The Lost Sea - Sweetwater, TN

[Me]

Went to the Lost Sea this past Friday. The guide "claims" there is a room below or adjacent to the underground lake that divers attempted to explore in the past (he didn't know a date or what type of divers) and were unable to do so for a couple reasons.... A) and I quote "they ran out of rope"; and B) again I quote "their breathing bubbles were causing a cave-in".

Just out of curiosity, does anybody know about this attempt? Have any local cavers in the TN area tried to gain access recently?

This is obviously a commercial cave that is privately owned. They've put trout in the underground lake, so if there were any normal cave critters, they are long gone now.

www.thelostsea.com

[jdh]

Check out:

http://www.thedecostop.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=15078

[crawford]

Jim Wyatt has a history of the original exploration on his website, done back in the 70's. So what the guide told you was true. Ceiling cave in was a serious problem for the original group, of course rebreathers would solve that.

I contacted the management and was quickly shot down. I didn't push the issue but plan to return one day when I'm bubble free and have a project to propose. Suggest anyone interested make sure they really have something put together, if everyone and their brother calls asking to dive, serious proposals will get lost in the noise.

[Me]

Thanks guys for the quick response! Not to worry, I was curious only and have no interest in diving it. It's way beyond my skill set.

[FW]

The management of Lost Sea wasn't interested in "reality" so they never admitted that Sheck Exley actually got to the end of the underwater part of the big lake. The part underwater is about twice the size of the part above water, but the guides claim it goes on forever

Percolation is a big issue there. I was hanging back on the line when Sheck was checking for side leads on the last trip in there. A big flake came off the ceitling, and right on top of him. I thought for sure he would be knocked out, or even killed, but he didn't even realize he had been hit. I had to pull a chunk of limestone out of his manifold and show it to him before he believed he had been hit. IIRC, the max depth was 90-100', and less that 1000' penetration. I will look in my old logbooks tonight to be sure.

[Jim Wyatt]

The management of Lost Sea wasn't interested in "reality" so they never admitted that Sheck Exley actually got to the end of the underwater part of the big lake. The part underwater is about twice the size of the part above water, but the guides claim it goes on forever

Percolation is a big issue there. I was hanging back on the line when Sheck was checking for side leads on the last trip in there. A big flake came off the ceitling, and right on top of him. I thought for sure he would be knocked out, or even killed, but he didn't even realize he had been hit. I had to pull a chunk of limestone out of his manifold and show it to him before he believed he had been hit. IIRC, the max depth was 90-100', and less that 1000' penetration. I will look in my old logbooks tonight to be sure.

I dived it off and on for two years. We did not find an end to the passageway we were installing line in, there were many many passageways around the periphery of the lake left unexplored.

We had a depth sounder to measure the dimensions of the passageways - the depth sounder was in a waterproof housing. In several places the depth sounder pinged out past 140 feet laterally.

How many dives did you do in the Lost Sea Forrest?

[crawford]

The management of Lost Sea wasn't interested in "reality" so they never admitted that Sheck Exley actually got to the end of the underwater part of the big lake. The part underwater is about twice the size of the part above water, but the guides claim it goes on forever

Percolation is a big issue there. I was hanging back on the line when Sheck was checking for side leads on the last trip in there. A big flake came off the ceitling, and right on top of him. I thought for sure he would be knocked out, or even killed, but he didn't even realize he had been hit. I had to pull a chunk of limestone out of his manifold and show it to him before he believed he had been hit. IIRC, the max depth was 90-100', and less that 1000' penetration. I will look in my old logbooks tonight to be sure.

That's cool Forrest. I didn't know you dived there. Let's talk about it over a campfire sometime, would love to hear more.

[Howard]

Check with Tom Mount if you want to hear a funny story regarding Lost Sea exploration.

[FW]

How many dives did you do in the Lost Sea Forrest?

I only made one, but Sheck went to the end of the line with the stakes in the silt, tied off to the end and ran out to the end of the cave (at least in that direction). In retrospect, it was probably a mistake to tell the management we had gotten to the end. They had no need for divers after that

[Arnold Mesiser]

http://cavediveflorida.com/Lost_Sea.htm