Pott Springs

[Jordan]

After finding our way to a nice little blue hole we dropped our charged 80's into the basin and suited up. Some equestrians were passing by and chatted us up ("how deep is it"; "is it dark in there?"; "how long do your oxygen tanks last?"; etc). The cool weather was welcome, being we climbed into black fleece and drysuits.

Once in the water, I spiraled down to the opening and noticed a heavy flow pouring out of a small little hole. After about 30 seconds of clawing and scraping and moving rocks and using my feet to push against the ceiling and finally by using the wall on the right side I pulled myself through the restriction and then got myself into a little chute that is still the same restriction and somehow made it through there. I say somehow because there was nothing to grab onto and I couldn't kick into the flow, but I just went - somehow.

Finally out of the flow, I turned around and watched my buddy struggle along. It was nice to relax after dealing with that bottleneck - my breathing rate finally settled down after a couple of minutes. Then I saw my buddy's 2nd attempt 10 minutes into my dive (I waited at about 25' depth just inside the entrance - he crawled and scraped and pushed but he didn't have the wingspan that I do and couldn't reach that right wall to pull himself through. He got spit out like he didn't stand a chance...since his 2nd attempt was just as unsuccessful as the 1st, I turned and did my dive alone. We both knew that he was done for the day (I'm surprised I got him that far from his couch!).

Pulling the line out from underneath sand mounds, I swam along into the biggest room of the cave (that I have found so far) and then spiraled down, descending over a huge rock that looks to have fallen and turned to the right and looked up at an all black ceiling (the closest thing I've seen to that black was some goethite formations in Indian). You descend from 45 feet to 65 feet and enter a tunnel that trims down in size and zip zags constantly. It seems to make a 90 degree turn about every 30 feet. I follow the line and come to a Y. Go right and continue on. Come to another Y. Go left because the low bedding plane duckunder looks fun. The water in this tunnel was so clear and blue it was remarkable (it was blue blue in the whole cave so far but in this tunnel there was no sediment being kicked up from the flow so the vis was just cracklin'...this was also the first tunnel that I was in that I could see farther than 30 feet without seeing a wall). I sure was enjoying myself but after a quick check on my gauges and noggin I decided to come on out. Had an uneventful exit - I sure did notice the sharp edges sticking out. Everytime my aircell rubbed against those sharp rocks I got paranoid (not that this wouldn't be an easy cave to crawl out of). When I got to the entrance restriction I made sure to do a little safety stop before being spat out and then went for it. I let all of the air out of my BC and suit and went face first. My left fin got stuck in between two rocks and the flow caught me and there I was, flapping in the breeze. I felt my fin's spring-heel strap go boing boing and my mask quickly filled with water and all I could do was laugh. I wiggled and jiggled my foot and soon enough I was out. Fun fun. After the dive I was lucky enough to be shown several other semi-local sinks by my old-timer buddy (Suwannacoochee area) including Cathedral, Edwards, and Jade. I heard a story about his first time doing deco at midnight in Edwards when a train went by. I guess the walls shake!

[Walter Pickel]

Sounds like a great dive Jordan!

Is this the same Pot Spring?
http://www.tampadiving.com/sections/...tem.asp?ID=118

Walter

[Angie Reim]

No mount?

[Tegg]

No mount?

sidemount, with LOTS of flow...

[Jordan]

Went to Pott again today despite the deer hunters being out. I heard some shots in the distance while assembling my bottles. When I got down to the river I noticed the basin was brown, indicating the flow would be down. A young guy from NC was out on a Sunday drive and I got him to zip me into my suit (this guy is a new employee of the chicken plant going up over on 90--a civil engineer fresh out of NC State). I noticed sure enough once in the bottom of the basin that the flow was down and was delighted to see the water turn blue and clear. The entrance restriction was much more manageable and once inside I didn't even need to stop and catch my breath (hooray exercise). I went nice and slow enjoying my drysuit with primaloft undergarment and newly refurbished sidemount rig. I kept going to where the line ended and then took the small tunnel. Man that was small and silty...at the end where it ended in breakdown it was a chore to get myself turned around. On my exit I finished someone's job of cleaning out their old line. The line in there is a'ight now (other than just inside the entrance)...no more multiple lines and there is only a couple of places where the line disapppears into the silt (you only lose it for a foot or so). After only 3 dives in there I think I have seen it all already I'll have to go back and make sure

[lonestarfl]

Jordan,
I tired to dive there about a month ago and the road was cabled closed.
I assume it is open now since you dove there. How much longer will the road stay open?
Lee

[Jordan]

Are you sure you had the right road?? The first road to the left is cable closed but that is not the right one. You want the next one.

But maybe it was closed then...I don't know. I do know that I have been there twice in the last month or month and a half and it has been open both times.