Madison Blue Spring welcomes youAnother day in paradise, and this time we decided to check out Madison Blue Springs, another cave system that has been brought under the Florida State Park system. Madison is just over an hour's drive from High Springs - a drive that brings you into an area that definitely feels more... rural, shall we say, than High Springs.

Madison has been well-tended by the state parks system, with proper washroom facilities, picnic tables, properly-maintained boardwalks, and steps leading down to a very diver-friendly water entry. Very nice indeed - with more improvements coming soon in the form of proper divers' tables/racks. And to add to the warm and fuzzy feeling, the park ranger even recognized Jehannine from the last time she was here two years ago!

Jehannine briefs Team 2After another detailed briefing by Jehannine - what would we do without her? - we geared up to enjoy what promised to be a relatively easy-going dive. The water, as in all the other systems we've dived this week, was quite low, and the flow also appeared to be gentle. Combine that with the relatively modest depth of the system (avg approx 60'), and it appeared that this was a good opportunity for Chris to bring his video camera in for the first time this trip. 

We were warned by the park ranger not to expect stellar visibility, though - and this did prove to be an accurate prediction. While visibility was wonderful by the standards of the ocean diving we're used to up in BC, it certainly was poorer than all the other systems we'd dived this week. Besides, Madison Blue is known for being quite silty, anyway. So we were primed to take our time and be as careful as possible not to stir anything up.

The water beckonsFirst dive, Team 1 ran the reel in to the main line - a task the rest of us were happy to leave to them, as it involved a fairly circuitous route over a massive mound of silt to a spot we likely would have had difficulty finding. Team 2 followed a few minutes later with Jeremy in the lead and the bright glow of Chris's video lights in the #2 spot illuminating the passageways nicely. Kim followed up in position #3.

We found that Madison really requires a fair bit of finesse to work through, with lots of low ceilings and fine silt lying on every surface. Just my kind of cave - I enjoy a bit of a challenge from time to time, and this cave provided a bit of that.

First dive, Team 1 took the jump into the Banana room. Team 1 proceeded as far as that jump before turning around and exiting.

Second dive, Team 1 took the main line to the Godzilla room jump, but turned the dive a short distance down that jump when it became apparent that the line into that room was dangerously slack. Team 2 was also aiming for the Godzilla room, but instead of doing the jump (which is beyond Cave 1 limits), opted to run their primary reel all the way in to the Godzilla line. Chris, who led that dive, also turned the dive for the same reason as Team 1.

We were all disappointed not to have made it to the Godzilla room, but we soon got over it. Madison is such a cool cave system that you can't stay disappointed for long.

Team 1: Jehannine Austin (C2), Sonia Ziesche (C2)

Team 2: Kim Anderson (C1), Chris Fenton (C1), Jeremy Hoey (C1)

NB: Video from this dive will not be coming until after our return from Florida, due to our lack of Firewire 800-400 adapter...