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Directors
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Brett Hemphill
President
Brett Hemphill has been exploring since he can remember. Having moved 5 times before
the age of 12, including a year in the country of Japan, his desire to investigate his ever-
changing childhood surroundings is what certainly molded him into the person he is
today. Climbing everything that was climbable, searching every creek to its source, there
never seemed to be enough to satisfy his curiosity. At the age of 14 he attended a youth
dry cave excursion. While the others slept, Brett and two trip counselors managed to find
a yet undiscovered section of the cave. This discovery, small as it may have been, stayed
with Brett for many years.
During the early nineties, many cave divers throughout Florida believed undiscovered
caves were all but a thing of the past. Using redundant no-mount and side-mount
techniques Brett began to probe and explore every small spring and tidal vent within a
fifty mile radius of his home in central Florida. After the discovery of several significant
under water caves, Brett formed HYDRO GEO Environmental Research in 1994 with
Michael Garman, Sheri Garman and Rudy Strum. This group studied explored and
documented several coastal under water caves in central Florida throughout the nineties
bringing a new appreciation and awareness for central Florida underwater caves.
Realizing small holes could lead to large discoveries Brett adapted pre-existing
designs from long time side-mount divers such as: Woody Jasper, Wes Skiles, Lamar
Hires, and Mark Long, designing a very holistic side-mount configuration named the
Armadillo. Brett has filmed and assisted in producing a series of short under water
cave documentaries including The National Association of Cave Diving's The Need for
Training. He speaks regularly on: Cave exploration and logistics, Reabreather design,
safety and use in overhead environments.
For over 20 years with the support and companionship of friends and team members
alike, Brett Hemphill has assisted with exploration, mapping and research of nearly a
dozen of some of the deepest, largest most unique underwater cave systems in the United
States alone. Additional exploration and research locations includes; Bahamas, Cay Sal
Banks, Dominican Republic & Yucatan Peninsula.
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Andrew Pitkin
Andrew Pitkin learned to dive in 1992 in the cold murky waters of the United Kingdom and started cave and technical diving in 1994. His first exposure to exploration was in 1995 when he was one of a team of divers who were the first to reach the bottom of the Great Blue Hole of Belize at 408 fsw (123 msw). Subsequently he has been involved in numerous cave exploration projects in Belize, Mexico and Florida.
From 1996-2000 he was employed at the Royal Navy’s Institute of Naval Medicine, running a hyperbaric facility, treating decompression illness, participating in research into outcome after decompression illness, submarine escape and testing of new military underwater breathing systems. He is one of a handful of civilians to be trained by the Royal Navy as a diving medical officer. He is currently on the faculty of the University of Florida College of Medicine in the Department of Anesthesiology. His professional interests include pediatric cardiac anesthesia and medical education.
He has been diving a Prism CCR since 2004 and has yet to find a unit that can outperform it for long-range and deep cave diving. For specific applications he has experience in side-mount, no-mount and even back-mount configurations, both open- and closed-circuit.
Exploration
Mexico
- Sistema Dos Ojos (Ejido Jacinto Pat), Q. Roo
- Sistema Chac Mool, Q. Roo
- Sistema Camilo, Q. Roo
- Nando’s Cave, Q. Roo
- Cenote Santa Maria, Yucatan
- Cenote Papakal, Yucatan
- Cenote Kankinixche, Yucatan
- Cenote Sabak-Ha, Yucatan
- Cenote X-kol’aak, Yucatan
- Cenote U-Si’il, Yucatan.
Belize
- Dill’s Cave, Lighthouse Reef
- The Abyss, Lighthouse Reef
- Giant Cave, Caye Caulker
USA/Florida
- Wekiwa Spring, Orange County
- Rock Spring, Orange County
- Sanlando Spring, Seminole County
- DeLeon Spring, Volusia County
- Manatee Spring, Levy County
- Rose Sink, Columbia County
- M2 Blue, Madison County
- Eagle’s Nest, Hernando County
Maps produced
- Apopka Blue (1997)
- Wekiwa Springs No-Mount Cave (2005)
- DeLeon Spring (2005)
- Sistema Camilo (2006)
- Rock Springs (2009)
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