[Texascavers] Cave divers explore deepest parts of Weeki Wachee Springs, Florida :

[JerryAtkin]

Cave divers explore deepest parts of Weeki Wachee  Springs



By _Logan Neill_ (http://www.tampabay.com/writers/article380274.ece)  and
_Joel Anderson_ (http://www.tampabay.com/writers/article383088.ece) , Times
Staff Writers
In Print: Monday, April 20, 2009


Brett Hemphill, a cave  diver with Karst Underwater Research of Tampa,
begins his descent to  explore the Weeki Wachee Springs cave system Saturday.




WEEKI WACHEE — Picking up where he left off two  years ago, Brett Hemphill
pushed even deeper and deeper into the underwater  abyss Saturday. Already,
no one has ever made it any farther into a spring than  Hemphill and his
diving team.
Yet the work in — and underneath — Weeki Wachee  Springs is only
beginning.
"Everything went pretty well out there," Hemphill  said Sunday. "But we had
to tone things down a bit. We're going to try to get  back into the deep
section."
Of course, deep is relative.
In August 2007, Hemphill and 19 other divers were  able to confirm that
Weeki Wachee Springs, home of the world-famous mermaids,  was indeed the
deepest in the United States. They made it 407 feet into the  springs.
On Saturday, Hemphill and a team of divers from his  Tampa nonprofit
company, Karst Underwater Research, returned to the spring to  continue their
exploration of the underwater cave system. As with the previous  dives, drought
conditions once again made it possible for divers to access the  narrow
crevices leading to the deepest parts into the spring.
"It would be practically impossible to do any other  time," said Hemphill,
42, who led the 2007 dive more than 4,600 feet into the  cave system.
This time, the objective was to explore and map an  area about a mile to
the southwest of the attraction, near a Southwest Florida  Water Management
District water sampling well at U.S. 19 and Northcliffe  Boulevard.
'Very dangerous  place'
Early Saturday, a team of divers helped set up  extra air tanks and
equipment in shallower areas of the spring for Hemphill to  use to survey and 
map
the cave system — all part of the extensive safety  precautions to prepare
for a dive.
"It looks peaceful but it can be a very dangerous  place," said Walter
Pickel, a dive safety specialist who helped prepare  Hemphill.
Wearing a "dry" suit equipped with a heated vest to  protect his torso from
the prolonged effects of the 72-degree water, Hemphill  entered the spring
at 10:35 a.m. Saturday. Once inside, a torpedo-shaped water  scooter allowed
him to glide through the water.
Hemphill said he went almost 5,000 feet into the  cave system — nearly 400
feet longer than the last dive. Along the way, Hemphill  was able to recover
samples of environmentally safe ruby red dye that park  officials had
previously released into the springs.
"They told me to keep an eye out for it," Hemphill  said. "And lo and
behold, I saw a milky layer of this beautiful ruby red  color."
The dive ended about 8:40 p.m. Hemphill said he cut  this dive a little
short because he went alone, owing to a regular diving  partner who fell ill
before the exploration.
Researchers think the Weeki Wachee caves are  connected to another system
known as Twin Dees Spring, about a half mile from  the attraction. Divers
have previously tracked more than 2,000 feet of passages  at about 300 feet
deep in some places.
As with the 2007 dive, Karst had to obtain a  special permit from the
Southwest Florida Water Management District and get  consent from the
attraction's management in order to enter the spring.
Hemphill said he will return to Weeki Wachee  Springs on Saturday, hoping
to take advantage of the dry conditions before  summer rains increase the
flow in the spring making it unsafe for further  dives.
"It's a huge sacrifice of time and until we're  finished, it is not fun,"
Hemphill said. "But once we're finished, we'll have  that sense of
accomplishment. That's is what we're waiting for."
_http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article993502.ece_
(http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article993502.ece)
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RE: [Texascavers] Grotto meeting for 4/29

[Stefan Creaser]

Before David gets there... aren't all Grotto's Underground?

 

Cheers,

Stefan

 

From: Don Cooper [mailto:wavyca...@gmail.com] 
Sent: Monday, April 20, 2009 12:15 AM
To: Cavers, Texas
Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Grotto meeting for 4/29

 

Apologies for unspecific nature of post - 
That would be the UT Underground Grotto for Everyone...
-WaV

On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 8:35 PM, R D Milhollin 
wrote:



Which grotto are you referring to?

-Original Message-
From: Don Cooper 
Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 4:12 PM
To: Cavers, Texas 
Subject: [Texascavers] Grotto meeting for 4/29

I have a somewhat off-topic speaker arranged for the next grotto
meeting, but I'm pretty sure that no one will object. 
This should be quite interesting.
It's been sanctioned by Gary Franklin already and I'm quite stoked about
it

 


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Re: [Texascavers] Grotto meeting for 4/29

[Don Cooper]

Apologies for unspecific nature of post -
That would be the UT Underground Grotto for Everyone...
-WaV

On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 8:35 PM, R D Milhollin wrote:

> Which grotto are you referring to?
>
> -Original Message-
> From: Don Cooper 
> Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 4:12 PM
> To: Cavers, Texas 
> Subject: [Texascavers] Grotto meeting for 4/29
>
> I have a somewhat off-topic speaker arranged for the next grotto meeting,
> but I'm pretty sure that no one will object.
> This should be quite interesting.
> It's been sanctioned by Gary Franklin already and I'm quite stoked about it

[Texascavers] Grotto meeting for 4/29

[Don Cooper]

I have a somewhat off-topic speaker arranged for the next grotto meeting,
but I'm pretty sure that no one will object.
This should be quite interesting.
It's been sanctioned by Gary Franklin already and I'm quite stoked about it.

The speaker has asked me if he can use his own laptop.
I'm pretty sure he can, but I'm just checking.

Thanks
-WaV

RE: [Texascavers] ICS

[George Veni]

I've been warning for months that people need to register by April 16th for
a guaranteed place on one of the ICS trips requiring pre-registration. We
need to reserve buses, vans, etc., well in advance and can't afford to wait
until the last minute to cancel them if the number of registrations won't
cover the expenses. The River Walk trip didn't have enough registrations,
but we found a way to offer essentially the same trip to the few who did
register.

 

Because of WNS, we have delayed decisions on other trips and will announce
them on the 5th. This gives people time to register for trips if they
haven't already done us. There will be nothing happening on campus on
Wednesday during the ICS; the Wednesday trips are all that is offered. We
still have more than a dozen great trips scheduled and I encourage everyone
to register for a Wednesday trip soon. For details see:
http://www.ics2009.us/wed.html 

 

George

 

From: John P. Brooks [mailto:jpbrook...@sbcglobal.net] 
Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 10:31 AM
To: Jim Kennedy; Preston Forsythe; Cave Tex
Subject: Re: [Texascavers] ICS

 

Why was the River Walk tour canceled? Is there a threat of spreading WNS to
the pigeons?

On 4/17/09 8:58 AM, "Jim Kennedy"  wrote:

Yes, but be prepared to rigorously follow all decon procedures. No bat caves
will be visited during that trip.

-- Crash

  _  

From: Preston Forsythe [mailto:pns_...@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Thu 4/16/2009 10:01 PM
To: Cave Tex
Subject: [Texascavers] ICS

Is the Northern Mexico pre-convention trip still on?

Preston in western KY

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Re: [Texascavers] ICS

[John P. Brooks]

Why was the River Walk tour canceled? Is there a threat of spreading WNS to
the pigeons?

On 4/17/09 8:58 AM, "Jim Kennedy"  wrote:

> Yes, but be prepared to rigorously follow all decon procedures. No bat caves
> will be visited during that trip.
>  
> -- Crash
> 
> 
> From: Preston Forsythe [mailto:pns_...@bellsouth.net]
> Sent: Thu 4/16/2009 10:01 PM
> To: Cave Tex
> Subject: [Texascavers] ICS
> 
> Is the Northern Mexico pre-convention trip still on?
> 
> Preston in western KY
> 
> -
> Visit our website: http://texascavers.com 
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com
> For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
> 
>