Madison Blue

[Kelly Jessop]

, once it 'blows' you will love it too.

If it blows anything like it did following the flood of 1998-goodluck. I remember scootering at full speed and still having to pull forward.

[Ken Hill]

Kelly,
Mike Bruic's was made up of a lot of data by Lamar and Mark. I also forgot Lamar English who did a lot of the very early exploration.

With regard to Lee's post, the video of the crossunder tunnel must be a hoot. /Ken

[Bakrt]

It is a great dive if it is clear. It is subject to flooding. If the Withlachoochee is up it is wiped out. I dove it one time right after it cleared and was it riping. I could hardly get in it it was pumping real hard after the flood.

[normblitch]

Hey Jammer, Some caves, like great works of art, are created to be viewed! Madison has a lot of room and caves to play in. Besides there are always weekdays. Cindy

IMHO as a solid single-tank Cavern/Intro wonk, it is VASTLY under-rated as a GREAT alternative to the Ballroom and P1 for those who don't wear dubs

http://www.pbase.com/eanx/image/32408766/medium

http://www.pbase.com/eanx/image/32408768/medium

Norm

Hey Jammer, Some caves, like great works of art, are created to be viewed! Madison has a lot of room and caves to play in. Besides there are always weekdays. Cindy

IMHO as a solid single-tank Cavern/Intro wonk, it is VASTLY under-rated as a GREAT alternative to the Ballroom and P1 for those who don't wear dubs

http://www.pbase.com/eanx/image/32408766/medium

http://www.pbase.com/eanx/image/32408768/medium

Norm

I concur. I did this as a single tank intro diver, and had a lot of fun. Its a great cavern to play around in.

[CaveDivingCop]

Maddison Blue is a fantastic cave! It's a great dive and well worth a dive to the white room. It will get even better soon. (yes men, this is a tease) :P


I would love to be able to camp there again some day. I loved that place to camp. All those stars at night.

Cindy you're right Madison is awesome, in fact it is my favorite cave bar none, but there's a reason behind that. Ya see she was my FIRST....let me explain.

When I was a teenager, back in the mid to late 70's I used to go there to swim ( I was one of the locals, as we lived just across the state line near Lake Park Ga...jus south of Valdosta ).

Well like I said we used to swim there and it was awesome just being able to breath hold and go down and explore the mouth of the cavern. And it was here one day that I met a cave diver. He was already in the cave when we got there to swim, but when he came out you know us dumb little teenagers, we swim down to him and wave stupidly and point at his reg. , so he gives us a draw of some of his air....so now we're happy as hell. But the cool thing about this is the patience he showed us....he didn't wave us off or ball up a fist to make us go away, and then when he surfaced and was relaxing after his dive he told us stories about the blue hole we liked to swim at on the weekends. He told us about the massivness of the cave and how far it goes back, and of course none of us locals had any real idea about this. He also explained the dangers of it and of him helping retrieve bodies of divers who had not been so lucky as to make it out of there.
This guy made a big impact on me and my future as a diver, because when I got older and had my own money I became a diver.....something ever since that day I knew I wanted to do. It seemed the natural course to take since I have this love of water...But like I said earlier probably the thing that impressed me the most about this diver was his patience to explain his sport to a bunch of "dumb local kids"......and guess who this patient fella was.........????.........I'm sure some have already guessed........yup SHECK......( sounds like a good Paul Harvey story huh )

So see Cindy that's why Madison will always be my favorite lady.

P.S. guess what my daughters name is....?? LOL ( but that was an accident, my wife named her ...LOL )

[Cindy]

I love that story! Makes me happy for all the times I have been nice to the locals. I read posts sometimes by divers ragging on the locals and it makes me upset. I did a Turtle one time climbing out of telford and fell on my regs in the sand. The water was just deep enough for me to drown in, I couldn't move and was just stuck in the sand. Two of the locals there just swimming and drinking beer at the spring saw what was going on, jumped in and pulled me out. After that I learned a little respect for the local people. Besides you never know who their kids will grow up to be! Thanks for the cute story! I hope to see you at Madison someday with Madison! Cindy Butler

[Kelly Jessop]

I love that story! Makes me happy for all the times I have been nice to the locals. I read posts sometimes by divers ragging on the locals and it makes me upset. I did a Turtle one time climbing out of telford and fell on my regs in the sand. The water was just deep enough for me to drown in, I couldn't move and was just stuck in the sand. Two of the locals there just swimming and drinking beer at the spring saw what was going on, jumped in and pulled me out. After that I learned a little respect for the local people. Besides you never know who their kids will grow up to be! Thanks for the cute story! I hope to see you at Madison someday with Madison! Cindy Butler

That sure is some good advice. I've learned to treat the locals with kindness and respect because it can pay off. We had some locals ask questions about cave diving and we spent some time explaining things to him. Not only did I have the confidence that when I got out of the water my car would be on all four wheels,but I got a tip on a sink hole that he knew of when he went hunting and how to find it!!! A few years ago some cave divers at Little River ran into the same situation,and spent some time talking to this inquisitive local teen,come to find out he was the son of a county commissioner.

[oms121]

Does anyone know how far downstream via the Crossunder tunnel has been surveyed. Years ago Wayne Head was working that mostly by himself (I think).

TIA

Mark