Cave divers from literally all around the world come to North Florida to cave dive. Another stopping place for the tourist cave diver is Madison Blue Spring State Park. Since the cave is located so close to the Withlacoochie River, any heavy raining in the North will sometimes flood this cave. So check weather conditions. Visibility in the cave and basin is usually 80+ feet. The surveyed passages of Madison Blue go well over 6,000 ft of penetration, but only about 1,800 ft of it is easily reachable without going through a section appropriately named "Rocky Horror". Two popular jumps onto side tunnels lead to a place called The Godzilla Room and another takes you to an alternate entry/exit point called Martz Sink. There is actually a plastic Godzilla toy located on the wall in the Godzilla Room.

The cavern area is also a nice place for cavern certified divers to look around in. The cavern is large enough and has some interesting places you can poke your head into. There are two entrances leading into the cavern room. There's a large main/obvious entrance, but there's also a small rabbit hole that is most popular with those familiar with the cave system.

Depths in the main passage are about 70 ft. There is a lower section going to the Godzilla Room that is in the 100 ft range. You can see most of the easily divable sections of this cave in about 2 dives. But it's still a great trip. For those familiar with the system, taking the jump over to Potter's Delight, on past Rocky Horror, and then to the Courtyard area takes you in the direction of ongoing passage. Alternatively, for those interested in sidemounting, the downstream section located just inside the cavern takes you 1,000 ft back to a junction passage at 120 ft of depth. One direction goes back up and connects to the Courtyard area. The other section stretches thousands of feet downstream into the aquifer system.

Lots of swimmers come here in the summer. So due to the small, shallow basin, open water diving is not allowed. They also do not allow DPV/Scooters or solo diving. The closest dive shop for tank fills is in Live Oak, Fl which is about 45 miles away.

Once again, cave diving can be hazardous to your health. Be trained and equipped for the diving you do. Don't become another Florida cave fatality.

For more information:

http://www.floridacaves.com/madison.htm

http://www.floridastateparks.org/madison/default.cfm

Written by  Allen Wooten.

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