Eagles Nest 4th October 2008

[Dinny]

Peter, Tj and I dived Eagles Nest on Sat 4th October. The thermocline in the basin has broken down and the water temperature is 72 degrees throughout the cave and basin now. The visibility in the basin is still poor (less than 20 feet). On our way in, a medium sized (6 footer) gator was swimming along the surface with us, but was just curious

The visibility in the cave was 40-50 feet. We went up the Upstream Tunnel to Randy's Room, max depth 285 feet. Lots of crayfish in this part of the tunnel. Deco was uneventful until at the last stop (15 feet for 20 odd minutes), I saw the gator swimming behind Tj. Not wanting to alarm the guys I kept it to myself for a while, but finally communicated it to the guys:



However, they weren’t in the least bit bothered…

We finished off our deco, and as we surfaced it was getting dark. I scrambled to get up the steps to get my five bottles off first. I was not going to be gator bait! As we geared down and got ready to leave, we caught a glimpse of the red eyes of the gator at the other side of the pond.

The day was a good day for critter sightings; we saw a pygmy rattlesnake in the parking area, a monster water snail creeping around the steps as we exited, sorry no pictures , oh, and that gator….

Here are a few other pictures:

[*Ag*]

Glad you're all in one piece... just as well he wasn't hungry.

I hope he finds a new home... very soon.

[cavediver27]

In all my dives in the Nest I have never seen a gator in there (or at Buford for that matter). I guess I'll have to keep a look out this coming Saturday. I might just make that long deco a little bit more interesting.

[WEPIV]

My family and I were also at Eagle's Nest late Saturday afternoon after having visited Weeki Wachee. As I'm a Land Rover guy I always enjoy the drive to the nest no matter what conditions the roads are. And even though it was getting late in the day, I still wanted to drive out and get a short dive in the ballroom area staying just under 200 feet. (Yes, I had trimix in my tanks....)
As my gear was already set up from having been at WW, I got in the water and did my 40 minute dive and finished deco just as TJ and the others got into the water.
While I was doing my deco I saw something coming towards me in the corner of my eye but it was just my 13 year-old son swimming over to say hi. After that I did have the feeling that I was being watched by something to my right, (as I was at the 15 foot stop on the log) but I could not see anything.
As I got back to the steps my wife saw something moving in the water near where the divers were swimming -- and from where my son and I had just been. It was the alligator. I made sure the group of divers going in saw the gator and laughed at the adventuresome sprit of cave divers when one yelled back, "It's just a baby."
I was curious as to how their dive went and was happy to read about it here. My family and I had a great Florida day seeing a manatee in the Weeki Wachee River run while on the boat cruise there and also got a nice dive in there. Then my children got to see a rattlesnake near Eagle's Nest and then the gator. Later, while eating at a seafood restaurant in Crystal River my son ordered some fried gator tail.

[tj]

Gators learned long ago and have passed the word around that eating scuba divers (especially cave divers with more tanks on) is upsetting to their stomachs. It gives them a deadly case of gas... and hard on their teeth...

Here's your picture before your dive!

[WEPIV]

Thanks Tom! We had a great time out at EN.... My son will probably think twice now before swimming at the nest.

Gene

[Mike Edmonston]

Since all the darn rain fell, has the road been negatively affected? Is it "truck only" or can a typical passenger car get to the parking lot?

[Dinny]

Roads are fine, we have an SUV, but one of the other guys we dove with a few weeks back had a car, and he got through fine, but there are a few deep holes you need to navigate around slowly......Any more heavy rain will wash them out more, but for the meantime, its passable.

[Mike Edmonston]

Roads are fine, we have an SUV, but one of the other guys we dove with a few weeks back had a car, and he got through fine, but there are a few deep holes you need to navigate around slowly......Any more heavy rain will wash them out more, but for the meantime, its passable.

Thank you..

[Rexco]

Gene
I would love to know what your son thought of swimming with the gator. He was only about 20 feet from him while he was waiting for you to come up. Both of your kids did get a kick out of seeing the rattler though.