8/30/13 Jackson Blue Spring

[corvettejoe]

Dove Jackson Blue. The flow was kicking pretty good, as several others stated the same thing as they came out. Since the park was closed except for divers, I had it mostly to myself. Edd was there with a couple students, another couple was exiting, and another couple was getting in as I was getting out.

This was my first time to this area. Cave Adventures was an excellent source of info, the staff was very friendly and the process to check in went smoothly.

I geared up, got in, got my butt kicked by the flow on entry, and finally found the gold line. Edd had stated the vis "wasn't that great" but then commented it was around 40-50ft. I told him "That's a LOT better than the blown out caves in my usual dive areas" LOL. I thought it was actually pretty clear compared to a lot of things I've dove lately. There was a slight haze (VERY fine particulate, I wouldn't really complain about it at all) to the water, but I was able to see both sides of the cave wall from the gold line

I blew through most of my gas getting in, so turned my dive short at the 500ft mark and exited. It was a roller coaster ride back out once I left the gold line.

I ended the day snorkeling with the wife and diving off the diving board (which was actually a lot of fun, I don't think I've jumped off one since I was a kid!). The wife doesn't dive but was amazed at how big the cave entrance looked when we snorkeled over it.

I had fun and I would like to return to this area again and dive both this cave and the others in the pond.

[a64pilot]

Need to dive twin and or hole, JB is an excellent cave, really rewards scooters though as you found out.

[victorzamora]

Twin and Hole are both great dives for non-scootering due to the severely reduced flow. JB rewards scooters, but Twin and Hole reward perfect trim and non-silting techniques and punish bad technique. The deep section in Twin is really cool, too.

If you want to dive JB again, and you're full cave, Parallel lines and/or Horseshoe circuit are fun. Horseshoe gets tight at two places. Parallel lines is a circuit normally doable in one dive.

[Greenwood_60]

Twin and Hole are both great dives for non-scootering due to the severely reduced flow. JB rewards scooters, but Twin and Hole reward perfect trim and non-silting techniques and punish bad technique. The deep section in Twin is really cool, too.

If you want to dive JB again, and you're full cave, Parallel lines and/or Horseshoe circuit are fun. Horseshoe gets tight at two places. Parallel lines is a circuit normally doable in one dive.

Horseshoe is on the map as the Goodman Siphon? Fun little dive. It's all doable in SM or BM. The Young Siphon is a cool little passage too. I just recently did the section up through Court Squeeze. My favorite section of JB so far... but it's a swim right now. The Squirrel/LST passage and the unmarked jump at the second breakdown are both SM passages.

I have to mention, it seems to me that some divers have gotten themselves in to trouble mistaking the Squirrel Tunnel for the Goodman Siphon. Squirrel Tunnel is 90 degrees off the mainline, and up high on the wall. It's what you'll most likely see if you're looking for the Goodman jump. The Goodman jump is 120 degrees off (hard back) and low on the wall.

[next gen]

From what I've seen Twin and Hole are nice swim caves. Hole is more critical about anti-silting techniques than Twin, but it is more beautiful. Personially Twin is my favorite because it has the warmer water of JB and the low flow of Hole.

[SuPrBuGmAn]

You can easily swim JB by getting to know how to read the cave and avoid the flow.

[Wizard]

JB can be blowing or nothing. I've done 1100' on jacked 104's and next time you turn at 2600' because you must swim back out. Yeas ago I remember just past the second breakdown holding on to the floor looking for the next place to kick to and grab and repeat. One day I saw an Intro diver go 1500' on a single 108.
Cave has certainly had it's share of changes.

[Sludge]

The most I've seen JB flow was in May of 2005. I saw two guys who each had backmounted 104s and a stage. They *almost* made it to the first T at p950'.

[a64pilot]

You can easily swim JB by getting to know how to read the cave and avoid the flow.

You can, but I doubt you would get past the trash room, and to me it seems like the cave starts there. By that I mean it changes character and there is a WHOLE lot of cave past that point.
Maybe someone in real good shape with a RB could swim most of JB, but for us old farts, your not going to see JB without a scooter.
Having said that it seems there is more to see in the first 500 ft of JB than in total for a lot of caves, so I'm not saying don't bother to swim JB, I did, a lot and there is still stuff in the front of JB I haven't seen.

[corvettejoe]

The CA guys were telling me to check out Twin and Hole as well next time I am up, saying its a much friendlier cave and most everyone's favorites.
I usually go up to visit family 1-2 times a year in the Panama City area. Now that I'm full cave I am definitely taking advantage of all the caves up there from now on

I saw one guy scootering over to the other caves from JB... I may just do that next time, no boat needed