PfcAJ
Contributor
The Leon Sinks cave system extends from the Leon Sinks Geological Area (about a 15 minute drive south of Tallahassee) and continues south to Wakulla Springs, and possibly all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. There are over 20 known openings to this massive cave system. Promise Sink is the last of a series of 9 shallow sinks on the eastern trunk of the cave system.
The water clarity in Leon Sinks, with its many sinkholes and swallets, is very susceptible to rain. It seems that the only times its ever clear is on a Wednesday, itll rain Thursday, and be blown out by Friday. Lately, though, it has been quite dry in north Florida, and Promise Sink was finally clear.
Brian (Litehedded) and I have wanted to dive here for about a year, and this was the first weekend that we both had no other obligations and the water was clear. We made the drive from Orlando on Saturday, stopping at Extreme Exposure to fill our tanks (big thanks to Zach), then headed to Crawfordville. That afternoon, we made a two hour dive at Harveys Sink (unremarkable this time, not worth a trip report or worth diving till conditions improve) and spent the night in Tallahassee. The following morning, we drove to the trailhead of Promise Sink. We hiked around the woods a bit and saw some of sinks from the surface and got a lay of the land, then hiked our cave gear to the edge of the sinkhole.
The plan was to do a single stage dive upstream toward Clearcut Sink, then ride the flow back to Cream Sink and get out of the water. Getting out anywhere north of Cream is a no-go, as it is on State Park property.
Swimming north from Promise, a short land bridge separates it from Go-Between Sink. Go-Between has an amazing limestone archway in the middle of the water that is completely submerged. From here to Fern sink and Cream Sink, the cave is enormous. The walls are brown and tan (like an oatmeal cookie), striated from millennia of mineral deposits. The entire thing looks like youre swimming through a claybank. North of Cream Sink, the walls turn black with a lattice of goethite (an iron based mineral deposit) in all directions. The cave is a bit lower, but just as wide as the rest of it. My 18w light barely reaches from wall to wall.
Continuing on past Wood Sink, Trench and Venture, it opens up into Tallahassee Power Cave. The walls turn a vibrant white, and although the passage is bigger than before, the color of the walls reflects the light much better. Through this section, the cave goes through three distinct phases. The first is fossil laden, slightly scalloped walls, then it dramatically changes into what I call super swiss cheese. The walls are covered with scraggly little projections, maybe two or three inches across, punctuated by a few larger projections with holes in it. From there, the cave walls revert back to scallops (but smoother than the first section), but there are enormous pits on the bottom that connect to a passage that goes under the main passageway. Its just amazing. I can only imagine how Kirby Sullivan, Tex Chalkley and Bob Goodman felt in the early 70s, being the first people to ever lay eyes on this beautiful cave.
As the bottom timer rolled over at 100mins, it was time to head back through the previous sinkholes. Remembering that we still had a 4 hour drive ahead of us, we picked up the pace on the way out. After switching to our stage bottles, we were back at Cream before we knew it. We hauled the doubles and stages out of the water and up the steep bank, loaded the truck, and were back on the road at 6pm. Another great cave diving weekend.
BT 130mins, max depth 103ft.
The water clarity in Leon Sinks, with its many sinkholes and swallets, is very susceptible to rain. It seems that the only times its ever clear is on a Wednesday, itll rain Thursday, and be blown out by Friday. Lately, though, it has been quite dry in north Florida, and Promise Sink was finally clear.
Brian (Litehedded) and I have wanted to dive here for about a year, and this was the first weekend that we both had no other obligations and the water was clear. We made the drive from Orlando on Saturday, stopping at Extreme Exposure to fill our tanks (big thanks to Zach), then headed to Crawfordville. That afternoon, we made a two hour dive at Harveys Sink (unremarkable this time, not worth a trip report or worth diving till conditions improve) and spent the night in Tallahassee. The following morning, we drove to the trailhead of Promise Sink. We hiked around the woods a bit and saw some of sinks from the surface and got a lay of the land, then hiked our cave gear to the edge of the sinkhole.
The plan was to do a single stage dive upstream toward Clearcut Sink, then ride the flow back to Cream Sink and get out of the water. Getting out anywhere north of Cream is a no-go, as it is on State Park property.
Swimming north from Promise, a short land bridge separates it from Go-Between Sink. Go-Between has an amazing limestone archway in the middle of the water that is completely submerged. From here to Fern sink and Cream Sink, the cave is enormous. The walls are brown and tan (like an oatmeal cookie), striated from millennia of mineral deposits. The entire thing looks like youre swimming through a claybank. North of Cream Sink, the walls turn black with a lattice of goethite (an iron based mineral deposit) in all directions. The cave is a bit lower, but just as wide as the rest of it. My 18w light barely reaches from wall to wall.
Continuing on past Wood Sink, Trench and Venture, it opens up into Tallahassee Power Cave. The walls turn a vibrant white, and although the passage is bigger than before, the color of the walls reflects the light much better. Through this section, the cave goes through three distinct phases. The first is fossil laden, slightly scalloped walls, then it dramatically changes into what I call super swiss cheese. The walls are covered with scraggly little projections, maybe two or three inches across, punctuated by a few larger projections with holes in it. From there, the cave walls revert back to scallops (but smoother than the first section), but there are enormous pits on the bottom that connect to a passage that goes under the main passageway. Its just amazing. I can only imagine how Kirby Sullivan, Tex Chalkley and Bob Goodman felt in the early 70s, being the first people to ever lay eyes on this beautiful cave.
As the bottom timer rolled over at 100mins, it was time to head back through the previous sinkholes. Remembering that we still had a 4 hour drive ahead of us, we picked up the pace on the way out. After switching to our stage bottles, we were back at Cream before we knew it. We hauled the doubles and stages out of the water and up the steep bank, loaded the truck, and were back on the road at 6pm. Another great cave diving weekend.
BT 130mins, max depth 103ft.
