Portions of the following information were taken from Florida Geological Survey Bulletin 66.
From Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, drive south on US 19/98 5.8 miles. Turn west (right)
on CR 480 and drive about 1.8 miles to the public boat access area. Crab Spring Run enters
the north side of the Chassahowitzka River 400 ft downstream from the Chassahowitzka boat ramp.
Crab Spring is at the head of the run near a private residence.
Description – The Crab Spring pool measures 75 ft in diameter and it consists of at least
four separate spring vents. The largest vent is on the east side of the spring pool with a depth
of 8 ft. The water is bluish and slightly murky. Prominent boils occur over each vent. The spring
pool bottom is sand and limestone near the vents but the rest of the pool is covered by aquatic
grasses and exotic aquatic plants that have a thick brown algal coating. A private estate occupies
the northern side of the spring pool with lowland forest surrounding the rest of the area. The
spring flows 700 ft southwest to the Chassahowitzka River.
Exploration Report - Crab Creek Spring Cave system located at the beginning of the Crab Creek
in Chassahovitzka WMA. The access to the underwater cave is from the river only by a small vessel or
kayak. In May-June of 2009 an exploratoin team replaced old line and surveyed the small but charming
cave. The line ends at 58' in a very low and wide bedding plane. Visibility in the system is a good
60' before one disturbs a thick mat of jelly like orange sulfur eating bacteria. The cave aquifer fed
with two sources - fresh water and a salt water that seeps into the system from deep sinkholes in a
forest where brown warm water is saturated with hydrogen sulfide. The flow and salinity are tidally
affected.
The cave has two relatively large main entrances. The upstream from the second of the three most
noticeable openings is the deeper section and downstream is the unlined no-mount section (it exits
in the first opening that you see while kayaking upstream). Relatively short 20 min sidemount dive
includes the traverse between two main vents and a descend into cramped deep section which floor is
layered with a bacteria jelly. Everywhere in this cave it has been observed a continuous caving-in
process that perhaps closed the deep section and hopefully will open more passage in a future. Walls
are very fragile and have that distinct scalloping pattern that you see in other sinkholes of the
area. This dive site is definitely a cave dive, do not attempt to go there before you have done the
cave training and bring enough equipment. Crab Creek cave claimed lives of open water scuba divers
before.