Madison Springs, FL 5/22/2012

[divingh2o]

First time posting, new to the forums.

Arrived 9am, was first patrons for the day. Discussed plan, geared up.

Plan: To go from main entrance to Rocky Horror (just to the in/out board), going for long swim (no scooters), then practice surveying (second dive). Stage - 32%, back gas - 32%, 100% deco.

Surface site: The basin looked pretty good, had heard it was pea soup all the way back to Godzilla.

In Water: Temps - 69*, lots of silt still from most recent flooding all over, but cleared up quickly enough.

The dive: Tied in near the rabbit hole, dropped the O2 bottles, off to the sign, and then off we went. 62 minutes later we were at Rocky Horror. While admittedly the flow was way down, up until the Godzilla tunnel was about 20-30' visibility. After the turn, the blue was back, vis now closer to 50+, while not fantastic, certainly was good diving (maybe that is the north eastern diver in me speaking).

Summary: There is still a ton of silt everywhere, seemed like a dusting to outright inches deep. Just remember, fin tips up and watch the rapid movements.

Special Thanks for Mark M. for joining us today.

[sskasser]

Great report, thanks, and welcome to forum!

[mdax]

Madison Blue was awesome today. Went in Martz, dropped stages outside rocky horror and the viz had to be 80' + beyond the courtyard. It sure is amazing in there, wish i could have stayed much longer.
Vis decreased to 40' or so near the mainline/martz intersection, other divers said it was 20' from the basin to 400' or so on the mainline.

[JahJahwarrior]

Called the dive down the Godzilla, it was very silty. Doable, but no fun for a first time visitor...better to wait till she's clear to really enjoy it.

The cave is very diveable but it's silty. You can see water moving at a good clip through the run, but it's not quite enough to have hoovered out the cave since the flood

Good to meet you MDax, didn't connect your tanks to your username at the time!

[T. Bix]

I called the park today and according to the ranger it is still okay. Has anybody been in there since the tropical storm blew through? First hand reports would be most welcomed!!
Thanx Bunches!

[mdax]

We went to Courtyard on Thursday. Storm didn't seem to impact vis one bit. About 40' vis from cavern to half hitch, then 100+ in the courtyard and beyond.

Ha, nice meeting you jahjah. It's a pretty small world in cave country!

[Greenwood_60]

This was posted yesterday: http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showt...mp-Line-Repair

[Red Hat Jef]

It was very very dusty all over but a little better past half hitch. I saw blue water and 40 foot viz in many places beyond there.



I'd say viz was great beyond that point. Just watch your kicking technique or be first in. The silt is light enough that just passing over it creates a poof of silt.

From my last trip I remember seeing gorgeous orange rocks on the floor in many places but now they are all covered up in at least a couple inches of silt. Some places that were backmount are now only backmount if you don't mind plowing your frontside through a little silt. (we were sidemount and it was tight for us without getting into silt). But, as I am sure some folks will say, the definition of backmount is different for everyone.