Because it never happened... We were relying on members of the NPS and some of
the people who had experience to do this...
The schedules never meshed. It does silt up to 100 % merky muddy water almost
the instant that anyone gets into the pools. So visibility os nil...It would
take a week or so to clear out...
When it was clear once, we did lower a 150 watt (waterproofed) clear light bulb
down into the pool over 100' and it eventually became too weak to see through
the water... You could see the walls down maybe 30 to 50' or so and then just
black
To the best of my knowledge no one has ever did a dive in there
Of all of the water pools in the cave one was several degrees cooler than the
others... I don't know why...
Most of this is from memory, from nearly 30 years ago...
Bill
- Original Message -
From: SS
To: texascavers@texascavers.com
Sent: Friday, September 10, 2010 9:46 PM
Subject: RE: [Texascavers] Comanche Springs Cave
Question for Bill Bentley. This article ran back in 83 and indicates
arrangements being made for diving Stephens Well in Comanche Springs Cave. I
find no further references made until 1997 and nothing of the findings of the
Dive team.
Was Stephens Well ever explored? What was found?
In the cave's largest tunnel, which leads Northwest from the domes, the
explorers pass a small pit en route to Stephan's Well, a huge 50 foot deep pit
filled with about 20 feet of water.
It is this cave formation which the spelunkers believe hold the key to
further exploration and a larger Cavern type system. Three National Park
Service employees and professional cave divers will attempt to examine the huge
tunnels visible through , crystalline-clear water this month.
The team put a pump into one well, Stephen's Well, which they ran for 93
days, pumping 9 1/2 gallons a minute. "We did not alter the water so much as an
eighth of an inch," Shannon said.
The team holds hope that Stephen's Well may prove to be the main opening to
the rest of the cave. A team of divers from the National Park Service has
agreed to dive into the well sometime in October.
These passages average I m wide by 1-2 m high, and they make up most of the
cave's explored length. In at least five locations they cross over pits that
drop to the water table. Submerged passages up to 3 m in diameter lead off from
these pits and constitute the cave's lower level.
--
From: SS [mailto:back2scool...@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2010 11:50 PM
To: texascavers@texascavers.com
Subject: [Texascavers] Comanche Springs Cave
So when is James Brown going to dive into the Comanche Springs lower caves
and explore Texas version of Wakulla Springs?