Although the team had a slow start on Saturday, all missions were accomplished! Another radio location was made and a charcoal pack was removed and given to SWFWMD for analysis. Last week we had hoped to extend the exploration beyond The Pit but we changed plans to focus on the validity of our cave survey and performing some scientific tasks.

Entry and exit of the cave is getting progressively easier. Unfortunately, this is due to the reduced discharge and overall health of our aquifer (the picture to the right shows a clearly visible boil on the surface of the spring; today there is none).   The spring discharge and visibility inside the cave are directly related. When the discharge decreases so does the visibility. Currently, visibility in the cave is around 80'. Although, this may sound impressive, the cave is over 100' wide. As I write this, the USGS well that we use to extrapolate discharge levels is the lowest since data started being recorded in August 1966.

The team pulled their way in through the Event Horizon for the first time this year wearing their entire kit -- 2 low pressure 121 ft³ scuba cylinders, Kiss Classic Rebreather, argon cylinder and dry suit. Previously, we had tried to have the teams setup their kit inside the cave but we have learned that is not the most efficient use of time.

Last week we were very pleased that the radio location pinpointed the cave right where our map said it should be. We were not so lucky with this week's radio location. This week's radio location proved that our map is off -- that is the power of radio location and is why it has become so important for us this year. These radio location points are major accomplishments that help validate the survey and so us the necessary adjustments needed using the ground truthing. It definitely tops the list of data collection priorities, even though the sample ("speleo-crobe") collections and date sonde results are also impressive. The second radio location was taken at an intersection in the cave to an area named White Death.

The next task was retrieving a charcoal pack that was placed in the cave a couple of weeks ago. When the team scootered into White Death, they came in low and to the south. This route put the team off the line about 40’ but allowed a view of the area beyond the line which the had not seen before. Most of the entire alcove that makes up this section occurs in the white layer that shows up in the video time after time. What the team was able to see does not support the probability of a passage as originally assumed.

We were very excited to learn that the water sample taken of what we thought was the rhodamine dye SWFWMD had introduced into the system last week was confirmed. The KUR dive team was able to find the dye for SWFWMD and illustrate that although the tunnel below the F well is definitely connected, it currently does not discharge to the head spring.

Thanks again to our volunteers, the staff at Weeki Wachee, the Florida State Park system and our sponsors for making the exploration possible.

NEXT: We will do another radio location at Helm's Deep and filming, in high definition, to that area of the cave.