Complete Video - Diving Blue Springs, Manatee & Cave

[ricki]

Here is a sequence of images passing down and back up through the vertical cave shaft at Blue Spring State Park outside Orange City, FL.
Some images were taken last weekend while others were from at other times over the years.



A view of the spring source and horizontal slit which forms the entrance to the cave.



A sectional diagram of the cave. The scale seems to be off in this as the chute is more constricted at points than implied in the diagram.



Starting a drop down into the vertical cave. The trees have been jammed across the opening for sometime. There is a current
outflow which varies in velocity from mild to fairly strong depending upon conditions. It is classified as a first magnitude spring but the
volume rate of flow has been highly variable over the years I have visited.



Sand particles kicked by divers lower down are being blasted up with the outflow.



Passing below the trees



Looking off to the side into a horizontal cave branching off from the main vertical chute. There are a lot of these features but most
are quite small in cross-section.



A look inward and outward from this side cave from the weekend



Continuing the drop downward in the main vertical shaft. There are frequent rings reminiscent of trachea along the shaft. It isn't hard to imaging you are plunging down a giant's throat.



A backward look on descent



The shaft constricts and travels a bit more horizontally further down. Light levels are dropping too. On the recent dive I was equipped
with two small sized 1400 lumen video lights. On past dives I usually shot with low available light. All images have been shot with
various GoPro camera models from over the years.



It is getting tighter and darker with depth



Approaching my turning point for this shallow free dive. You can see the cave pinches off substantially below with a bounding layer in the rock.



Getting pretty tight down there, time to ascend



Passing upward through the ringed rock morphology






Approaching the tree blockage, don't slam your head! I imagine quite a few people do on the way out particularly with stronger outflow.
It was on the lighter side this weekend.



Surface, next stop!


So, that is a still shot tour of part of this cave. Hope to be back in January for another look, hopefully with manatees.


Image Copyright RG Iossi 2014
All rights reserved

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Some background from the State Park Brochure:

"History and Nature
Blue Spring is a first magnitude spring that
discharges 104 million gallons of water daily
into the St. Johns River.

When British “Colonial” botanist John Bartram
paddled into Blue Spring in 1774, he appreciated
the “admirable fountain” but objected to the
water’s “most disagreeable taste.” Gold Rush
prospector turned orange-grower Louis Thursby
purchased Blue Spring in 1856. He built his threestory
house atop a large Indian midden in 1872.
Before the railroad rolled through in the 1880s,
Thursby’s Blue Spring Landing was a hotbed of
steamboat activity, shipping tourists and goods
to Jacksonville and beyond. Mrs. Thursby was
Orange City’s first postmistress.

Years later, in 1971, “The Forgotten Mermaids”
episode of the Underwater World of Jacques
Cousteau was filmed here. The documentary
brought attention to the manatee and the
importance of Blue Spring as a winter refuge,
greatly influencing the state’s decision to
purchase the land.

Blue Spring is the habitat for at least 15
threatened or endangered plants and animals.
The park is the winter refuge for the West Indian
manatee, home to the Florida scrub jay, gopher
tortoise, black bear and one of only two known
locations for the Okeechobee gourd. Look for
herons and other wading birds near the water.
The clear spring run displays the flashing scales
of gar and sunfish, while swimming turtles can be
seen from 50 feet away. Listen for frog calls, gaze
at a basking alligator or catch a glimpse of elusive
migratory birds."

http://www.floridastateparks.org/res...s-brochure.pdf


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[ricki]

I was shocked to learn that there was an experienced snorkeler fatality involving a 12 ft. long alligator at Blue Spring on October 21, 2015.

"Florida wildlife officials have confirmed that a 62-year-old man who disappeared on Monday morning while snorkeling with friends in a state park was killed by an alligator. James Okkerse went missing in Blue Spring State Park just before 9 a.m. Monday and his body was found that afternoon.

The Volusia County Medical Examiner's Office has ruled his death as being consistent with an alligator attack, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission told NBC News Wednesday. The 12-and-a-half-foot alligator had previously been spotted and caused a swimming area at the park to close twice on Sunday. Officials felt it had to be killed because of the threat it posed to park guests."

"Anen and her husband had been meeting up with Okkerse to swim on a weekly basis and she called him a 'very strong swimmer' and a 'healthy' man, WFTV reported. Okkerse was wearing a mask and a snorkel when he vanished. Anen said: 'I went up to the hole to see where he was and I saw him floating along, I thought he was diving. 'When I got there, he totally disappeared.' "
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz3pvW7iQni




Two people shot a videos underwater of the alligator the day before the attack:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp8uoAwB0a4



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peILeNmVsJQ[/youtube]


There is a sign on the boardwalk, which I have to confess I don't recall seeing which says: "large alligators ... occasionally attack larger animals such as deer, and may even attack humans." Well, they were right about that sad to say. The victim lived a few miles from the spring and swam there for the last 20 years. He was last seen near the boil or vertical cave at the popular headspring. A medical examiner subsequently concluded James Okkerse was killed by an alligator. http://www.news-journalonline.com/ar...51029901?tc=ar


Some precautions to observe around alligators: http://srelherp.uga.edu/alligators/alligator-safety.htm


We may be more interested in closely looking at the alligator than might be safe. They are often quite motionless but also very fast. The above article suggests staying at least 60 ft. away from a large alligator on land. If it is hissing or lunging at you, you are too close. They say not to swim in fresh water in Florida except in designated areas. I recently heard this before a SUP paddle in spring country. Of course in this instance Mr. Okkerse was well within such a designated swim area.

One thing that may not be common knowledge. We went biking in Canaveral National Seashore, there were a lot of alligators in the perimeter canal. My then infant son started crying in his bike seat. This sent a large alligator on the opposite bank into the water and swimming towards our side of the bank at speed. We left a little wiser about what can motivate gator interest. Barking dogs can attack as apparently can crying babies.

A listing of fatal alligator attacks in USA and some of the circumstances worth looking over at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ates_by_decade

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