Weeki Wachee: The City of Mermaids

[L Roebuck]

DIVING The City of Mermaids celebrates turning 60
BY SUSAN COCKING [e-mail]

"And this summer, for the first time since 1980, a small group of cave divers is exploring the deep underground river that feeds the spring. At 400 feet deep, the explorers say it might be the deepest water-filled cave in the U.S.

''A magical place. There's no place like it in the world,'' merman Eric Ducharme said.

Ducharme, 17, and his finned friends act like they are special -- and they are.

Who among us could perform smiling dance routines 20 feet deep in chilly water for a half hour wearing uncomfortable, nonthermal costumes while occasionally grabbing a quick breath from an air hose? Not to mention fending off pesky turtles, show-stealing manatees and the occasional alligator.

The performers regulate their buoyancy solely by controlling their breathing. No weight belts allowed.

Mermaid Nikki Wilkerson, 21, says it is a rewarding occupation.

''I don't think I'll ever leave,'' she said. ``If we go places, even if we don't say it, people know who we are.''

Although all of Weeki Wachee's underwater performers are scuba-certified, few put on air tanks for recreation on their days off.

''I hate all the scuba gear and everything like that,'' Wilkerson said. ``There's more freedom on the air hose.''

They also take pride in their free-diving abilities, plunging more than 100 feet deep on a single breath. A few have carved their names in the limestone near the spring bottom.

''The mermaids have tagged the cave!'' laughed cave diver Walt Pickel of Tampa.

That was among the discoveries that Pickel and volunteer divers from Karst Underwater Research, Inc. made earlier this summer upon entering the Weeki Wachee cave for the first time. The explorers have mapped nearly 3,000 feet of passage beneath the main spring to a vertical depth of nearly 400 feet, making Weeki Wachee perhaps the deepest underwater cave system in the U.S.

''More people have walked on the moon than have explored that cave,'' Pickel said.

He said narrow, limerock passages with rippled sand floors give way to a large room dubbed ''Power Cave'' that's 100 feet wide by 85 feet tall.

''You could drive five semis next to each other through this cave,'' Pickel said.

The explorers owe their success to Florida's long-standing drought, which has reduced the cave's firehose-like flow of 170 million gallons per day to about half-strength.

''This has been an untouchable gem,'' Pickel said. ``Mother Nature forbade it. We'd like to do this as long as the cave allows us.''

The land around Weeki Wachee Spring and the adjacent water theme park, Buccaneer Bay, is owned by the Southwest Florida Water Management District -- known locally as Swiftmud."

Full Article

[Kelly Jessop]

Past/Related Exploration of the Weeki Wachee Karst Region
in the early 1980's, Sheck Exley, Jamie Stone and Jim Benz laid approximately 220 feet in the first room below and beyond the restriction at the bottom of the fracture. They ended their line at a breakdown pile that spans the western edge of room and believed they had walled it out. They also put in approximately 100 feet of line in the "dead syphon" tunnel. Around the same time at Twin Dees Spring (about 2.5 miles away), Paul Heinerth had explored the first 1,300 feet of this spring to a large terminal room known as the Pleasure Dome.

In the mid-1990s, David Miner and Jeff Petersen (forming the second Karst Underwater Research (KUR) project) discovered a new lead 1,000 feet into the system. This lead turned out to be the source of the water and led to the discovery of a very large room, dubbed Middle Earth, and the primary conduit for the system with average depths of 270 ffw to a maximum penetration of approximately 3,300 from the entrance. This source tunnel continued on from there. However, subsequent exploration got deferred as the spring's discharge velocity swung back and forth from stagnant to a raging torrent and other distractions prevailed.

Due to an extended drought, in June of 2000, Scott Pulliam, Bill Lester and Paul Heinerth managed to get in with steel 104's and swam Sheck's line. The next day, Paul tried to get with his CisLunar MK5, but only got to 160 ft. because the force of the flow was collapsing the breathing bags. Within the next few days the flow recovered and no more diving was permitted by Weeki Wachee's attraction management.
2006 - Planning Ahead
In anticipation of the increasing drought, KUR re-established permission from Weeki Wachee's attraction management and the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) for cave diving exploration at Weeki Wachee. KUR project members then installed heavy climbing rope in the fracture from 40ffw down to the beginning of the pivotal restriction at the bottom of the fracture at 145 ffw.
Exploration in 2007
The team hoped to get inside the system and explore as much as possible. We specifically wanted to make connections to the Twin Dees tunnel as well as a nearby sampling well, the "F" well, which had intersected a large tunnel between 270-300 ffw (and captured a crayfish on camera! - see Walter Pickel's article in the 2nd Quarter 2007 issue of the NACD Journal).

KUR project members moved climbing rope in the fracture from 40ffw down to 70ffw to address the "attractive nuisance" effect the rope was having for open water divers. Additionally, we installed rope from 145ffw to Sheck's existing line inside the system creating a continuous guideline from the cave through the fissure.

Over the course of May and June, over 20 working dives were performed with each requiring two or more set-up dives where teams brought scooters and tanks through the restriction and staged them within the system. Aside from other set-up dives, surveying dives and video dives, here are the exploration hi-lights. The system-wide morphology of this cave is almost all gigantic, white wall tunnels with break-down covered floors, punctuated with even broader chambers, like numerous large meals along the body of a python.

Within a few days after the July 14th dive, the flow increased to where entry/exit in the restriction at 145ffw became too risky to continue. The exploration project is on hold the flow decrease again into the acceptable range for exploration activities.
We'd like to thank everyone on the team for their sacrifices and being integral part of making this exploration project a huge success.

The Weeki Wachee Karst Project Team
Robert Brooks
Jackie Clark
Joel Clark
Eric Deister
Kelly Deister
Paul Heinreth
Brett Hemphill
Lindsey Hodges
Corey Mearns
Dali Mearns
David Miner
Bill Oestreich
Jeff Petersen
Walter Pickel
Micheal Poucher
Sandra Poucher
Scott Pulliam
Steven Straatsma
Ben Wilcher
Bert Wilcher

A special thanks to:
Chris De Felice (DiveWeeki.com)
John Athanason (Weeki Wachee)
David DeWitt (SWFWMD)

OUR SPONSORS
Salvo Diving
Silent Submersion
Tampa Adventure Sports

Key Exploration Dives

May 27, 2007
Brett Hemphill added just over 700 feet of line past the restriction/breakdown where Sheck's line with depth averaging 250ffw. On this solo swim dive with his KISS CCR, Brett Hemphill swam to the end of Sheck's line and then found an easily passable keyhole restriction through the breakdown collapse. After the restriction, Brett found himself in very large tunnel that averaged 15 feet high by 50 feet wide, with breakdown covered in a layer of silt and sand giving it the appearance of a winter mountainscape. Then the tunnel size expanded to average 25 feet high by 80 feet wide. He followed the tunnel and flow westward to another restriction at a depth of 278ffw, dubbed "White Death" because of the clay composition of the tunnel. We suspect the tunnel beyond this restriction is the primary source of the silt in the first 1,200 feet of the system and it is probable that this passage leads to a sink that was covered when the Weeki Wachee parking lot was laid.
Bottom Time: 1.5 hours
Deco Time: 4 hours
Exploration Team: Brett Hemphill
Support Team: Eric Deister, Brett Hemphill, David Miner, Jeff Petersen, Walter Pickel, Micheal Poucher, Sandra Poucher, Bert Wilcher


June 16, 2007
On a solo scooter dive with his KISS CCR, Brett added almost another 1,300 feet of line. Just before the White Death restriction, he spotted the real primary tunnel and followed it to the very large room, dubbed the River Room, with two very minor tunnels extending off of it. Brett doubled back, realizing that the primary tunnel must have split on him, again. With tunnel this large and only one diver's light, the "main" tunnel isn't as obvious as you would expect. Again, back in the true primary tunnel, he scootered on southward, passing through a short, restricted area of breakdown collapse which then opened up back into large tunnel and then yet another amazingly large room dubbed, Helm's Deep. On the southern end of the room, two large leads appeared evident.
Bottom Time: 1.5 hours
Deco Time: 4 hours
Exploration Team: Brett Hemphill
Support Team: Robert Brooks, Jackie Clark, Joel Clark, Eric Deister, Kelly Deister, Lindsey Hodges, Corey Mearns, Dali Mearns, David Miner, Jeff Petersen, Walter Pickel, Micheal Poucher, Sandra Poucher, Ben Wilcher, Bert Wilcher


June 29, 2007
The dive plan was to explore simultaneously the two leads off of Helm's Deep, Brett, on his KISS CCR and Paul on his Dive Rite Optima CCR scootered to Helm's Deep. From there, Brett took the more southern trending tunnel. Paul followed for a short distance and then separated to explore a large side tunnel heading west. Brett added approximately 1,900 feet of line through amazingly large tunnel (averaging 70 feet high by 100 feet wide) to a depth of 342 ffw until the tunnel began to pitch steeply downward. This drop off was named Mount Doom. Brett also identified two more possible leads along the western wall between Helm's Deep and Mount Doom. Paul added approximately 1,200 feet of line in the large west tunnel. However, this tunnel, nicknamed the Dead Marshes Tunnel had no discernible flow, the water was darker and clearly stratified and stagnant with bacteria colonies. At present time, the question remained if this could be the connection to Twin Dees, since the spring has been stagnant for the last two years.
Bottom Time: 2 hours
Deco Time: 7.5 hours
Exploration Team: Brett Hemphill, Paul Heinreth
Support Team: Robert Brooks, Eric Deister, Lindsey Hodges, Jeff Petersen, Walter Pickel, Micheal Poucher, Sandra Poucher, Scott Pulliam, Ben Wilcher, Bert Wilcher

July 14, 2007
Brett, Paul, Corey Mearns shoot video of the first 2,000 feet of the system using Silent Submersion's new Death Ray and add 1,600 near Mount Doom; they confirmed (via 3 computers) a depth of 403 ffw at the bottom of Mount Doom - and this was not on the "very bottom." From there the tunnel got shallower again (in the 370ffw range) but ended in a room with a much smaller springing tunnel extending off of it. After doubling back a short distance, they found main trunk again and added the remainder of the line there. In the main tunnel near the end of the dive, the team passed a section that looked as if they may have hit the spot where the F well's drilling breached the ceiling of the tunnel. The large, main tunnel (where the "F" well connection may have been made) continues, but the dive was terminated on time.
Bottom Time: 2 hours
Deco Time: 9.25 hours
Exploration Team: Brett Hemphill, Paul Heinreth, Corey Mearns
Support Team: Robert Brooks, Jackie Clark, Joel Clark, Eric Deister, Kelly Deister, Lindsey Hodges, Corey Mearns, Dali Mearns, David Miner, Jeff Petersen, Walter Pickel, Micheal Poucher, Sandra Poucher, Steven Straatsma, Ben Wilcher, Bert Wilcher

Summary distances to point of penetration from Weeki Wachee Spring entrance
"Sheck's Folly" restriction 220
White Death 997
River Room 1,158
Helm's Deep 1,700
End of Dead Marshes 2,442
Mount Doom 3,655
End of Moria (after Mt Doom) 4,229
F-Well intersect 3,961
End of the F Well line 4,271
Total new line laid 6,728

[Brian Roebuck]

Wow, Thanks for the update on all the exploration happening there!

[Kelly Jessop]

www.baynews9.com/VideoPlayer/?Weeki_Wachee_caves_630

[Sharon Faulkner]

Weeki Wachee explorers hit 400 feet
By TONY MARRERO
Published: Aug 29, 2007

WEEKI WACHEE — They found the record at the bottom of Mount Doom.

The divers let their rocket-shaped propulsion scooters pull them over the top of the high, underwater peak named after the infamous mountain in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Then, the descent to 403 feet.

“And now they’re at the deepest, scariest part of the cave,” said Jeff Petersen, president of Karst Underwater Research Inc., or KUR, and project manager for the recent excursion into the caves below and beyond the mermaid stage at Weeki Wachee Springs.

At that depth, Petersen and the team figure they have discovered the deepest underwater, spring-connected tunnel in the United States.

The dive happened back on July 14, but Petersen asked Weeki Wachee Springs spokesman John Athanason to hold off on making the announcement until Tuesday night.


tinyurl.com/35z5no

[spoucher]

www.tampadiving.com/weekiwachee/

Walter Pickel has created a webpage where he will provide information.

[Kelly Jessop]

cbs4.com/local/local_story_252081058.html

Divers Explore The World Of Florida's Mermaids
(CBS4) WEEKI WACHEE A Tampa based research team is exploring the world of Florida’s famous mermaids.

To a diver who has explored the deep, naturally formed Weeki Wachee Springs, there's one word to describe being 403 feet down.

"Humbling," said Brett Hemphill. "When you're that deep, you might as well be between the Earth and the moon."

As part of the Tampa's Karst Underwater Research team, Hemphill, 40, and 19 other divers have confirmed that the home of the world-famous mermaids is indeed the deepest spring in the United States.

"Some of the rooms were so large that I had to focus on one wall and make sure my compass was pointing the right way," Hemphill said. "There were sections where you could see formations that looked like piles of bones."

Though the spring water is mostly crystal clear with visibility of about 100 feet, below 350 feet it becomes a deep, rich blue. The water at that depth, Hemphill said, has not gotten light of any kind for perhaps hundreds of years. After a first dive in late May, divers by July had found a dip in one of the five tunnels they explored. According to Jeff
Petersen, president of the not-for-profit Karst group, they figured this would lead them past the 400-feet mark.

Their hunch was right.

With drought conditions dropping the usual flow of water through the springs by half, to 97 cubic feet per second, it was just a matter of time before the group explored what Petersen called the "coveted crown jewel" of Weeki Wachee.

"We think it's deeper than 403 feet," he said. "But we're waiting until the waters drop down again. There's a wealth of exploration yet to be had."

Recent rains that have eased dry conditions on land have increased the flow in the springs to about 125 cubic feet per second, too strong for divers to withstand. Last month, they were able to drop into the cavernous underwater world because the flow dissipated in the broad caves. But even then, Petersen said, forging their way into the caverns was like hanging onto a flagpole in hurricane winds.

Once inside, divers used torpedo-looking, snub-nosed scooters and lights to go as deep as they could. They've explored about 7-thousand feet of tunnel, nearly a mile and a half of rocky terrain.

Researchers still believe the Weeki Wachee cave system is connected to another one known as Twin Dees Spring, located southwest of Weeki Wachee. Karst divers have tracked more than
2-thousand feet of passages in Twin Dees Spring, about 200 feet deep in some places.

With a special permit from the Southwest Florida Water Management District to explore Weeki Wachee Springs and with consent from the attraction's management, Petersen said his crew will be eyeing water levels, ready to jump back into the springs as soon as the water flow goes down again.

"This really is amazing," Petersen said. "But to me, what's even more incredible is the beauty of the system. All of these caves across the state of Florida are like people. Each one is unique with its own type of rock and formations. Weeki Wachee is one of the few that are so big and majestic. It's on the Grand Canyon level."