Craig's Mill Sink, AL (17 SEP 06)
first off, big kudos to FW for coordinating with the land owner for access. and of course a big thanks to the land owner for granting access.
the sink is nothing like the ones most of us are used to in Florida.
this thing is big. and i mean big.
i was thinking of a sink like Cow or Telford.
but this thing is at least a 100 feet deep, with good sized cliffs on two sides. there is a trail leading down to the water, which is filled with tree trunks.
having been forwarned, i brought the drysuit, and was very happy. the water was 55 degrees. well, 60 degrees in the sink pool, and 55 back in the cave itself. the water in the pool was slightly murky with a touch of algae, but after dropping down into the cave, the vis was about 70 feet and i was unable to detect any flow.
found the "stop sign" at the right side of the entrance, and there were 2 lines attached. i followed the line along the right side of the cave. the main passage is on massive room. the floor was all silt and every crack, ledge, and crevice on the wall was filled with silt.
a short distance in i came to a "T" with one line dropping lower and into a side passage. i placed a cookie and moved on along the mainline. i eventualy lost sight of the cavern zone and the main chamber got deeper. my deepest depth was 95 ffw, and i got nowhere near the floor. i passed 2 or 3 jumps before i could once again see the light from the cavern zone. i thought about taking a jump, but wanted to get familiar with the mainline first. i was able to complete the circuit without hitting my 1/3s and it took 36 minutes to complete.
i had thought about turning around and doing the circuit in reverse but decided to retrieve my cookie from the "T" first. while it wasn't a problem, my bubbles had knocked silt off the walls and the percolation did bring the vis along the line down a bit, so i decided to forgo reversing the circuit.
spent a few minutes swimming around the sink pool during the safety stop and then surfaced to enjoy the hike up out of the sink.
a totaly different dive than anything i've done in Florida.
hopefully i can get some more dives in here and explore the side passages.
