Craig's Mill Sink, AL (17 SEP 06)

[BradfordNC]

first off, big kudos to FW for coordinating with the land owner for access. and of course a big thanks to the land owner for granting access.

the sink is nothing like the ones most of us are used to in Florida.
this thing is big. and i mean big.
i was thinking of a sink like Cow or Telford.
but this thing is at least a 100 feet deep, with good sized cliffs on two sides. there is a trail leading down to the water, which is filled with tree trunks.

having been forwarned, i brought the drysuit, and was very happy. the water was 55 degrees. well, 60 degrees in the sink pool, and 55 back in the cave itself. the water in the pool was slightly murky with a touch of algae, but after dropping down into the cave, the vis was about 70 feet and i was unable to detect any flow.

found the "stop sign" at the right side of the entrance, and there were 2 lines attached. i followed the line along the right side of the cave. the main passage is on massive room. the floor was all silt and every crack, ledge, and crevice on the wall was filled with silt.
a short distance in i came to a "T" with one line dropping lower and into a side passage. i placed a cookie and moved on along the mainline. i eventualy lost sight of the cavern zone and the main chamber got deeper. my deepest depth was 95 ffw, and i got nowhere near the floor. i passed 2 or 3 jumps before i could once again see the light from the cavern zone. i thought about taking a jump, but wanted to get familiar with the mainline first. i was able to complete the circuit without hitting my 1/3s and it took 36 minutes to complete.
i had thought about turning around and doing the circuit in reverse but decided to retrieve my cookie from the "T" first. while it wasn't a problem, my bubbles had knocked silt off the walls and the percolation did bring the vis along the line down a bit, so i decided to forgo reversing the circuit.
spent a few minutes swimming around the sink pool during the safety stop and then surfaced to enjoy the hike up out of the sink.

a totaly different dive than anything i've done in Florida.
hopefully i can get some more dives in here and explore the side passages.

[DeWayne]

Craig's Mill is a great dive, hopefully the gate was open so you could drive down to it. I helped FW place the sign and we wound up having to walk in (in the rain no less, which made coming back up the bank loads of fun.) Despite having to carry a 5 gallon bucket of conrete with nothing to grab on to from the gate down to the sink, it was a great dive. Hope to get back over that way again soon myself.

[BradfordNC]

FW made arrangements for me with the land owner, and he met me at the gate to let me in. so i was able to drive up to the sink.

i couldn't imaging trying to climb out in the rain.
i'm sure it was muddy and slick.

and i'm sure getting that bucket to the sink was a lot of fun.

[Scubaru]

Any updated info on this spot?

[FW]

Any updated info on this spot?

Not much has changed. We still need to contact the landowner in advance. Visibility depends on recent rain. It can vary from 20' to over 100'. The cavern is big, and on a clear day, you can go in about 150' and still see daylight. It is 30' or so high at the entrance, going up 50' inside. It is over 100' wide. It is also still cold, around 55 to 58 deg. It is in north Alabama.

[Scubaru]

Thanks Forrest. Just happened to stumble on this thread while searching for caverns to practice in before taking Intro in the next month or two... is the landowner ok with Cavern Cert?

[FW]

Thanks Forrest. Just happened to stumble on this thread while searching for caverns to practice in before taking Intro in the next month or two... is the landowner ok with Cavern Cert?

He doesn't care, but I won't call him, unless you are going with someone that knows the cave