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Allen Wooten has written 10 reviews in 1 countries.
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Caves & Caving in Birmingham, United States
Pelham Blue Water Scuba Rock Quarry is located in Pelham, Alabama. This is an open water dive site catering mostly to recreational open water divers and classes. But there's also some slightly deeper water for advanced divers. Topside is beautiful with rock bluffs, a dive shop, bathrooms, and floating platforms for water entry. Water clarity is usually around 40 ft and depths range anywhere from 30 ft to a max depth in the middle of the quarry of 150 ft. Water temperatures vary with season. Even in summer months, the surface temperature may be 80F, but you will hit a thermocline about 30 feet deep that plunges to about 52F. In the winter, it's all very cold.
They have quite a few things to look at underwater. They have concrete culverts you can swim through, a sailboat, a bus on its side, old cars, old fire trucks, and even a camper. They have training platforms that are also great for decompression if you decide to go to the deep area. To keep people from being enticed to go deep, there was nothing intentionally sunk in the deep section. Everything to actually look at is between depths of 30 to 80 ft. If you are just dying to go deep (which I was) you can go out into the middle of the quarry. But the only thing you are going to see is bare silty bottom.
You are allowed to dive solo and use scooters at this site. Entrance fee is $25. Be sure to get there early, especially in the summer, because the parking lot fills up fast.
Unfortunately, there are two other rock quarries in Alabama that once allowed open water recreational diving that were also GREAT! One was in Glencoe and the other in huntsville. To my knowledge, the one in Huntsville (formerly called Madison Aquatic Park) is closed but could reopen by the county at some point. The one in Glencoe was called Diveland. It is still open, but restricted to instructors and classes on a reservation basis.
For more info:
www.divealabama.com |
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Caves & Caving in South East, United States
Devil's Den is a very interesting site. There is an on-site dive shop that caters to open water and cavern diving. Dive fees are expensive at $35/day, but worth it once if you are new to the area. The main attraction is Devil's Den which is a sinkhole that has fallen in. The water level is probably 30 ft below the ground. So to enter the water, you descend a steep set of steps into the ground. The water level is technically in open water, since the cavern room is air-filled. You can look up from the water and see the hole in the ceiling where the floor fell in. A small water fall drips over the side down into the water.
The visibility is usually 60+ feet until the open water divers get in there and kick things up. You can see fish and swim through piles of rock boulders. The access points to the cave system have been grated off. So there is no cave diving here. Depths are about 60 ft in the deepest parts.
Another attraction at this site is a manmade small lake with a boat or two sunk in the bottom. It is extremely silty and visibility is usually 10 ft or less. Camping is allowed on site. And this trip is great in conjunction with Blue Grotto which is nearby.
For more info:
www.devilsden.com
www.floridacaves.com/dden.htm |
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Caves & Caving in South East, United States
Edwards Sink is actually a spring located right on the Suwannee River. It's considered a river cave. So visibility is usually less than 40 ft with some particulate in the water. The current is usually quite strong. Additionally, if rains are heavy, this cave can back up.
The spring/sink is located right next to a rail road track. Trains frequently run that track. There's a story of the original explorers diving the cave one day and hearing a rumble while in the system. Fearing a collapse, they made their way back to the exit to find that everything was OK. Turns out, a train had passed by and that is what they heard.
The entrance to the cave vent is attrocious. It's a steep climb down. Using a rope is usually a good idea. The entrance is interesting. Under a rock boulder, the main line begins at 20 ft which has a rock where you can drop your oxygen bottles. The cave drops straight down a vertacle rock fissure to a depth of 120 ft. The cave then levels off and runs under the Suwannee River towards the Suwanacoochee River Spring. Walls in the cave are red in color and lots of silt on the floor. The cave crosses three counties and two rivers. You can actually do a traverse from Edwards to Suwanacoochee if you are familiar with the system. There is an upstream section that you can dive for quite a ways. You can easily do 2,000 ft + penetration in this system.
One time, I was the last man back up the verticle rock fissure coming out from a dive. Suddenly, I saw my buddy's light flash me. Immediately after, I felt a crash on the side of my head and shoulder. It was a head-size rock that had been dislodged by another buddy and went pinball style down the crack and just about knocked my head off. That was a close call. So be careful in that fissure. This fissure is long but only about 3 ft - 4 ft wide. So you can get divers side by side for deco, but it's a small fit. The entrance is similar to Diepolder II down in Cortez, Fl.
There are no fees to dive the site. You can solo and DPV this site. Backmount or sidemount configuration is manageable here. The closest dive shop is back in Live Oak at Cave Excursions or Dive Outpost which is probably 30 minutes away. Although this cave is quite popular, it is a little off the beaten path.
For more info:
www.geocities.com/cavedivingx2/edw...
www.floridacaves.com/edward.htm |
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Caves & Caving in South East, United States
Cow Spring is actually a sinkhole. It's owned by the National Speleological Society - Cave Diving Section. You must be a member to dive this site. You gain access to the gate key by stopping at Dive Outpost nearby. This small sinkhole is about 20 ft deep. Only cavern and cave certified divers are allowed in the site. The downstream section to this sink is quite obvious. But it only goes about 200 ft before ending in an almost sidemount size passage. There is a second tunnel in the downstream section that is equally small and similar in distance.
On the other hand, upstream is remarkable. There are two entrances. One is strictly a sidemount entrance and hard to find. The other entrance can be done in backmount doubles, but you've got to know where it is first. Poke around a bit and you may find it. There are two major restrictions getting into this hole. But once inside, it opens up comfortably. The walls are red in color and resemble swiss cheese. Absolutely a beautiful cave. About 300 ft upstream you will find a rope that has been installed for pull-n-glide. The current in this cave is strong. So to keep people from pulling on the pristine walls, they installed a rope you can pull on to manage the flow. They do not allow scooters here, but you can solo dive.
About 900 ft upstream, you encounter a restriction in the floor that goes with continuing passage. Depths prior to this restriction are 60 ft. Beyond this restriction, depths drop to about 105 ft. Visibility in this cave is often 80+ ft. I don't recall exactly, but you can go somewhere around 1,500 ft before it starts pinching off. There are several sidemount side passages you can take a look at too.
Cow is yet another very popular stop for visiting cave divers. It's located very close to Peacock Springs State Park and Telford Spring.
For more info:
www.geocities.com/cavedivingx2/cow...
www.floridacaves.com/cow.htm
www.nsscds.com/Divesites.htm#Co...
www.tfn.net/Springs/CowSprin...
www.cavediving.com/where/florida/co... |
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Caves & Caving in South East, United States
Telford Spring is located right on the Suwannee River. Labeled a river cave, Telford Spring is usually one of the first to go and the last to blow when there are heavy rains in the area. Considered a shallow cave with max depth about 70-80 ft in one section only, most of the cave is around the 50 ft depth. Any decompression requirement you might build up in the back sections of the cave are often cancelled by the shallow swim out in the early sections of the cave.
The majority of this cave is one main trunk that runs between 4,000 and 6,000 feet in length. I've personally only been 2,700 ft in here. There are some side passages, but many just loop right back to the main line eventually. There are some sidemount offshoot passages. You'll find several entrance holes to this cave including Telford Spring, Telford Sink, and Terrapin Sink (an offset sink). All openings are located within the first 400 ft of the Spring entrance. There are two line gaps that you need to connect at these entrance points. The flow in the cave is moderate and visibility is usually about 40 ft.
What is interesting about this cave is the variety of tunnel formation you will encounter. You will also see a good bit of silt. From the entrance, you enter a comfortably low section which eventually turns into vertical rock fissure, then to bedding plane, then back to vertical rock fissure, then to bedding plane, then to a real rocky area called Rolaids Road, and then to tubular shaped phreatic passage similar to Peacock Springs nearby. At the farthest point I've been, the cave turned vertical rock fissure again. Given the shallow depths, you can get some real penetration on doubles alone.
You may use DPVs and solo in this cave. There are no entrance fees. At the current moment, the cave recently closed via land access. A major issue with this spot is it's a local hotspot in summer months. There have been litter and theft issues here in the past. Usually the best time to dive this site is in the winter when the swimmers aren't there. Not everyone who accesses the swim area is a problem, but a few bad apples (usually involving alcohol) do spoil the whole bunch. It is hoped that this cave will be reopened to cave diving access in the near future, because Telford Spring has been a very popular cave for the tourist cave diver.
For more info:
www.tfn.net/Springs/Telford.htm |
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