Cave diving is a sport that has
evolved with its infancy in the 60’s, to a sport that has become a more mainstream
recreational activity in the scuba industry today, and many manufacturers cater
exclusively to the cave diving community. Cave diving is enjoyed throughout the
world on all continents, and has realized tremendous success in Florida due to its
unique geology. Florida has many sinks and springs with a variety of caves that
attract people from across the nation and world due to the world class recreational
cave diving, including Wakulla County.
Why would anybody want to go into a water filled cave? This is probably the hardest
question to answer because the answer is different for everyone who cave dives.
Most underwater caves are quite beautiful, especially in the clear water regions
of north Florida. This beauty can be attributed to their cave formations, passageways,
mineral encrustations, silt formations, unique fauna such as blind cave fish, and
even bacteria colonies. Most anyone who has been in a cavern zone has seen the beauty
of the sunlight shining through the opening. Other cave divers are entranced with
the difficulty: they enjoy a challenge. The cave passageways are usually complex
and the trained cave diver must plan carefully. The planning for and successful
execution of a cave dive through a cave can be enormously satisfying. With the advancements
in equipment and rigorous training standards cave diving is a safe sport, in fact
a cave diver has more risk driving their car to the site to enjoy the sport.
The National Speleological Society
Cave Diving Section (CDS) is the largest cave diving organization with over 1000
members from around the world. Our mission is to support training, education, safety,
and conservation. We provide an affiliation with instructors that teach how to perform
the sport safely at several different levels which include cavern diving, introduction
to cave diving, apprentice cave diving, and full cave diver. These rigorous standards
provide for a well trained cave/cavern diver to perform within the limits of their
curriculum. We provide further education to trained cave divers, as well as education
to the public, government, and land owner about the sport of cave diving. Safety
is a very important component of our organization, and we recognize safety by providing
awards to safe cave divers. The CDS is committed to providing materials to protect
recreational divers who aren’t trained for the sport of cave diving, as well
as for the trained cave diver too. We work closely with conservation in mind, to
not only preserve the cave environment, but protection of the water resource through
education or science. Interested people can view our organization at www.nsscds.org.
Cave diving has had a strong
history in Wakulla county with some historical cave dives being conducted at Leon
sinks and Wakulla Springs. Recreational cave diving enjoyed its zenith in the 80’s,
but due to landowner changes that occurred in the mid-90’s, it went into a
state of decline. Cave diving has become acknowledged by many Florida counties as
source of tourism. Cave divers from around the world visit Florida to enjoy the
sport, and are attracted to the springs and sinks that pepper the landscape. Cave
divers have recently been granted recreational access to Emerald sink and Indian
Springs, which has generated interest in Wakulla County, and cave tourism.
Wakulla Diving Center is a retail establishment that has opened to address the needs of the cave divers visiting Wakulla County. Our organization is committed to promoting safe cave diving in Wakulla County.
