Diving Into The Devils Den ... taking pictures?

[ricki]

Well some of us can't help ourselves. Anyway it is an intriguing inland dive in a developing sinkhole. The roof is still largely intact, depths inside the main chamber are pretty shallow. There are some smaller cave outlets beneath the surface with the obligatory skull and crossbones warnings. Still, it is a truly bizarre dive ($9. for free divers), chilly too with 72 F water worth checking out in my opinion. I understand viz. can vary so it might be good to check with the shop there in advance. Lots of interesting springs in northern Florida.

Several more photos at:
[ame=http://fksa.org/showthread.php?p=41636#post41636]Photo Of The Day!!! - Page 25 - FKA Kiteboarding Forums[/ame]

 

[ricki]

Video from one of the more bizarre dives in Florida, Devil's Den. Apologies for some of the video, poor cameras were pushed beyond reasonable limits in low light. Still, there is some unusual imagery in there. The viz. was actually better than implied in the clip.

 

[AlexD]

Seems like a cool dive!
How deep was it?

 

[ricki]

It is worth checking out in my opinion given the unusual setup particularly for folks from the coast like myself. Still, this is a sinkhole in the process of development. That means the roof is largely intact and more importantly, the floor hasn't really collapsed all that deeply yet either. There are some caves that go off around the periphery of the central chamber which go quite a bit deeper I suspect. I would guess the deepest I ended up may have been 20 ft. but I was under an inverted rock ceiling or in caves (i.e. watch your head on ascent!). The water in most of the central chamber is fairly shallow.

Seems like a cool dive!
How deep was it?

 

[ricki]

Question:

What sort of lights do folks use for free diving in particularly dark areas? With minor wreck penetrations offshore, I usually don't need any lighting. As a result my old halogen UW Kinetics lights get rare use. Still, in the caves or even under the inverted ceiling, the cone of coverage and intensity were inadequate. Time to get another light, something bright, with about a 60 degree cone, an LED, rated for about 170 to 500 lumens and suitably compact for free diving. Oh, affordable would be a great thing too if possible!

What are folks using out there that they like?

Thanks!