SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
3-1-8 Jackson Blue Dive Report
Didn't get enough sleep, but I was still up on time and headed to Marianna as scheduled. I left with cloudy skies, which soon would become partly cloudy with clear blue skies peaking through more and more throughout the day. Got a call from cmufieldhockey, she was early so decided to go ahead and start, so we knew not to wait up for her at the Sheriff's Dept. When I got to there, BGillespie was already there and we signed up, grabbed a key and headed to Jackson Blue. cmu and her buddy were the only other team onsite(suprisingly, considering the conditions elsewhere), but the park manager was also there. We talked to him for a bit and learned that the FSU CSI class would be showing up(which they did, in many numbers).
The basin was clear, for the most part, but cloudy around the cavern entrance. The boil on the surface had increased in size quite a bit, so we knew that we'd have to kick to make progress this time around. Water was up to the retaining wall, probably 18-24" higher than two weekends ago. I ran a primary into the cavern and hooked it to the goldline, going down the rightside of the cavern. Visibility was around 20' in the cavern and improved to maybe 30' after dropping down the chimney. BGillespie led the dive, setting the pace after the primary was in place. Flow, while still not strong, has significantly picked up and is very noticable around any restriction. In the larger cave areas, it will push you back at a slow walking pace without kicking against the flow. BGillespie turned the dive around 850' into the cave for turn pressure(typically this amount of gas would get us to 1250' at the pace we were moving). Our return was easy, as we just let the flow drift us back out to the entrance. Daylight was visible 100-130' back as a dim milky blue glow. I left the primary in place and we did a safety stop and exitted the cave. I hit a max depth of 95' for a dive time around 45 minutes.
FSU had taken over all the tables under the pavillion, including the ones we had left gear on
. I'm guessing there were a good 20-25 divers preparing OW gear for OW dives in a basin thats shallow enough to wade across, except at the cavern entrance. LOL The headspring at Jackson Blue just makes for a crappy OW dive, they'd be better off elsewhere in the pond.
We hit the water again, around an hour and a quarter after our first dive. By this time there was a cavern class and one other cave team in the water from 2 of Edd's pontoon boats. The cavern class was still in OW and we passed the other cave team going in, while they were exitting. BGillespie lead the dive again and we turned at the second breakdown. We drifted back to my primary, where I fell behind to reel up the primary. The reeling went quickly as the flow pushed us back into the cavern quickly. After a quick safety stop I putzed up the remainder of the line, drifted into the back of BGillespie, then into the ceiling, grabbed the floor, and cussed my way into OW - LOL. The flow will take awhile to get used to... Hit 94' and the dive was quite short, around 38 minutes.
Hit up Cave Adventurers for fills, watched Edd buzz his house in his airplane, left for some grub(Subway), checked out the Sheriff's Dept, and headed to Wakulla for the WCDC meeting. No speakers during this meeting, as it was mostly just a business type meeting to plan on whats coming next. The next meeting will likely involve a BBQ/cleanup type social at one of the local sinks for a change of pace.
After the meeting, a small group of us headed up the road and looked at Guy Revelle Sink, as well as another just a bit further in the woods, to consider diving the next day. The water was tannic, but seemed clearish in the failing afternoon light.
I headed out and met up with PerroneFord at Hooters for some grub, couple beers, and a stamp on my Hooters Passport(25 locations gets you a 200 wing party
, I've got 23 to go - LOL).
Wakulla/Leon Sinks whirlwind non-diving reports 3-2-8
I didn't bring my camera on this trip, probably the most ignorant move for me throughout this entire excursion.
I met up with BGillespie again on Sunday morning at the public parking area that leads into some park land that contains several sinks, that eventually connect to Wakulla Springs. We had dive gear, but were well prepared not to dive, given conditions elsewhere in the state. Still, we wanted to revisit some of the sites we had dived a month back. Its probably a little better than a mile to Promise and Go Between Sinks, our starting point on our dives there earlier this year. They were tannic and smokey, we weren't diving them today as we just weren't in the mood for the challenge. Flow was kicking anyway. We also looked at Fern, Cream, Woods, and Trench Sinks, all of which we dived through our previous trip out. Then we visited some sinks upstream from Trench, including(I believe) Suprise and Venture Sinks. After that, we walked around the other side of the park, checked out two more sinks that aren't included in the dive maps I have for the area, which seemed slightly clearer, but without flow. Then we walked a bit further and visited a sink that is likely Clear Cut Sink. All potentially very nice dives, can't wait for better conditions! The deer know hunting season is over and we spooked a couple.
After leaving the park area, we headed up to Cherokee Sink, which is a sink I've known of for quite some time, but had never visited(aside from driving by it on Hwy61). Its friggin huge! The water was green, clear-ish(atleast 10' at the surface) and milky. It actually reminded me alot of the quarries I've dived. There was quite a bit of life visible from the surface, bream, minnows, bass, turtles, and even a little watersnake. Conditions were divable, but we had already put dive plans aside and decided to use the time to check out different parks and sinks.
After a quick stop at Hardees, we headed to Leon Sinks Geological Park, which is part of the Apalachicola National Park system. There's a sinkhole trail there I've been wanting to check out since the first time I've passed it. We took the Sinkhole Trail as well as the Cross Over Trail for a total of a 3 mile total trail. Our first stop was Gopher Hole Sink, considered a dry sink by the map, despite the bottom being filled with clear water and I've seen cave maps which include a wet bottom tunnel. The site actually looks like a gopher hole, with an open cave(like a half dome) going into the ground with the ceiling sinking into the water pooled at the bottom. There is a sinkhole ontop this open cavern area that funnels water into the pool via a short cave. Very interesting, where's my camera? After walking through some swamps, we came up on Natural Bridge(passing Johnson Sink, which is dry). Fisher Creek Sink was sucking higher water levels quickly enough to a point it made for a serious looking whirlpool(puts the recent Little River whirlpool views to shame - where's my camera?). A couple dozen feet away, the water re-emerges at Fisher Creek Rise and falls back underground at Lost Stream Sink. We next visited Duckweed Sink, which had no duckweed. Black Sink was quite black, and it was steep getting down to the water, nice though. Magnolia was next, and seemed quite dry, except for a small pool(which looked like runoff) on the bottom, for a sink considered to be wet. The sink itself was nicely sized though, and very nice. Crossed Big Eight and Field sinks next, both dry. Big Dismal lives up to its name in a big way. Gotta commend any team willing to go through the trouble of diving this site. Its something like 130' from level ground to the water's surface. The sink is huge and the walls are incredibly steep before dropping straight down for the last 10-20'. There was alot of limestone overhangs towards the bottom and you could hear the water raining down into the tannic pool after filtering through the limestone ceilings. It was quite a sight, and again, no camera?! Tiny Sink came next, it was tiny and dry. As we rounded a turn we were incredibly suprised by bright emerald blue water at the bottom of Hammock Sink, it was crystal clear while everything else seemed to be incredibly black/red. It was a very picturesque(arg!) sink and seemed very inviting - albeit signs made it clear swimming and diving were prohibited. Far and Back Sinks were next and dry. Palmetto Sink followed, and contained many palmetto's. Turner Sink came after Palmetto, not at all living up to the more famous Turner Sink as it was quite dry and small. Then we walked through Dry Sink, which, as you might have guessed, is dry. The trail circled back around to our starting point and the day was done.
Couldn't have asked for better weather, for the most part very clear and a nice breeze. The sun beat down a bit when you weren't in the shade though. While I only got the two dives in over the weekend, I found myself leaving Tallahassee and Wakulla exhausted and incredibly happy with everything I explored. I made a set of dives at Jackson Blue Spring, visited 10 dry sinks, and 22 wet sinks! Somehow I don't think I would have covered as much territory had I been water bound the entire weekend - LOL. There will be a repeat of much of this little exploration when I get back, with a friggin camera.
Didn't get enough sleep, but I was still up on time and headed to Marianna as scheduled. I left with cloudy skies, which soon would become partly cloudy with clear blue skies peaking through more and more throughout the day. Got a call from cmufieldhockey, she was early so decided to go ahead and start, so we knew not to wait up for her at the Sheriff's Dept. When I got to there, BGillespie was already there and we signed up, grabbed a key and headed to Jackson Blue. cmu and her buddy were the only other team onsite(suprisingly, considering the conditions elsewhere), but the park manager was also there. We talked to him for a bit and learned that the FSU CSI class would be showing up(which they did, in many numbers).
The basin was clear, for the most part, but cloudy around the cavern entrance. The boil on the surface had increased in size quite a bit, so we knew that we'd have to kick to make progress this time around. Water was up to the retaining wall, probably 18-24" higher than two weekends ago. I ran a primary into the cavern and hooked it to the goldline, going down the rightside of the cavern. Visibility was around 20' in the cavern and improved to maybe 30' after dropping down the chimney. BGillespie led the dive, setting the pace after the primary was in place. Flow, while still not strong, has significantly picked up and is very noticable around any restriction. In the larger cave areas, it will push you back at a slow walking pace without kicking against the flow. BGillespie turned the dive around 850' into the cave for turn pressure(typically this amount of gas would get us to 1250' at the pace we were moving). Our return was easy, as we just let the flow drift us back out to the entrance. Daylight was visible 100-130' back as a dim milky blue glow. I left the primary in place and we did a safety stop and exitted the cave. I hit a max depth of 95' for a dive time around 45 minutes.
FSU had taken over all the tables under the pavillion, including the ones we had left gear on
. I'm guessing there were a good 20-25 divers preparing OW gear for OW dives in a basin thats shallow enough to wade across, except at the cavern entrance. LOL The headspring at Jackson Blue just makes for a crappy OW dive, they'd be better off elsewhere in the pond. We hit the water again, around an hour and a quarter after our first dive. By this time there was a cavern class and one other cave team in the water from 2 of Edd's pontoon boats. The cavern class was still in OW and we passed the other cave team going in, while they were exitting. BGillespie lead the dive again and we turned at the second breakdown. We drifted back to my primary, where I fell behind to reel up the primary. The reeling went quickly as the flow pushed us back into the cavern quickly. After a quick safety stop I putzed up the remainder of the line, drifted into the back of BGillespie, then into the ceiling, grabbed the floor, and cussed my way into OW - LOL. The flow will take awhile to get used to... Hit 94' and the dive was quite short, around 38 minutes.
Hit up Cave Adventurers for fills, watched Edd buzz his house in his airplane, left for some grub(Subway), checked out the Sheriff's Dept, and headed to Wakulla for the WCDC meeting. No speakers during this meeting, as it was mostly just a business type meeting to plan on whats coming next. The next meeting will likely involve a BBQ/cleanup type social at one of the local sinks for a change of pace.
After the meeting, a small group of us headed up the road and looked at Guy Revelle Sink, as well as another just a bit further in the woods, to consider diving the next day. The water was tannic, but seemed clearish in the failing afternoon light.
I headed out and met up with PerroneFord at Hooters for some grub, couple beers, and a stamp on my Hooters Passport(25 locations gets you a 200 wing party
, I've got 23 to go - LOL). Wakulla/Leon Sinks whirlwind non-diving reports 3-2-8
I didn't bring my camera on this trip, probably the most ignorant move for me throughout this entire excursion.
I met up with BGillespie again on Sunday morning at the public parking area that leads into some park land that contains several sinks, that eventually connect to Wakulla Springs. We had dive gear, but were well prepared not to dive, given conditions elsewhere in the state. Still, we wanted to revisit some of the sites we had dived a month back. Its probably a little better than a mile to Promise and Go Between Sinks, our starting point on our dives there earlier this year. They were tannic and smokey, we weren't diving them today as we just weren't in the mood for the challenge. Flow was kicking anyway. We also looked at Fern, Cream, Woods, and Trench Sinks, all of which we dived through our previous trip out. Then we visited some sinks upstream from Trench, including(I believe) Suprise and Venture Sinks. After that, we walked around the other side of the park, checked out two more sinks that aren't included in the dive maps I have for the area, which seemed slightly clearer, but without flow. Then we walked a bit further and visited a sink that is likely Clear Cut Sink. All potentially very nice dives, can't wait for better conditions! The deer know hunting season is over and we spooked a couple.
After leaving the park area, we headed up to Cherokee Sink, which is a sink I've known of for quite some time, but had never visited(aside from driving by it on Hwy61). Its friggin huge! The water was green, clear-ish(atleast 10' at the surface) and milky. It actually reminded me alot of the quarries I've dived. There was quite a bit of life visible from the surface, bream, minnows, bass, turtles, and even a little watersnake. Conditions were divable, but we had already put dive plans aside and decided to use the time to check out different parks and sinks.
After a quick stop at Hardees, we headed to Leon Sinks Geological Park, which is part of the Apalachicola National Park system. There's a sinkhole trail there I've been wanting to check out since the first time I've passed it. We took the Sinkhole Trail as well as the Cross Over Trail for a total of a 3 mile total trail. Our first stop was Gopher Hole Sink, considered a dry sink by the map, despite the bottom being filled with clear water and I've seen cave maps which include a wet bottom tunnel. The site actually looks like a gopher hole, with an open cave(like a half dome) going into the ground with the ceiling sinking into the water pooled at the bottom. There is a sinkhole ontop this open cavern area that funnels water into the pool via a short cave. Very interesting, where's my camera? After walking through some swamps, we came up on Natural Bridge(passing Johnson Sink, which is dry). Fisher Creek Sink was sucking higher water levels quickly enough to a point it made for a serious looking whirlpool(puts the recent Little River whirlpool views to shame - where's my camera?). A couple dozen feet away, the water re-emerges at Fisher Creek Rise and falls back underground at Lost Stream Sink. We next visited Duckweed Sink, which had no duckweed. Black Sink was quite black, and it was steep getting down to the water, nice though. Magnolia was next, and seemed quite dry, except for a small pool(which looked like runoff) on the bottom, for a sink considered to be wet. The sink itself was nicely sized though, and very nice. Crossed Big Eight and Field sinks next, both dry. Big Dismal lives up to its name in a big way. Gotta commend any team willing to go through the trouble of diving this site. Its something like 130' from level ground to the water's surface. The sink is huge and the walls are incredibly steep before dropping straight down for the last 10-20'. There was alot of limestone overhangs towards the bottom and you could hear the water raining down into the tannic pool after filtering through the limestone ceilings. It was quite a sight, and again, no camera?! Tiny Sink came next, it was tiny and dry. As we rounded a turn we were incredibly suprised by bright emerald blue water at the bottom of Hammock Sink, it was crystal clear while everything else seemed to be incredibly black/red. It was a very picturesque(arg!) sink and seemed very inviting - albeit signs made it clear swimming and diving were prohibited. Far and Back Sinks were next and dry. Palmetto Sink followed, and contained many palmetto's. Turner Sink came after Palmetto, not at all living up to the more famous Turner Sink as it was quite dry and small. Then we walked through Dry Sink, which, as you might have guessed, is dry. The trail circled back around to our starting point and the day was done.
Couldn't have asked for better weather, for the most part very clear and a nice breeze. The sun beat down a bit when you weren't in the shade though. While I only got the two dives in over the weekend, I found myself leaving Tallahassee and Wakulla exhausted and incredibly happy with everything I explored. I made a set of dives at Jackson Blue Spring, visited 10 dry sinks, and 22 wet sinks! Somehow I don't think I would have covered as much territory had I been water bound the entire weekend - LOL. There will be a repeat of much of this little exploration when I get back, with a friggin camera.
