Peacock open?

[SWAMPY459]

Someone said they heard peacock was open again, but the website still says it's closed.

Does anyone know for sure if Orange Grove Sink will be open tomorrow for open water diving or not?

 

[Dive-aholic]

River level just went from 27' to 29' over the past few days so it's unlikely the cave or basins have cleared.

 

[JamesK]

Last report shows slight syphon.

BTW, are you cavern certified yet?

 

[karstdvr]

Someone said they heard peacock was open again, but the website still says it's closed.

Does anyone know for sure if Orange Grove Sink will be open tomorrow for open water diving or not?

Water is still very tannic,so not open right now. But,when the park is open for cave diving,quite frequently the Orange Grove basin will stay closed for open water diving for weeks after because the basin can be very low viz. Troy is still blown out because the Suwannee has gone up.

 

[CamG]

I doubt it is open as others have said it was coming along nicely.
I checked it on 3/23 it was actually starting to clear a bit and the run was full looked awesome!
My son and I enjoyed a bit of a hike and the drive back to P1 /P3 was not as bad as I thought it could be.
When we stopped at Orange it started to pound rain!

If you are looking for a OW spot I recommend Manatee it was awesome on 3/24 sunday.
My wife and daughter were the last OW divers to register before they closed.
I would urge you to get there at 8am.

JCG

 

[karstdvr]

I doubt it is open as others have said it was coming along nicely.
I checked it on 3/23 it was actually starting to clear a bit and the run was full looked awesome!

Peacock is still closed for diving. There is a good chance we will send a team in by the end of the week to the weekend,because even though the basin can look "okay",the cave often doesn't mimic that,inorder to get the minimum visibility to open. The Withlacoochee and Suwannee have both gone up several feet which has caused Madison to re-blow out,and slow the clearing of Peacock. To many having the springs reverse is devastating to plans,but many people have gotten trainined during drought years and expect it to always be good. In the past you typically expected spring rains to blow out the systems,and now I would add hurricane season to that list as has been noted lately. These reversals,though inconvenient,are a necessary part of the cave health,and keeps the caves unique for future visits.

---------- Post added April 1st, 2013 at 06:23 AM ----------

River level just went from 27' to 29' over the past few days so it's unlikely the cave or basins have cleared.

From March 26th to March 29th -Withlacoochee at Madison has gone up 3ft. Suwannee at Luraville has gone up 2 ft. The gauge shows Dowling Park cresting today,and that is 15 river miles north of Luraville.

 

[TONY CHANEY]

in order to get the minimum visibility to open.

So what is the minimum vis requirement?

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

We will not recommend opening the cave to the park manager until we get a minimum of 20-30 feet of visibility throughout the system.

We understand that everyone is anxious to get it open, none more than us at NFSA. However we have a reponsibility to the park to ensure conditions warrant re-opening the cave for cave diving.

http://northfloridaspringsalliance.org/lines.htm -- This site details some of the information.

Pertinent is:

After flood events/underwater trail closings the line committee members will
report to the chairman the conditions of the lines and the underwater visibility
in the cave to help the manager determine when it is prudent to re-open the
cave, after the manager gives approval for a test dive. The responsibility for
the decision of reopening the underwater cave lies solely with the manager. The
manager has stated he will consider, among other things the recommendation of
the line committee chairman.

After flooding events/underwater trail closings the manager may open the
underwater caves to different groups of varying certification levels. The line
committee chairman will consider underwater visibility and overall conditions of
the line when making a recommendation to the manager.


The manager may choose to open the underwater cave to full cave divers
only; the manager may choose to open the cave to introductory/basic cave divers
and above. The manager may open the cave to all cavern, intro/basic and full
cave divers. The manager may open the open water sections to all levels of
certified divers.


There will be at least 2 members, of the line committee, or 2
designated cave divers by the chairman evaluating the conditions of the
underwater cave and the open water portions of the cave prior to making their
recommendation the chairman.


The chairman will use as a guideline certain cave training agency
standards for minimum visibility at each level of certification for making
his/her recommendation to the manager. The standard will be if 2 divers
separated by pre-determined distance can clearly see and interpret hand signals.

 

[TONY CHANEY]

Thanks Jim and thanks for all that you guys do.

 

[karstdvr]

. There is a good chance we will send a team in by the end of the week to the weekend

Clarification- a team may go in for a permitted scientific dive to collect post flood data,and report the conditions to the line committee,who will work with park management to make a determination (My bad,I skipped some steps in my previous post)