Epic connection at Leon Sinks/Wakulla Springs

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The divers of the Woodville Karst Plain have made the connection between the Leon Sinks cave system along the southern edge of Leon County (Tallahassee), Florida, and the Wakulla Springs Cave System. It is the realization of over 17 years of focused exploration by the WKPP, along with almost 50 years of exploration by other teams and individual divers. The implications for water conservation and springs protection in north Florida are enormous. In addition to the dye tracing, we now have proof that the sink holes on the southern edge of metropolitan Tallahassee are directly connected to the outflowing spring at Wakulla.

The exploration team of Jarrod Jablonski and Casey McKinlay departed Turner Sink at 10am on Saturday morning and traveled 11,200ft downstream to a massive junction room to search for a side tunnel that might connect to the R-Tunnel passageway leading to Wakulla Springs. They located an opening and explored 1,220ft of new passageway before discovering our exploration line coming the other way. The dive was 250 minutes followed by 10 hours of decompression. The team surfaced at 1am on Sunday morning.

The combined length of the cave systems is approximately 28 miles. The distance from Turner Sink to Wakulla Springs is approximately 7 miles at an average depth of 270ft. The dive was accomplished with Halcyon RB80 rebreathers, Gavin Scooters, and the dedicated support of an amazing team of divers, scientists, researchers, and surface support. This is a tremendous accomplishment for the WKPP and for underwater cave exploration. We expect to have a formal name for the combined cave system shortly.

The combined cave system:
Among the top 12 longest caves in the United States and the top 60 worldwide – wet or dry
Ranks #4 in the world for longest underwater cave and #1 in the United States

-anthony

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I've posted a video of the connection being made between Leon Sinks and Wakulla Springs:


Also, news reports are starting to make it to the web. Here's the story from the Tallahassee Democrat:

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs...707310325/1010

We'll be working throughout the day to put together an image gallery of topside shots. I'll post a link as soon as it is done.

katdiver

What a fabulous accomplishment! Seeing the connection on the video is exciting. I am looking forward to hearing more as the days unfold! What a great team effort!!

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Katdiver

"the farther you go from the path, the more wildflowers there are!"

mattmexico

yo

Congratulations to the outstanding success of the whole team with exploratory divers, as well as to the support team.

greetings
Matt

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N 20' 37.617'
W 87' 04.693'
www.andreaswmatthes.com

caveseeker7

Thanks for the update and the video, Anthony.
Amazing diving so well done, congratulations to the WKPP team!

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Cheers
Stefan



"Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority,
and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media,
which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.!"

jhaaja

Amazing achievement! Gongratulations!

JH