I was wondering if anyone has ever dove/heard of divers in Chumuckla, Euchee, Eglin Blue, or Mystic Springs north of Pensacola? I've heard rumors recently and was wondering if there is anything worth checking out.
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I was wondering if anyone has ever dove/heard of divers in Chumuckla, Euchee, Eglin Blue, or Mystic Springs north of Pensacola? I've heard rumors recently and was wondering if there is anything worth checking out.
Yes, Euchee is on private land owned by the boyscouts in Walton county. It is 40 feet deep and a seep (no cave). Eglin blue springs is in Okaloosa county and is also a seep. It might be 10 feet deep. I have not been to Chumucka or Mystic, but depending on how far north they are, they might be worth checking out. Pensacola if I am not mistaken is not really a big karst area, but north of escambia and santa rosa county in Alabama, if I remember correctly is a little more geologically interesting. There might be something to them, but I doubt it. But then again, I'm almost always down to go chase down new dive sites.
Yea they're close to the Alabama line so I thought they may be something... I guess we know where were headed in the near future then! Hopefully someone knows something that will keep us from making the trip? Or make us head up there tomorrow ;)
Mystic Springs is listed by the USGS as an artesian well and Chumuckla is not even categorized in USGS bulletin 66
Both of them are listed as 5th magnitude (10-100 gpm)
Chumuckla has a brick well built around it with a little cut in the wall to channel the 'flow' out. By flow I mean, like when you crack your kitchen faucet just slightly.
There are a few more springs up by Mystic, but I'd expect them to be artesian as well. Still, without going, you'll never know.
I heard there was a spring in Bayou Chico too, but can't confirm.
I think more luck would be had north of the Alabama line as far as that area is concerned. There are a few supposed "caves" in Walton county that I have been trying to hunt down...
Has anyone out there ever checked out Lake Sylvia? Based off topo it looks like a sink and is next to Euchee Springs
East-Walton is covered in caves.
Yep, just gotta find them
I'm in Mobile and would be happy to do some searching a little closer to home.
To quote (more or less) the late Wes Skiles, "Everything west of Marianna is the great unknown". You won't know until you go look.
Have you been to Eglin Blue recently? Just wondering if you got in with a mask and looked for any vents? I have a picture of the site but I wasn't able to explore at the time. I am going to go back there with a mask and small tank to look around.
Quote:
Originally Posted by floridakid
Going by the name of it, would this be on the military base? If so, I can only imagine the red tape involved in trying to dive it.Quote:
Originally Posted by GLENFWB
This is great. So mystic maybe, Mat where'd you hear about the Bayou Chico spring? Does about the ones in the Blackwater Forest? There's two I've heard of... What about Blue Pond in Alabama or Pleasant Ridge?
I hiked doubles in and spent about 45 minutes swimming around and looking I found where the seep was, but there was not even much of a sand boil. After I left I referenced the USGS publications that actually categorized it as a "seep."
Don't get me wrong, it's a cool dive, just no cave/cavern there, that is unless you count the overhead formed by all the Cyprus roots, lol.
Pleasant ridge is just west of Defuniak and is literally a little tiny stream running under a dirt road. There may be something there, but it did not look promising at allQuote:
Originally Posted by mfsmith1964
Oh, and Eglin Blue is not hard to gain access too, you just have to get a 10 dollar recreation pass that is good for a year and watch a video about unexploded ordinance. Sometimes the area around the spring is closed for missions though.
Natural Bridge is promising, but it is sidemout only, probably no mount, but no telling what all is there. But the road actually crosses over a white limestone "bridge" with a spring head on the west side of the road. There is a no tresspasing sign right above the spring head.
Supposedly there is a cave in a pond off double pond road in Glendale (Walton County), but there is nothing that marks it and it is a good size pond.
There's a day pass you need to purchase, its not a big deal.Quote:
Originally Posted by Slüdge
Can't remember who told me about Bayou Chico, and I don't know if its divable - I'd bet just artesian given the area geology.Quote:
Originally Posted by mfsmith1964
There's a springfed creek in Blackwater Forest, doubt its anything divable, but haven't confirmed.
From what I hear, Natural Bridge goes, connects to a few other sinks IIRC from the second hand information that I got.
It is not on the "base" meaning you don't have to go through any gates with guards. It is on the military reservation so like others have said, you need to go to Jackson Barracks in Niceville to get a pass and legally get access. The pass is just in case military police check you while you are out there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slüdge
Yeah, when I was up there I just drove by and looked at it after work, I did not have proper gear with me to really give it a good look (no reel) but it looked freaking scaryQuote:
Originally Posted by SuPrBuGmAn
Where is Natural Bridge?
Natural-Bridge isn't as bad of a name as Blue Spring, but there are a couple of them for sure :) You linked to the more famous one, definately. The one being spoken about in this post is up north of Ponce De Leon/Defuniak Springs and the like.Quote:
Originally Posted by sskasser
There's more than one Blue Spring?:smt102
ZOINKS! I should know better ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by SuPrBuGmAn
That's because there is more than one blue. I believe we should rename them using a standard color chart. We could have:Quote:
Originally Posted by Slüdge
Robin's Egg Blue Springs
Sky Blue Springs
Powder blue Springs
Baby Blue Springs
Light Blue Springs
Turquoise Blue springs
3 day old black eye Blue Springs
Air Force Blue Springs - may not want to dive there
And do not forget blue-green, blue-grey. bluebell, cerulean blue, .... we could straighten out all of this confusion easily.
Forrest, as the senior member, you should get to decide the hue.
This whole discussion is making me Blue :-DQuote:
Originally Posted by OFG-1
And thus, a new nickname was born....:smt081Quote:
Originally Posted by FW
http://images.wikia.com/smurfs/image.../Papasmurf.jpg
I think Gregg Stanton got claimed on that one.
Don't bother diving Blue Ball Spring, you can't have any fun there.Quote:
Originally Posted by OFG-1
You left out Rhapsody in Blue Spring.
Isn't it directly downstream from Blue Moon Springs?Quote:
Originally Posted by Slüdge
Yeah, The one I am referring to is in the extreme north end of Walton County on Natural Bridge Road with is found in a community between Gaskin and Paxton called Natural Bridge. This site is kind of odd for the area because of the elevation, as it is near the highest point in Florida.Quote:
Originally Posted by SuPrBuGmAn
Moody Blues Spring? OK sound pretty cool. You said it goes, Mat? Also I looked at sub-bottom sonar profiles for Bayou Chico and it I didn't see anything.
Doesn't mean its not there, I'd guess its artesian either way.
There was a small spring in Bayou Chico. It was about where mahogany mill road comes closest to the bayou. It used to be a seep located on the mahogany mill property, and was about 4 feet deep with a slight sand boil. Since they tore all of this area to pieces putting in marinas and townhouses, I doubt it is still there.
Also, there are a series of natural bridges north of Ponce De Leon just across the Ga. line. The first 2 or 3 pretty narrow, the last I don't know how far it goes, when I was there in the 70's it was blocked off with logs and such. Even back then it was tannic water, limited vis.