which starts at 120 feet (36 meters), and goes
down from there. This downstream cave is huge. You can't see all
the way across, or the floor from the ceiling. The road to Emerald has
been blocked with dirt mounds, so be prepared for a bit of a walk from
the road. Look at a map
of Emerald.
The Dive List
Gopher Hole is also in Tallahassee, but is not connected with any of
the other caves, so it doesn't suffer from tannic acid. However, it is
always topped with milky blue water and usually beer cans. There are multiple
small caverns from this sink with white limestone walls. This is very different
from the surrounding cave systems. Typically the visibility clears up once
you are in any of the connecting caves.
The Dive List
This is the newest cave on the list. It is also not for the
novice. The main entrance is closed off with large chunks of cement block
and other debris. You can get most of it out by going down and pulling
them out one by one and setting them up high on the slope into the cave.
Make sure they are stable there, you don't want them collapsing back in
as you are in the cave. Please don't push them deeper into the cave as
you will have to use them again later. Run a jump reel to the main line,
just inside the cave. Up till now you might have been able to get by with
side-mount. Now is the time to switch to no-mount. Probably you just want
to take one bottle as two gets to be a bit troublesome. Take off the fins
and all the other gear. Stash as many lights as you can on your bottle.
Head on in, staying with the line. Go slow, if you get stuck, you must
back out in zero visibility. Danger: There are no places to turn
around once you get started. Pay attention, so that you don't back yourself
into a limestone coffin. Once you get to the big room, pick a line and
follow. The lines are mazy because they were put in for survey, so they
are a little confusing, especially at the upstream junction. When you are
done, be sure to pile the debris back into the entrance, making sure to
completely close the entrance. Maximum depth is 101 feet (30 meters) at
the upstream room, and the travel time is 22 minutes with practice.
The Dive List
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