Alachua Sink, Morgan Spring, & Jug Hole
I decided to celebrate my 60th birthday(November 7th) by diving some cave systems that I had never dived before during my 18 years as a certified cave diver. My long-time diving partner had to work on my birthday, so I made the 3-hour drive to Ft. White the next day.
We made our first dive at Alachua Sink on the 9th with another 2-man team. We used Trimix 21/25 for bottom gas, Nitrox 32 for travel gas and deco gas, and O2 for deco gas. The sinkhole basin was filled with very dark tannic water, so it was obvious that the descent wasn't going to be a piece of cake. I was the last person to make the descent, so it proved to be a good test for maintaining my stress level in near zero vis conditions. I didn't break out into clear water until I'd dropped below 100'. The other 3 divers were waiting for me. After I switched to Trimix and dropped off the other 2 tanks, it turned out to be a very enjoyable dive. The maximum depth reached was 186'. The ascent and deco stops proved to be just as stressful as the descent. The total time of the dive and deco stops was 89 minutes. Water temperature was 73 degrees.
We made our second dive at Morgan Spring on the 10th and were on our own this time. We used the same bottom gas and deco gas that we had used at Alachua Sink. The spring basin had good visibility. My diving partner had one of the ankle valves of his dry suit come off as he was in the process of entering the water, but I was fortunate enough to find it before it disappeared in the bottom muck and put an end to our dive before it had even started. We were blessed on this dive with good vis during the descent and during the dive. Once we reached the bottom, the tunnel maintained a steady depth of 170' - 180' thoughout the dive and remained mostly large in size. The total time of the dive and deco stops was 87 minutes. Water temperature was 68 degrees.
We made our third and final dive at Jug Hole on the 11th and were on our own again. We used Nitrox 32 and wore sidemount tanks. The spring basin had a good surface boil, so we knew that we had a good outflow to contend with. We proceeded inside the cavern zone, tied off our reel at the warning sign, clipped it to the start of the permanent line a few feet away, then started the dive. The trip through the long bedding plane proved interesting for me because the regulator that I was breathing from suddenly quit working. I quickly switched regulators, took a couple of breaths, then continued on through the rest of the bedding plane until I met up with my diving partner who was waiting in a large open area for me. I discovered that the valve knob had rolled off and that my other regulator was fine. We continued on and soon reached the Diamond Sands restriction. After we had both cleared it with no difficulty and had swam another 50' or so ahead, my diving partner suddenly stopped and gave the turn-around signal and pointed to one of his regulators. The adjustment knob had sheared off while going through the restriction, causing him to inhale water instead of gas. We made our exit to the spring basin with no problems. The maximum depth reached was 87'. The total time of the dive was 30 minutes. Water temperature was 71 degrees.
On the morning of November 12th, my dive trip came to an end and I headed back home. It will be one of the most memorable cave diving trips that I've ever made, and I look forward to diving all 3 sites again. :D
