Madison Blue

[John L.]

I have never been there, have not heard much about it on the forum. Is it a good cave dive? How is it affected by floods, etc. Can someone give me the info? Thanks. John

[jammer]

Yes Madison Blue is flooded because it is close to the river. No it sucks as a cave dive you should not go there. And the closest place to get air is Valdosta, or Live Oak in cave country.

[John L.]

It sucks because of poor vis? Low, silty? Thanks for any help Jammer.

[jammer]

I pm'ed you John

[curtschu]

Your are mean Jammer. :-D

Or do you know something I don't know? I used to dive it all the time before Mike had his troubles. Has something changed?

[jammer]

I are very mean Aren't I LOL.

[Cindy]

Maddison Blue is a fantastic cave! It's a great dive and well worth a dive to the white room. It will get even better soon. (yes men, this is a tease) :P
One friend of mine put the conditions during flood to me at that cave in this way, 'madison is the first to go and the last to blow'. Try it soon, once it 'blows' you will love it too. Cindy :) I would love to be able to camp there again some day. I loved that place to camp. All those stars at night.

[Ken Hill]

Cindy,
The concessionaire had as a long range plan camping and sites for travel type trailers, similar to Manatee. He is a good guy a a friend to cave divers. /Ken

ps. Did you mean the "court yard?"

[Cindy]

Hey Ken, I thought you ran away from home? I am talking about the room with the cool white pillars. You know how I am with names. :-D You could send me a map and then I would be able to resource it when I feel the need to post. :lol: I like the Godzilla room also, very cool. I hope the Barbie doll is still hanging out Godzilla's mouth. Now that was funny! You know Ken my Grandmother had a nasty habit of correcting me when ever I wrote her a letter to her even when everyone including Grandma knew exaclty what I was talking about and or it didn't matter. I stopped writing her. I am all grown up now and have learned that some people just feel the need to do that. For accuracy no doubt. I am sure it would have no other purpose. Have a good day big guy, Cindy :)

[John L.]

Cindy, will you take me to Madison Blue someday?

[Cindy]

pm sent. Cindy :D

[Ken Hill]

You got me. I thought you were having as Yogi say's "deja vu" all over again think about the low passage to the White Room. Anyway it is a beautiful cave and my best/worst memory was a double light failure within a minute of each other in a four person team. /K

[Cindy]

So, I guess this means no map? Damn! Thought I had one there! :lol: Cindy

I gotcha beat, Ken. I had a triple light failure there in a three-person team once (Ron Bear did a trip report called "Weekend at Madison Blue," in June 2003). The backup light he gave me was about as bright as the keyring light I have.

We still laugh about how, when you rag people out about the condition of their gear, you jinx yourself, and I had been janking on him all morning.

Russell

[jammer]

well Dang I guess I am not going to be able to tell people it sucks and keep the crowd away anymore am I LOL. I hate that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cindy]

Hey Jammer, Some caves, like great works of art, are created to be viewed! Madison has a lot of room and caves to play in. Besides there are always weekdays. Cindy :)

[Ken Hill]

Cindy,
I really don't have a good map except for one of the old stick ones. As a matter of fact when I looked in my map book it was gone. Mark Long owns the EOL and has some interesting stuff. there are only a few that have been all the way back, he, Lamar, Dan Lins Gerry Murphy and John Jones may care to share some good stuff.

Also when the water bottling went in the location of the well pipe is off the mainline where it won't bother cave divers and cave divers won't bother it. There was "sort of" a truce with them and they have lived up to their end.

Then there is another story for another day about Madison. /K

[bernieflyer]

I`ve seen different maps of Madison but never one that includes the courtyard ( and i`ve been there twice). The ones i`ve seen stop at the end of rocky horror, or they only cover the crossunder tunnel. Is there such a map that covers everything, including the alleged link from crossunder to the courtyard, and how could i get one...???

[lonestarfl]

I`ve seen different maps of Madison but never one that includes the courtyard ( and i`ve been there twice). The ones i`ve seen stop at the end of rocky horror, or they only cover the crossunder tunnel. Is there such a map that covers everything, including the alleged link from crossunder to the courtyard, and how could i get one...???
I have a video cave map of the system by the McGuires that shows tunnel to the Courtyard and the cross under tunnel.
Lee

[Kelly Jessop]

I`ve seen different maps of Madison but never one that includes the courtyard ( and i`ve been there twice). The ones i`ve seen stop at the end of rocky horror, or they only cover the crossunder tunnel. Is there such a map that covers everything, including the alleged link from crossunder to the courtyard, and how could i get one...???
Mike Bruic had a map that had everything on it,and it used to be in the guard shack. I got a copy somewhere around the house.

[Kelly Jessop]

, once it 'blows' you will love it too.

If it blows anything like it did following the flood of 1998-goodluck. I remember scootering at full speed and still having to pull forward.

[Ken Hill]

Kelly,
Mike Bruic's was made up of a lot of data by Lamar and Mark. I also forgot Lamar English who did a lot of the very early exploration.

With regard to Lee's post, the video of the crossunder tunnel must be a hoot. /Ken

[Bakrt]

It is a great dive if it is clear. It is subject to flooding. If the Withlachoochee is up it is wiped out. I dove it one time right after it cleared and was it riping. I could hardly get in it it was pumping real hard after the flood.

[normblitch]

Hey Jammer, Some caves, like great works of art, are created to be viewed! Madison has a lot of room and caves to play in. Besides there are always weekdays. Cindy :)

IMHO as a solid single-tank Cavern/Intro wonk, it is VASTLY under-rated as a GREAT alternative to the Ballroom and P1 for those who don't wear dubs

http://www.pbase.com/eanx/image/32408766/medium

http://www.pbase.com/eanx/image/32408768/medium

Norm

Hey Jammer, Some caves, like great works of art, are created to be viewed! Madison has a lot of room and caves to play in. Besides there are always weekdays. Cindy :)

IMHO as a solid single-tank Cavern/Intro wonk, it is VASTLY under-rated as a GREAT alternative to the Ballroom and P1 for those who don't wear dubs

http://www.pbase.com/eanx/image/32408766/medium

http://www.pbase.com/eanx/image/32408768/medium

Norm

I concur. I did this as a single tank intro diver, and had a lot of fun. Its a great cavern to play around in.

[CaveDivingCop]

Maddison Blue is a fantastic cave! It's a great dive and well worth a dive to the white room. It will get even better soon. (yes men, this is a tease) :P


I would love to be able to camp there again some day. I loved that place to camp. All those stars at night.


Cindy you're right Madison is awesome, in fact it is my favorite cave bar none, but there's a reason behind that. Ya see she was my FIRST....let me explain.

When I was a teenager, back in the mid to late 70's I used to go there to swim ( I was one of the locals, as we lived just across the state line near Lake Park Ga...jus south of Valdosta ).

Well like I said we used to swim there and it was awesome just being able to breath hold and go down and explore the mouth of the cavern. And it was here one day that I met a cave diver. He was already in the cave when we got there to swim, but when he came out you know us dumb little teenagers, we swim down to him and wave stupidly and point at his reg. , so he gives us a draw of some of his air....so now we're happy as hell. But the cool thing about this is the patience he showed us....he didn't wave us off or ball up a fist to make us go away, and then when he surfaced and was relaxing after his dive he told us stories about the blue hole we liked to swim at on the weekends. He told us about the massivness of the cave and how far it goes back, and of course none of us locals had any real idea about this. He also explained the dangers of it and of him helping retrieve bodies of divers who had not been so lucky as to make it out of there.
This guy made a big impact on me and my future as a diver, because when I got older and had my own money I became a diver.....something ever since that day I knew I wanted to do. It seemed the natural course to take since I have this love of water...But like I said earlier probably the thing that impressed me the most about this diver was his patience to explain his sport to a bunch of "dumb local kids"......and guess who this patient fella was.........????.........I'm sure some have already guessed........yup SHECK......( sounds like a good Paul Harvey story huh )

So see Cindy that's why Madison will always be my favorite lady.

P.S. guess what my daughters name is....?? LOL ( but that was an accident, my wife named her ...LOL )

[Cindy]

I love that story! Makes me happy for all the times I have been nice to the locals. I read posts sometimes by divers ragging on the locals and it makes me upset. I did a Turtle one time climbing out of telford and fell on my regs in the sand. The water was just deep enough for me to drown in, I couldn't move and was just stuck in the sand. Two of the locals there just swimming and drinking beer at the spring saw what was going on, jumped in and pulled me out. After that I learned a little respect for the local people. Besides you never know who their kids will grow up to be! Thanks for the cute story! I hope to see you at Madison someday with Madison! Cindy Butler

[Kelly Jessop]

I love that story! Makes me happy for all the times I have been nice to the locals. I read posts sometimes by divers ragging on the locals and it makes me upset. I did a Turtle one time climbing out of telford and fell on my regs in the sand. The water was just deep enough for me to drown in, I couldn't move and was just stuck in the sand. Two of the locals there just swimming and drinking beer at the spring saw what was going on, jumped in and pulled me out. After that I learned a little respect for the local people. Besides you never know who their kids will grow up to be! Thanks for the cute story! I hope to see you at Madison someday with Madison! Cindy Butler

That sure is some good advice. I've learned to treat the locals with kindness and respect because it can pay off. We had some locals ask questions about cave diving and we spent some time explaining things to him. Not only did I have the confidence that when I got out of the water my car would be on all four wheels,but I got a tip on a sink hole that he knew of when he went hunting and how to find it!!! A few years ago some cave divers at Little River ran into the same situation,and spent some time talking to this inquisitive local teen,come to find out he was the son of a county commissioner.

[oms121]

Does anyone know how far downstream via the Crossunder tunnel has been surveyed. Years ago Wayne Head was working that mostly by himself (I think).

TIA

Mark