Ginnie Springs and Devil's Cave System

We finally made it back to High Springs to dive the Devil's Springs cave system five weeks after tropical storm Debbie flooded all the rivers in the area. The springs have been open for about two weeks now, and the dive reports say that the water is much clearer. From what we could gather back in South Africa, Ginnie Springs and Devil's are the most popular for cave diving. This is where we wanted to dive first and now we've finally made it.

We had managed to swap out some of our booked nights at the Hydro Lodge in High Springs, so on Friday we drove in to what felt like home even though we'd only stayed there for 3 nights previously. Our first non-motel stay in a month! Bliss :)

I had broken my Sartek primary torch on the second Spiegel Grove wreck dive, and we'd decided to send both in for an upgrade to 35 watt HID since 21 watt is no longer supported. We collected the revamped torches at Extreme Exposure (once again excellent service all round), and left our cylinders for gas fills ... back to 32% dil and stage gas for cave country. Then home to prepare the machines and study the Devil's system maps.

Devil's Cave System Map - dives 1 - 4

Ginnie Springs is a privately owned recreational area. We knew that it would be busy with families and college students tubing down the Santa Fe River and enjoying swimming in the springs on the weekend, but nothing could prepare us for the streams of cars, tubes people and loud pumping music that arrived during the day. Ginnie boasts 700 acres and 7 springs along the Santa Fe River. It's a wonderful place with huge trees and loads of facilities. Campers and RVs abound, as well as day visitors and open water and cavern divers. On Saturday there was also an abundance of cave divers.

From Little Devil's Cave Entrance looking out to the Santa Fe River and Devil's Eye and Ear entrances

Kev after laying our stage bottles at Little Devil's steps entrance

Tannic warm river water meets crystal clear cold spring water

Kitting up for our first early dive into Devil's ... still too early for the crowds

Devil's springs are just to the right

We had been told that the quickest entrance to the main gold line in Devil's is through the Ear, but because of the flooding and the tannic river water, a temporary line has been laid from the Eye to the Ear so that divers can access the main line. No-one would find the Devil's Ear entrance with the river as dark as it is right now. You can see from the pic above what a huge difference there is where the warm dark-red tannic river water meets the cold clear spring water. The problem with the flooding was that the pressure from the river water was enough to push back into the spring water and cloud the aquifer. So the dark-red water is still clouding the visibility in the caves to some extent. But it's not too bad now 5 weeks later, in fact it gives all the lights a weird yellow-red haze which is actually quite pretty.

The caves were still quiet on our first entrance. We had no idea where we were going, so we swam along the shoot at about 2m depth from Little Devil's entrance towards the river and when we saw the tannic river water just beyond the Eye, we knew it was time to enter the cave system. Kev went first and descended to 5m while I hovered above watching. The Eye is like an oval gap in the floor. From above you can't see that there's a cave entrance. In fact as I watched Kev descend and look around, I was thinking that we'd have to swim further into the tannic water because this couldn't possibly be the entrance. But then I saw Kev starting to disappear into the wall of the oval, and I quickly descended to follow. 

Little Devil's entrance with the clear shoot towards the river and Devil's Eye ahead

Beautiful shoot from Little Devil's to Devil's Eye

Self portrait lookup up from Devil's Eye

The entrance from the Eye is narrow. There is also quite a bit of flow pumping out of that narrow crack. We're told the that flow at the moment is nothing, but it's the strongest current I've ever experienced while diving. There is no point in being "macho" and trying to fin your way through the tight spots and around the corners. Just give in and hold onto the walls and rocks and pull yourself along. I find it quite fun to hang on and pull myself along, I feel a bit like a space man :)

Narrow entrance into Devil's Eye

After descending through the shoot and around the corner we met the main gold line. Devil's Ear is just around the corner from the tie-off, but you wouldn't believe it if it weren't on the map or you didn't feel the current pushing out in that direction, because it's so dark from the river water that it looks like there is rock above that entrance. Happy that we'd made it to the gold line, we set off left towards the Lips.

The caverns are huge and clear compared to most water we've experienced except for Jackson Blue. I loved the look of the caves and the size of the passages and rooms. Later Kev said that the roof is like honeycomb which is exactly right. We knew it when we hit the Lips, there is no mistaking it. The line makes a sharp right turn and the roof and floor come together to form a flat narrow passage. The water pumps along that section pushing you out away from the line, so you grab onto the rocks and pull yourself through. That narrow passage lasts about 10m and then it opens up in all directions. The main line continues to take you through the Keyhole but there are large passages to the left and right as well. We went through the first section of the Keyhole but then we turned around ... enough exploration for one dive.

Huge passages, catacombs to the left, Lips are around the corner to the right

Start of the Lips

Through the Lips

About to enter the Keyhole

Before the second dive, Rick, a very nice staff member for Ginnie (cave police to check certs, lights, etc), told us that we should try to make the jump to the Hills 400 line as it was relatively close (only 180m or 600'), off from the flow and pretty. So that was the plan. This time I led the dive. I was completely amazed as we headed through the second part of the Keyhole and saw what I think of as a massive cog in a gear but others call the Cornflakes. I think I jumped up and down in the water trying to point out this structure to Kev.

View of the cogs structure from the Keyhole

Cog structure (cornflakes)

We continued along swimming over a large canyon with rooms leading off to the left and the wall with the line above and to the right.The flow was still quite strong and it was slow going. At about 150m (500') I saw red clouds of silt billowing out from a corner along the route. There was so much silt, that I closed in on the line and circled my fingers around it. I was actually worried that a diver in front of us might have gotten into trouble, and when I rounded the corner I saw his scooter and one stage clipped off on the line, and silt clouding out in waves from a side-mount passage to the right below the line. I could only think that the man was digging for something somewhere in there like a hunting dog chasing after a rabbit! I passed through the cloud and saw the Hill 400 jump, so I waited for Kev. It was surreal watching him appear through the clouds of silt with his hugely bright torch hardly shining through the red haze.

After exchanging a bit of a ??? moment directed at the side mount diver throwing out all the silt, we made the jump to the Hill 400 line and continued on our way. A little way up I looked through a passage to my left and saw what looked like another main line. This must have been the July Springs line. We went on until 40min and then turned the dive.

On our way back two OC divers passed us on scooters, but when we got back to our jump, ours was the only reel ... maybe they came from somewhere else? We weren't sure, but we'd marked our jump with a named cookie, so we collected it up hoping that they hadn't just blindly followed it in. Just as we were finishing, the digging side-mount diver emerged from his burrowing hole, picked up his stage and scooter, and drove off deeper into the cave system. Interesting. We left through the now pretty silty passages and made our way out.

By the time we got to the entrance, Devil's shoot was a mess. Free divers bombing around the entrance, open water divers hanging about kicking up river bed, tubers blocking the entire tendril from the Eye to Little Devil's. You couldn't see an outstretched hand in what had been crystal calm water just hours before. Kev and I high-tailed it out of there as quickly as we could! But not before we could get directions from Rick to Amigos Dive Center.

http://www.underwatercavephotography.com/