Cave Diving from Boat - General Questions

[giles45shop]

I've lived on a lake for most of my life, but for the last 10+ years, I haven't had a power boat. I recently rejuvenated a 9.9 Yamaha 4 stroke and yesterday I bought a 14' Stumpnocker, which is a flat bottomed fiberglass skiff with a trailer.

It will spend much of it's life on the lake, but I'm also thinking that it would be fun to take up to the rivers sometime and do some exploring in the river caves.

For those of you that have done this, I have a couple general questions:

1. Do you leave someone on the boat, or is it safe enough to leave the boat unattended while diving? I'm not into solo diving, and it's not likely that I can find someone willing to hang out topside while me and my buddy go diving.

2. Any recommendations on river caves which would be suitable for experienced BM Basic Cave divers and first time river navigators? i.e. - non-challenging river navigation, not too far from public ramp.

I don't have any specific plans yet and I need to finish rigging the boat up for off-lake use, but hopefully sometime this summer I would take a trip North (I'm in the Tampa area).

Thanks,

John

[phillip1]

I have not dove actual river caves from a boat but do a lot of ocean (some fresh water caves entrances are in the ocean), I am assuming it would be roughly the same safety concerns as river boat diving.
In places we can tie off the boat really well, for example at Kite Beach we have a secret partially submerged buoy, we leave the boat unattended, this is safe IMO as long as you can actually swim back to shore of need be, the boat could get stolen etc...
The main thing with leaving the boat unattended is 1-will it get stolen and 2-can you swim back just in case the boat gets stolen, drifts etc..
In places that we cannot swim back to shore, have strong currents etc.. we always have someone on the boat or use a fishing boat and captain.
Other than that I think it is safe and we do it a lot in the summer here when the waves are small.

[Kelly Jessop]

With fiberglass be careful around shallow shoals. It is best if you can hook up with someone who has been diving river caves which will give assistance in river navigation and finding the sites. Leaving the boat unattended can be completely dependent on the site. Some places,nobody will bother your stuff,in others,lock it all down,and have a top side lookout if possible-that goes for some boat ramps too.

[phillip1]

Sounds really cool cave diving in a river from a boat, that is the next thing we need to do, find a river with a cave were we need a boat.
One day I will make it out to FL to dive and that is definitely on my list of things to do.

[aquadog196]

The Suwannee River has many such caves ...available only by boat . However , most are very advanced side-mount only caves.

[pink arrows]

I can't believe no one has mentioned Telford yet....

Its just upstream from a boatramp on the Suwannee in Luraville. I scootered it with a friend last trip down. BM friendly, shallow, and AMAZING. It had so many different sections where you feel like you're in a completely new cave. I've seen pictures of boats anchored at the shore here... And if someone steals your boat, you just float back down to the boatramp.

For a minimal fee I will come with you and we can leave my dog on the boat to guard it... Although you may want to wait a while... He'll be 4 weeks old tomorrow and probably won't be much help for at least a few months.....

[RN]

I dive river caves pretty regularly. I haven't had any issues with leaving the boat unattended and I leave it unattended all the time. People usually won't mess with it. I agree with Kelly, you will have issues with a fiberglass boat on the rivers. If you hit a shoal or stump too hard, the boat's done. Most river caves tend to be sidemount access only.

[giles45shop]

Appreciate the info! I'll be careful w/ regards to the fiberglass, but after all it is a "Stumpnocker" boat

Pink Arrows, interesting idea on the dog, it got me thinking about the 4 yo Catahoula lying on the floor next to me right now, he's 85 lbs of muscle w/ a bad temper. Nobody would want to get anywhere near the boat, but it might be difficult to keep him in the boat

I'll probably take a voyage or two just to get the lay of the land before trying to dive out of it. Telford sounds like a good place to start.

Thanks,

John

[jj1987]

I can't believe no one has mentioned Telford yet....

Telford doesn't really meet intro standards, there's a gap that needs to be placed very quickly.

To be honest, I applaud the OP's desire to get off the path, but I think a lot of that needs to be saved for full cave and experience on top of that.

FWIW I leave my boat while diving with a buddy, never any issues. As for your other question, I can't think of a river cave with >25ft viz, that's backmount, without navigation that violates standards within 500ft, and is <150ft deep.

[pink arrows]

Telford doesn't really meet intro standards, there's a gap that needs to be placed very quickly.

To be honest, I applaud the OP's desire to get off the path, but I think a lot of that needs to be saved for full cave and experience on top of that.

I missed that part... Yeah... Wait until you're full cave to start doing rivers. I honestly think it sounds like alot of extra work when I can just pay four bucks and practically walk into the cave in so many great places.

Telford is pretty, but its really silty in alot of places and while many aspects of the cave are beautiful, you're probably more likely to enjoy Ginnie or Peacock more. Go do some more dives, get full cave, and you can borrow Lander for the day to play guard while you dive off the river.