Manatee conditions anyone?

[IowaCaveDiver]

Anybody been diving Manatee lately?


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[FW]

Anybody been diving Manatee lately?


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It has been a few weeks, but with the river dropping, it is probably pretty much normal. Current, and visibility, vary with the tides. There is a delay due to the river, so tide tables don't help much. The best time to dive is when the water is getting deeper in Catfish. You can tell by looking at the debris on the steps. You can get a good idea by looking at the river levels on the NOAA website.
http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=tae

[kensuf]

I was there on Saturday. Once you get above the Chalkley Bypass the visibility improved greatly. Probably ~70' with a blue tint all the way back to the siphon/spring tunnels.

Catfish, on the other hand, is covered with hydrilla as well as the normal duckweed. It's basically a huge thick floating mat of stuff.

[erdcphotoman]

The water coming out looks very clear and with a pretty good flow. Not many Cave Divers lately. The Suwannee is getting very low.

[IowaCaveDiver]

What kind of visibility did you have within the first thousand feet of penetration?


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[IowaCaveDiver]

Looking at the map… Is "chalky bypass" approximately 2000 feet from Friedman? Or am I identifying the wrong feature? I don't plan on going this far but I'm trying to get a good idea of when the visibility would improve penetration wise.


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[apitkin]

Looking at the map… Is "chalky bypass" approximately 2000 feet from Friedman? Or am I identifying the wrong feature? I don't plan on going this far but I'm trying to get a good idea of when the visibility would improve penetration wise.

The Chalkley Bypass (named after Tex Chalkley) bypasses Friedman Sink. It starts a couple of hundred feet downstream from Friedman.

Usually the visibility starts improving beyond the Milk Tunnel, which is about 800 feet upstream from Friedman.

Andy

[Walter Pickel]

The Chalkley Bypass (named after Tex Chalkley) bypasses Friedman Sink. It starts a couple of hundred feet downstream from Friedman.

Usually the visibility starts improving beyond the Milk Tunnel, which is about 800 feet upstream from Friedman.

Andy

Beautiful section of the cave too!

[Walter Pickel]

Looking at the map… Is "chalky bypass" approximately 2000 feet from Friedman? Or am I identifying the wrong feature? I don't plan on going this far but I'm trying to get a good idea of when the visibility would improve penetration wise.

You might be referring to the Blue Water Tunnel