diving Bozel cave in Marianna Florida
Last Monday I had the pleasure of diving Bozel cave (spelling?) in Marianna Florida, near Mill Pond, with Edd of Cave Adventures.
Wow, what a great time. The cave is wonderful, and trip to the cave was, well, and adventure. I hired Edd as a guide and found that Edd has accurately called his company Cave Adventures. We drove to the park, put his boat into the river / creek, and made our way upstream. When Edd grabbed his chainsaw to bring on the trip earlier that morning, I had an image of him clipping the chainsaw onto his side-mount rig, and bringing it with him into the cave. I guess maybe Edd preferred a chainsaw to a zeno knife :rollguy?
The river is low right now, so it became apparent that the chainsaw was to cut up some logs lying across the river as we motored upstream to the cave site. We cleared the way at several spots, allowing the boat to make progress. I say we, but to be clear, Edd did all the cutting and I did all the watching. I’m a bit scared of a chainsaw, and to cut through a log partially in water while standing on another very slippery log, was, well, more then I could handle.
We arrived at the entrance of Bozel, took in the sights, and geared up. The water was crystal clear in the sink hole leading to the cave, which meant the cave should have great viz. Life is good. I put on my fins and snaaapppp, a fin strap broke. Try to understand how I felt. I’ve hired a guide, I’ve spend 20 minutes driving to the site, and another 30 minutes sawing our way upstream, I’m at the cave site, with crystal clear water, and I have an equipment failure for a $10 part. :smt013 Fortunately the strap broke in a place where I could salvage the break and still use the strap. I am trying out some spring fin straps today at Ginnie.
Down we ascended into Bozel, with Edd in the lead. What a wonderful cave. Bozel is very different from Hole, Twin or JB. The walls are a tan color, which is nice for light. Edd had Lamar English’s new 35 watt light, and I had my 35 watt Light Monkey light, so we lit up the cave nicely. There are many spectacular formations, with high rising ceilings and wide rooms. Most of the cave is at about 100 feet.
I understand the line was laid by Wes Skiles and someone else whose name escapes me. We passed by several T’s and put in line markers. I find that with a new cave, my stress decreases when I put in lots of arrows, so that is what I did, placing an arrow at every T and every 10 minutes or so. Edd of course has dove this cave many times and is an expert at the cave logistics. We did one jump at about minute 30 and turned the dive soon after on thirds.
On the way back toward the entrance we saw a catfish that was about 18 inches long that had … an alligator’s foot in its mouth. :smt100 No, we weren’t narked. For those who question this observation, please include Edd and myself in that group. Edd and I were happy that two of us observed this rare occurrence.
Can’t wait to return to Bozel for another dive. :diver
dean
