Double KeyHole

[Shadowjack]

This weeks mid week dive took us to Double Keyhole, Walter and I arrived about 5:30 at the site to find out that the 4th of our group was missing a important piece of gear – his wing. Making a quick call to the nearest local dive shop, he was told that they wouldn’t rent or even sell him a new wing since they were going to close in a few minutes. So now were down to a 3 man team. So after loading our gear in the boat we were off…Very slowly, with 3 guys and gear we had a couple of inches of clearance till we would swamp the boat, making it across the channel, we go out and walked/pulled the boat through the marsh. Making it to the open water again we cross to the far side near the cave. Standing in waist deep water we hauled all the tanks, stages and o2 to the edge of the spring, Walter also got the fish out of the boat that jumped in. Being Walters first dive here he ran a line from the top of the spring to the main line ( which starts in open water and the bottom ) Maestro went first followed by Walter. Dropping down in nice 74 degree water I’m greeted by big “chunky” silt and a nice flow since we were diving it just after low tide. Vis was a good 20 feet for the most part, I’m sure Maestro had it better leading in. Making our way up the main line we dropped stages at the deep section jump and keep going. The plan was for us to get to the super room and tie off and check out the top. The last time Maestro and I were in there the vis was 60+ and were able to find a couple of leads dropping off. After tying off at 145 feet we ascended up, Walter had to do a deco stop that wasn’t planned. While he did that, Maestro and I headed up to 40 feet to the fresh water lens up in the top. Going into the fresh water we hit a themrocline that was a20 degrees colder. The vis up in the fresh water was good but not great, maybe 50-70 feet. Going back down quickly to avoid the cold, Walter was coming up since he just finished his deco stop, and had to turn around ( sorry about that ). Going back out was nice since the slit had pretty much cleared out. Maestro checked out a couple of leads but decided not to do anything with them tonight. Deco was nothing special till we hit 20 feet, I took the passage that lead to the other spring about 200ft from Double Keyhole. Vis in there was nice, maybe 30 feet. At the half way point I met up with Maestro coming in. Between the two of us the tight passage between the spring and the halfway point now had zero vis…Making it back I found Walter and some how got him to do the traverse in the zero vis. The trip back to the trucks wasn’t too bad since the tide had come in and we were able to ride the whole way back to the shore. After dinner at IHOP, a nice drive home and a quick shower, I was in bed a little after 1am..

Eric

almost forgot!!!

http://www.tampadiving.com/sections/diving/cave_systems/system.asp?ID=100&region=FL

[lonestarfl]

Glad to hear someone is still diving that system. I haven't been in there in over a decade..back when you could just drive up to it and jump in. The last time I dove it was in the middle of summer and the sand gnats were so bad that despite the heat, I put on my dry suit, hood AND mask to set up my gear. Yes, they were that bad. But the dive was interesting as always...moderate out flow, 15-20' viz with large orange particulate in the water. You had to pay attention to the tunnel and lines because of the vertical zig-zag configuration of the cave which double back on itself several times while working its way down to the 140' level. At that depth, I recall the tunnel straightening out but continuing to drop towards the 160-180' range. My memories are a little sketchy thanks to air diving at over 140' and the less than crystaline water.
I will have to loook at the topo maps to figure out where you lanched your boat. I have a 16' aluminum boat with a 25hp tiller motor and I would love to see that system on trimix after all these years.
Safe Diivng,
Lee

[Shadowjack]

We spent about 5 hours outside that night and not one bug bite, I think the cold got them all thank God. We put the boat in the channel that runs right up to the road and go from there. The hardest part of this dive is getting the tides right, hit it at a low and you can have some major flow, hit it at a high and all your going to see is chunky silt. About 2 years ago Maestro and crew ( even I helped some ) relined the system, pulling out about 3 old main lines. Very little of this has been surveyed, guessing at it… I would say the deep section is going to connect to the Jewel maybe… while thinking of where Maestro was checking out a siphon lead Tuesday, it could lead to the springs just north on the system. If we get a chance this weekend, Walter and I are going into the marsh / swamp just north of it to check out the spring/ holes we’re seeing on the satellite thermal images we’ve got..


Eric