Lineater Spring

[Guy Bryant]

Last Monday (5/8/06) I dived Lineater Spring. Upon canoeing to the spring I noticed a very large log (I think cypress) sticking out of the spring basin and down into the cave entrance. It was deposited when the Suwannee River was quite high this year. It is still possible to get into the cave but it would be nice to have this log removed. Does anyone out there know of a logger that might be interested in removing this log? I know there are some loggers that specialize in bringing up old cypress logs from the river bed. If someone knows of this type logger please let me know. Maybe he/she would be interested in removing the log from the entrance of the cave.
Guy

[lonestarfl]

Guy,
I like that cave too. I know a couple of loggers that might be interested, but what shape is the downstream boat ramp. Has it been repaired? The last time I was there one of the side retaining walls had collapsed and the ramp was vitually impassable for launch and retrieval.
Also, how was the dive...viz,flow? How many times did you repair breaks in the line? My last dive there I did four repairs in the first 1000' of BIG tunnel.
Lee

[Guy Bryant]

Lee,
The boatramp is in fine shape now as long as the Suwannee remains at or near current levels. However, the end drops off steeply so launching a boat with a trailer is not feasible. I've always used a canoe there. The dive was quite short. Viz was about 20ft and the flow was pumping!!!! I've never seen the flow as strong as it is right now. I couldn't get in the cave on the right side as there were numerous limbs blocking the entrance. I had to claw my way in on the left side. Once at the main line (I was surprised it was still intact) we went about 50-75ft before the line was burried in a sand mound. It was so deep we couldn't pull it free. At this point I checked my stage bottle and had used almost 1/3 of my air just to go 50-75ft in a hellish current. I then decided to call the dive. No point in wasting gas for a short "claw your way against the current dive". Once back on the surface we removed our stage bottles and went back down to work on clearing out the limbs on the right side of the tree and entrance wall. After about 5 min we were able to clear enough limbs to make it passable.

Guy

[Guy Bryant]

Lee,
Hope the people you know want that log! It sure would be nice to have it removed.
Guy

[lonestarfl]

Lee,
Hope the people you know want that log! It sure would be nice to have it removed.
Guy

I will contact Don M who lives nearby at Morgan springs and see if I can get him motivated.
Sorry to hear that the flow was up and the vis is down. Last time I was there, the flow was Devil's Eye level with a slight green tint to the water.
I guess when it slows down and the log is out, a line repair trip will be needed.
PM me somtime and we can do this dive togather.
Lee

[Kelly Jessop]

Hey Guy
When you get the problem solved I'll show you a pretty blue hole in south central Georgia that has exactly the same problem,only difference there is no getting in until the log is extricated.
Kelly

[Guy Bryant]

Kelly,
I PM'ed you about the blue hole. I may be familiar with it as I know of one in the same area with a log in it.
Guy

[lonestarfl]

Kelly,
It is going to be a challange to find something in Georgia or along the Withlacoochee that Guy isn't aware of, hasn't seen, hasn't dove, or hasn't mapped
I have two to share with him someday in the furture. One is a river syphon on the Hamilton Co side of the river which after 300' of river water hit a blue clear junction room at 100' deep. The other is in the middle of the river almost to the Ga. state line and it has a big cypress log jammed into its entrance....we couldn't dislodge it with the help of a winch and a powered skiff. I was able to squeeze past the log in sidemount with a little digging despite the strong blue water outflow.
Lee

[Kelly Jessop]

Kelly,
It is going to be a challange to find something in Georgia or along the Withlacoochee that Guy isn't aware of, hasn't seen, hasn't dove, or hasn't mapped
I have two to share with him someday in the furture. One is a river syphon on the Hamilton Co side of the river which after 300' of river water hit a blue clear junction room at 100' deep. The other is in the middle of the river almost to the Ga. state line and it has a big cypress log jammed into its entrance....we couldn't dislodge it with the help of a winch and a powered skiff. I was able to squeeze past the log in sidemount with a little digging despite the strong blue water outflow.
Lee

Lee
You are right,between Guy and Paul,there isn't many stones left unturned. This one will have him scratching his head because it is a spring that is 100 miles north of Valdosta in a swamp,not far from I-75. I can hear the pages turning in the Gazetters now
Kelly