On a recent open water trip for my dive master i was poking around devils den and noticed quite a few serious cave entrances and due to the strict nature of the diving there i was wondering if there was any documented exploration of this system ?
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On a recent open water trip for my dive master i was poking around devils den and noticed quite a few serious cave entrances and due to the strict nature of the diving there i was wondering if there was any documented exploration of this system ?
I've heard there was mapping project shortly after which all obvious passage openings were grated. Passages were tight had no flow and extremely silty. Owners should have a map.
Talk to Tom Morris. As he tells it, the cave system is a death trap, and for Tom to say that is saying something.
Great deal of truth in the above comment. In 1987ish, two days before the "Grand Opening" of the place by the new owners ( Bruics, same folks who bought Madison ) a group of OW folks from up north, on their way to West Palm, stopped to spend the night and talked Anna into letting them do a quick dive to check out some gear. Long story short, one diver did not return. Steve Berman was called from Ginnie to see if he could locate the body, which he did, but due to the silt, mud and tightness of the passage, he was unable to anything other than give the location of the body to the next crew. The following day, Lamar Hires, Mark Leonard from Dive Rite and myself went to the Den to do the recovery. Due to the silt, the game plan was for Lamar to approach the body, tie in with a carabiner, or something to a hard point "anywhere" This carabiner was attached to a rope, as was Lamar, and after a signal, Mark Leonard was to pull like hell and hope for the best. I was number three in line, and as Mark made the first tug, the vis went to zero so none of us actually saw the extraction. We felt it but never saw it. When Mark made the handoff to me, I would estimate we were over 100 feet from the point where the accident occurred. OK, lots of "rambling" here, so is there cave here? Over the next couple of weeks, at the Bruic's request, we swam into every crack that we could find, in hopes of finding something that might open up. Some passages appeared to have a somewhat large entrance but in just a short distance, the passage either filled up with silt or pinched down into nothing. In those days, sidemount was not what it is today and our technique, at least mine, left something to be desired. It wasn't more than a few months until the screens went up but we all know how effective that was!!Quote:
Originally Posted by sdenney
I have heard, over the decades, that some exploration ( if you want to call it that ) had taken place but I've never seen any map ( even a stick map ) of going passage.
Bottom line, cross this place off your list!
Here is the only map I've ever seen. Attachment 16336
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There are lots of open karst windows south of High Springs along hwy 27, and the farther south you go, the less chance you will find of dive-able sites due to the fact that limestone seems non apparent in this region of Florida. Thus the reason for little or no karst features below the surface. ie: sand, muck & silt. I've spent years exploring thruout this region and find the best dive-able caves are north & west of High Springs. lloyd Bailey once told me he had swam into `the beyond of Devils Den` and found a football sized dome. But he also spoke of a huge amount of silting !
Just my observations ! I mean why risk it !
J.