Another Florida caver/diver

[FLRN]

Just moved to Florida middle of last year to be near my favorite type of caves - the underwater ones. But in doing so I've found that dry caves like the ones I had access to in Arizona are pretty short in supply. Also discovered that I've moved from a city with 2 grottos to a city with no grottos. I started caving about 19 years ago when I first moved to Arizona (okay, actually, I've been in some tour caves as a kid). At the time I didn't know there were organizations dedicated to caving and just set out with friends to do some exploring. Looking back at it, I can't believe some of the places I squeezed my body into! Did the caving thing on and off over the years. Eventually I learned to scuba dive and got cave trained. After my cave diving training, I started wondering why there weren't any training programs in place for dry caving. I started looking into it and discovered there actually are programs. Unfortunately, none of the sessions worked with my schedule and I still haven't done any dry cave training. I'm hoping that I can hook up with a grotto in the Florida panhandle area and do some caving and find out what I've been doing wrong all these years. I've e-mailed the contact of the Flint River Grotto (Tallahassee) and am still waiting to hear back. But I'm also interested in joining any grottos in the south Alabama (already contacted the Montgomery grotto) or southwest Georgia area. Finally, I'm looking for a good source for cave gear. That's one of the things I've done wrong. Looking forward to learning more about caving.

Rob

[Phil Winkler]

Rob, the area around Marianna is great as is SW Georgia for caving.

Where are you located in N FL?

[FLRN]

Phil, I'm in the Marianna area. I've heard Jackson county is full of caves, both wet and dry, but I can't seem to get any information on the dry ones. I just recently found out about the Flint River Grotto, but I don't think they meet monthly like the groups in Arizona do. It seems like all the dry caving activity in Alabama is in the north part of the state. I haven't been able to find out anything about Georgia. I think I'll start looking at that a little more. I'm less than an hour from Bainbridge.

[wendy]

Phil, I'm in the Marianna area. I've heard Jackson county is full of caves, both wet and dry, but I can't seem to get any information on the dry ones. I just recently found out about the Flint River Grotto, but I don't think they meet monthly like the groups in Arizona do. It seems like all the dry caving activity in Alabama is in the north part of the state. I haven't been able to find out anything about Georgia. I think I'll start looking at that a little more. I'm less than an hour from Bainbridge.

I'm a member of the Flint River Grotto. You are correct, we don't meet monthly, usually maybe twice a year, there was talk of quarterly meetings. There is about 6 of us that are really active. I was just caving in Jackson County a couple weeks ago. Don't worry I will get you in touch with the right folks.

[FLRN]

Thanks again, Wendy. With my wife and I there will soon be 8 active members.

[tenninstr]

I like onrope1.com for cave gear. These guys are hardcore cavers and the stuff they manufacture is top notch.

[FLRN]

Thanks! I've got it bookmarked.

[GatorCaver]

Greetings from another Florida caver/cave diver: I started the other way around, though. Began cave diving here in Gainesville, FL then heard a rumor somewhere that there were actually these underground chambers that have air in them (and not exhaust bubbles)! Since then I've been going to TAG for all my caving. The only dry cave of consequence near me (in Gainesville) is Warren's, and after about 5 trips there I think I've had enough. I can recommend Karst Sports, since i have bought almost all of my Lost Creek coveralls and cave packs, as well as Petzl vertical gear from them. They offer free shipping on orders over $100 and their website is a breeze to navigate.
As an aside, have you had a chance to get wet in Jackson Blue yet? That is one gorgeous cave. Especially if you have a scooter.

[FLRN]

I've been on Karst Sports. My problem is I don't even know where to start when it comes to dry cave gear. There's so much out there and it's all different. I need to get involved in TAG, but unfortunately, I don't have time to travel that far right now. Gainesville might be worth it, though. I'll have to look into Warren's.

As for JB, I live 10 minutes from it, lots of dives there. Until a few weeks ago the flow was so low a scooter was not needed. I pretty much reached my limits on swimming JB anyway when we got all that rain and the flow went up. Just bought 2 scooters (my wife dives too) and I'm looking forward to playing around with it and seeing more of JB.

[GatorCaver]

Don't get your hopes up too high regarding Warren's. Even though I think it's the longest dry cave in Florida, that only means that you will be crawling and sweating for about a mile longer than you would in any other Florida cave. And you will do some crawling, that's for sure. It does have a pretty neat entrance where you make a 25-30' climbdown (or rappel) followed by a somewhat challenging climb back up the same distance to get into the main passage. Last time I was there (2 years ago), there was a static line for the climb. After the climb is a 50' long squeeze and if you weigh more than 200 pounds, you may have some difficulty. BRING PLENTY OF DRINKING WATER!
And if that doesn't do it for you, you've always got a plethora of springs to dive. Upstream Cow Spring is one of my favorites in the area. So a Gainesville trip would serve you well.

[FLRN]

Small doesn't bother me. I currently dive side mount and am always looking for that small hole that leads to new passage. I just haven't been able to find any dry caves in Florida and would like to do a little of that as well.

[wendy]

you are coming to the Florida Cave Crawl at the end of the month, right?

[FLRN]

I'm hoping to be there either Sunday or Monday, or both. I'm flying out to Mexico Tuesday morning so it just depends on how packing goes.

[wendy]

I'm hoping to be there either Sunday or Monday, or both. I'm flying out to Mexico Tuesday morning so it just depends on how packing goes.

Well it ends Sunday afternoon. It's Friday thru Sun afternoon. e-mail if you need info

[FLRN]

Thanks for that. For some reason I thought it was Saturday through Monday. I have the flier and just checked it. There are no times listed on it. What time do you think it will end Sunday?