Falmouth Re-Visited

[PfcAJ]

Thought to have been initially discovered by Lewis Holtzendorff and first dived in November 1972 by Paul Deloach, Sheck Exley and Billy Young, Jade Hole had the signature blue-green hue of the Falmouth water and proved to be a critical entry point for future upstream and downstream connections. It would take more than 8 years (1980) and the introduction of DPV’s to the Falmouth efforts but Exley and his team would eventually connect Jade Hole upstream to Mount Sink and then Mount Sink upstream to Falmouth Springs and then Jade Hole downstream to Fowler Horror Hole thus establishing a major 3+ mile conduit extending from Fowler Horror Hole upstream past Cathedral Canyon. Impressive accomplishment along with detailed survey and notes from Exley.

Fast Forward 36 years: with dry conditions, 20ft of visibility and landowner support, WKPP explorers continue to push from Jade Hole in multiple directions. On Dec 31 and Jan 1-2 a 2nd major conduit was discovered off the Exley “New Upstream” passage to the south of Jade Hole. The carved nature of this passage along with significant outflow suggests a major water source that may be separate from the primary Falmouth system flowpath. WKPP divers explored and mapped 3,415ft of passage in the “Snatch Tunnel” including limited video footage. This passage also revealed an unusual shallow section (min depth of 46ft, avg depth of 60ft) extending more than 450ft and the discovery of a well source pipe before dropping back to 160ft depth in an amazing carved pit. Large crayfish covering the walls and numerous leads.

Added to the EX-Tunnel siphon, etc, total exploration to-date stands at 9,361ft with massive conduit in both directions. Exley’s suggestion that Falmouth had significantly more to reveal appears to be valid.

More details, photos, and video can be found here (no need to sign up for Facebook):
https://www.facebook.com/woodvillekarstplainproject/