| 3/12/2023 |
Ghost |
20-30 |
My route was from P2 through the balcony, jumped from main about 2 feet to mainline again, through chimney down to eventually tie off at P3 mainline in P3 cavern, went 1500ft, Mainline heading to hendley's castle was broken around the 1000-1100' point where main thick line is tied and becomes thinner and new looking, I retied it but may need to be tied a little better as I was short for time.
Its very dusty with a lot of silt settled in the balcony (Last I went there wasn't any in the restriction dropping down now there is so expect loss of visibility at that point but may be better since I went through, P1 is clear but high, its about 8-12 inches above the last step to get in water as of today. |
| 5/9/2021 |
RDDVET (via CDF) |
25-30 |
Spring run was crystal clear. Averaged about 25-30ft vis up to the jump to hendley's where we turned it. At spots it was closer to 40 ft. First few hundred feet had a mild green tinge. Quite a bit of suspended particulate throughout and walls were covered in a fine layer of silt. Water felt a little colder than usual but didnt check temps on my computer.
Weather was nice. Not too hot and a light breeze. Made for a good day |
| 11/23/2018 |
Robert Stanley |
60 |
Viz 60 feet,siphon negligible.Swam gold line to Hendleys Castle jump. On return checked a couple of side passages.Some particulate on return due to bubbles. Saw 8 crawfish and several catfish. Runtime 85 min. |
| 9/23/2018 |
Iowa Cave Diver |
30' |
Scum on the surface but the outflow from P1 was leaving a nice clear/open spot to gear up. Viz was a consistent 30' with particulate and stringy crap that looked like some blonde chick had cleaned out her hair brush throughout the whole system. Siphon was nearly non-existent and mad for an easy swim in and out. We swam up to the henley's castle jump, poked around awhile in the big room and turned to go home. Dive time was 75 min., max depth 79'.
Bring your HID lights...the LEDs suck in that cave. |
| 8/5/2018 |
Matt Hansen |
30-40' |
We dove P3 today; one other team was there. The surface is mostly covered with algae, but there was a window of clear water near the entry. Inside, visibility was a hazy 30 feet or less for the first 1000 feet of cave. Conditions were better in Henley's and the back of the cave, but everything is covered in a fine dust that is easily disturbed. There are giant catfish everywhere who seem intent on stirring up the silt. |
| 7/29/2018 |
Piyajit Pratipasen |
50-60 |
The visibility was great for P3 with minimum of particulates from the entrance to Hendley's castle. The surface was covered with moderate amount of duckweed |
| 10/29/2017 |
David Moore |
40 |
Great dive up the spring tunnel. Some of the better vis I've seen in P3. |
| 10/31/2015 |
Niko |
30-40 |
Visibility was normal for P3 with lots of particulate and algae in the water. Siphoning was noticeable. Balcony was crystal clear |
| 7/24/2015 |
Lalcorn |
20-40 |
Lots of particulate and it has a decent syphon all the way back to hendleys. Vis was average 30-40 on the mainline and 30-40 down to the bottom of hendleys. There is a lot of algae in the basin and spring run. |
| 4/9/2015 |
Larry Vrooman |
40' |
No duckweed in the basis, viz is good (for PIII) and the cavern is very pretty at the moment. The cave itself is springing very slightly, and the viz is about 40 ft through most of the system, improving somewhat in the spring tunnel to around 60'. The sand slide restriction is a bit larger than usual post flood with minimal silt and it's easy to do cleanly. |
| 2/15/2015 |
Lalcorn |
5-25' |
Cavern was clear, with 30-50' vis. First 300ft of mainline had tanic colder water on floor and clear 70 degree spring water on top half of tunnel. The clear water on top was very clear, probably 30-50' vis. Did not go any farther than 300ft, but looks like the spring water is pushing out. It is an interesting time to dive P3. Was like diving in a halocline. |
| 2/3/2015 |
Nathalie Lasselin |
5-10' |
The flow is not strong but visibility limited to 5 feet. After the sign, it clears just a bit more. Water temp drops to 16.5 Celcius. |
| 11/23/2014 |
Peter |
50 - 80' |
Basin is very high with clear water, no duckweed. Vis at beginning was 80' tapering down to 50' at Hendley's. A light siphon flow throughout the dive. Great dive. |
| 10/16/2014 |
Lalcorn |
30-50 |
Front 400ft was 30ft. No flow. Back to henleys and to pit beyond 50-60ft. Lots of isopods and crayfish. Great conditions for p3 and a really nice dive. Large schools of catfish in the front section. No duckweed. |
| 8/23/2014 |
Niko |
15-20 |
No flow noticed, lots of particulates in water. Visibility isn't great but still a fun dive. |
| 8/10/2014 |
Jason |
30' |
Lots of particulate in the water. Couldn't see the far wall until after the first left bend. Took the other route to Hendley's Castle. Vis was good the whole way other than the tight spots. Vis was wall to wall at Hendley's, but probably not better than 50'. |
| 1/26/2014 |
Niko |
20-35 |
Very nice dive, visibility was about 30-35 feet on the way in, it's syphoning slightly. Looks like it's hardly visited nowadays since there was plenty of silt on the line and lot of beautiful thick black silt everywhere. The line was buried at a few places but we lifted it out. The sand hill has gotten tighter and its hard not to touch top or bottom when staying on the line (In sidemount), when contact is made even slightly expect zero vis for second person, I recommend staying right of the line on the way in for the first person (enough space). We made it to about the Hendleys Jump and turned the dive. On the way out vis was about 20-25 feet due to particulate falling off the ceiling. P3 really is a very nice cave, well worth the dive. |
| 11/29/2013 |
Niko |
20-30 |
P3 is now siphoning again the lots of particulate in the water but it was still a nice dive. |
| 9/27/2013 |
Oliver |
Up to 60' |
Peacock III is currently springing.
The visibility on the first 400' of the mainline is between 20'-40'. After that it goes up to 60' in places, so it is extremely good. We went up the main line to around 800' and on another dive to the end of the parallel/white line (about 1000').
Keep in mind that there is heavy percolation, so visibility will be somewhat limited on the way back. |
| 8/24/2013 |
Paulmal |
20-30 |
This was my first dive in the P3, what a beautiful system. The sands restriction was easily passable. Turned the dive at around 1100-1200, vis was reduced upon exit due to percolation. |
| 7/7/2013 |
Mer |
50' |
Dove mainline to top of Henley's and Spring Tunnel. Slight siphon. Vis only okay with particulate. Still felt slight siphon in Spring Tunnel, some wiffs of cooler and clearer water, but no consistence vis/flow change. A few pockets of dilute tannic water in spring tunnel. Tubers present in slough! |
| 6/3/2013 |
James K |
20-50 |
The first 400' the vis is around 20' and the syphon is pretty strong. After 400' the vis cleared up to 40' and the flow went down. The Spring Tunnel is about 50' all the way back past the second "T". Multiple thermoclines in the Spring Tunnel, but no tannic water. |
| 5/18/2013 |
adam_Hughes |
40 |
Poked my head into P3 today. The basin was fairly clear. From the entrance up to the stop sign was 20-30ft. After the first turn to the right (near the stop sign) conditions improved. The start of the gold line and beyond I would estimate around 40-50ft. The syphon is very noticible! In the past I've never noticed any pull in P3, but today, it was very obvious. Getting into the water at P3 was a pain in the ass. I would recommend getting in near P2, and swimming. There was also very menacing snapping turtle guarding the entrance of the cave. |
| 9/3/2012 |
George Watson |
30' |
Dove PIII today and it's not bad considering. |
| 7/1/2012 |
Kristi Draper |
unknown |
Peacock/Wes Skiles park is closed to all cave diving until further notice due to flooding. I was there on 7/1 but did not dive. All of the usual rocks we've seen on past trips between P1 and P3 are covered with water. P1 and P3 now form one large lake with no break between them. |
| 3/29/2012 |
Hunter Sutton |
10-40' |
Viz in the front of the cave was about 10' until you get to the spring tunnel, viz was 25-30' from there until the bottom of henly's. The tunnel under henly's was a little better, maybe 40'. Tunnel under henly's has a stronger siphon flow than the upper level of p3. From henly's to about 500' penetration the viz didn't really change anymore, percolation and silt wasn't as bad as I was expecting. |
| 2/5/2012 |
Stanley Fatmax |
20-30 |
Dived p3 to hendley's castle. Vis 20-30 on main line with lots of particulate. Opens to 50 in the castle. Absolutely beautiful |
| 2/4/2012 |
Hunter Sutton |
30' |
Basin still covered with duckweed but thankfully most of the hydrilla underneath seems to have died off. Water level is exceptionally low.
Viz on the main line was 30-40', viz in the spring tunnel was >50' all the way to the first T |
| 12/25/2011 |
Brandon Cook |
10'-40' |
Took main line to Spring Tunnel. Almost no flow. |
| 12/9/2011 |
George K. Watson |
30' |
Went to Henley's yesterday. The vis did not improve much after the jump and descent. We crawled into the rathole and checked out the deep section briefly. Very silty, low and percolates quite a bit. |
| 11/27/2011 |
Riana |
15-40 |
Vis was 15 feet going in, flow was almost not noticeable, stayed mainline to Henleys vis went up to 30-40 feet past breakdown and was good jumped at Henleys and went to the end of line there then played in some spots there at 179' for a few mins then we exited. |
| 10/29/2011 |
Jerry |
~25 |
Did the spring tunnel; vis improved dramatically in there. Pretty blue and clear. |
| 10/26/2011 |
Jason |
30 |
Lots of haze. Very cool dive. Could see both walls. Didn't make it to the deep section. |
| 9/19/2011 |
Rich |
100 |
Spectacular vis right now, dropped down to the bottom of Hendley's and it was gin clear.... :) LOTS of hydrilla on the surface though, spent a long time picking it off gear! |
| 8/9/2011 |
Hunter Sutton |
30-40' until hendly's then 100 |
The basin is a mess. Duckweed and green stuff underneath it that makes the duckweed not move when you fan it.
The hallways have viz in the 30-40' range. Nearing the hendly's jump the viz improves to 50' . After entering hendly's you can clearly see the bottom from the bedding plane. |
| 7/30/2011 |
Shirley Kasser |
Great for P3 |
The basin is completely covered with duckweed, and lots of that other green stuff hanging thickly below the surface. The cave is as clear as I've seen it, and the albino crawfish are thick! |
| 6/18/2011 |
Jake Faul |
20' to 30' |
Overall good dive. The basin was surprisingly clear for all the duckweed. Dove to Henley's Castle, turned at 130'. Crappy vis until 70' to 80' in Henley's. |
| 6/12/2011 |
Scott Hussey |
30' to 60' depth dependent |
This report mirrors Don's previous one. Lots of particulate suspended in the main line section. Clears up at the 125' bedding plane to Henley's Castles and continue's to do such to 180'. |
| 5/10/2011 |
Don Six |
30' or 60' depending |
Most of the time the vis was about 30' with a lot of "haze". Made it to Henley's castle and the vis opened up to around 60' nearing the deep section. |
| 4/30/2011 |
Jerry |
~40 |
OK vis; little to no flow. Not a bad dive right now. |
| 2/5/2011 |
Tim Thomas |
30-40 |
entrance viz < 30 after 300ft viz 40 ft awesome dive to 186 depth the castle room? |
| 12/20/2010 |
Philippe |
30 |
Viz was OK.
A lot of particulates in suspension but not worst that whan I am use to in III. |
| 12/18/2010 |
James Garrett |
30ft |
Conditions dropping since we were last here. Not sure if it's because of the light rain we had recently. Still a great dive and above average for this system. |
| 12/18/2010 |
James Garrett |
30ft |
Conditions dropping since we were last here. Not sure if it's because of the light rain we had recently. Still a great dive and above average for this system. |
| 12/10/2010 |
Jerry |
50 |
Cave is still blue; water is fairly clear; flow is non-existent |
| 11/28/2010 |
James Garrett |
50 ft |
Best conditions I've seen here. |
| 11/4/2010 |
Larry Vrooman |
35-40 |
Very good conditions for P3 with 30-35 ft viz in the main tunnel and a bit more in the spring tunnel. Took the spring tunnel back to the first T (about P2200' total), great dive with lots of life on the cave floor. |
| 10/17/2010 |
GatorCaver |
<30' |
Staged 32% to jump at Hendley's line, then air afterward. Lot of fine particulate and suspended "hairs" throughout all the way to the jump. Descent to the bedding plane at 125-130' was clearer. The last drop down to the bottom was even better and I could see the bottom at 190' from my depth at 155'. At the bottom I reached 188, my DC on my arm reached 190 ;)
Brief :10 of deco under the duckweed was nice. |
| 10/2/2010 |
Martin R |
Clear |
I've not seen P3 this good for a while. I asked my dive partner what the viz was and they guessed at 90 feet! Water was clear, some particulate but not enough to detract from the viz. No flow to speak of. Dived to Henley's and it was gin clear all the way down. |
| 8/28/2010 |
Jerry |
~60 ft |
Great dive---water was blue with some particulate; vis pretty good---Went to the bottom of Henley's Castle; vis improved in the back. Haven't seen it this good in a long time. |
| 8/9/2010 |
Tony Flaris |
30 |
We dove P3 today to Henley's Castle. Li's first CCR Trimix dive. Yeah. Got down to 137' and looked around. Planning to go deeper but decided to save it for another day. Visibility around 30' with strands of hair like particulate in the water. Found a cool little room around 700' that had a thermocline in it. Reminded me of the haloclines in Mexico. Had a silt layer suspended in the water. |
| 7/27/2010 |
Tony Flaris |
30-40 |
Dove P3 today with Pierre, Roberto, a 3 man CCR and 1 man OC Diver Mark H. Main Line to Henley's Castle. Dropped down Henley's to about 125'.
90 minutes, No deco set point 1.2, basin was crystal clear, barely noticeable siphon |
| 5/4/2010 |
knabuecave |
20' |
Dove Peacock III for the 1st time (in the pouring rain). Visability was awful (20ft or so...), but we had a good safe dive... (raining even harder , then we swam the run to P-I (just because we could , and saw a couple of turtles the size of a "Turkey Plater", then went back in to show Mark the shortcut to the "Well". Got topside and the rain is coming down harder than before. |
| 3/24/2010 |
Jill Hienerth |
10-15 |
Peacock Three has almost no noticeable flow and is full of very cold, tannic water with ten to fifteen feet visibility and lots of new debris. I wouldn't suggest it until flow flushes things through a bit more.
|
| 1/16/2010 |
Bil Lindstrom |
30-40 |
decent viz, flow not much noticeable either way, all the way to Hendley's Castle. Viz cleared considerably after 200-300 feet. |
| 9/29/2009 |
Larry Vrooman |
40-50' |
Good viz for P3 (40') and it got even better on the way down to Hendly's Castle. The gold line was still buried in a couple spots from the flooding last spring, but the new floor in general looks great.
We took the main line to the jump to Hendly's castle and went to 150' or so before turning the dive. As usual there was a mild siphon running. I seemed to feel a very slight bit of a push toward the exit on the 30' and 20' deco stops. I am assuming though that this was just due to some very mild eddies in isolated areas. |
| 9/12/2009 |
Sandy Robinson |
20' to 30' |
This was our first dive in P3. We were not sure what to expect with the siphon but it was barely noticeable at best. Viz was less than what we are accustomed but we were impressed with the system and look forward to more dives at P3. After using too much time dropping deco bottles and finding the main line, we traveled down the gold line and jumped to the castle. We went another 100' before turning. After we jumped viz seemed to be 40' to 50'. Our max depth was 80'. |
| 6/21/2009 |
Tom Johnson (tj) |
20' |
Dived up about 700' into the parallel main line (jumped over).
Exited III to II via sidemount tunnel. Dirty from flood, but great dive!
|
| 3/21/2009 |
Flyczek |
10' to 50' |
Slight syphon, visibility varied. Best vis was at sub 140' in Hendley's Castle area. The whole cave looked cleaner than the last time I was in there, less junk clinging on the line. |
| 2/22/2009 |
Mathew Bull |
15-50' |
Went maybe 1400' up the mainline(little past where gold ties into white). Most of the passage has 15-25' visibility, few pockets of 40-50' of visibility though. PIII was springing when we entered, but slightly siphoned on exit. Flow nearly imperceptable either way. |
| 2/14/2009 |
Don Currie |
40'-50' |
When we arrived, we were told viz was 100' in the cave. That had changed by the time we got in the water. We dove a good way up the Spring Tunnel. Viz was 40'-50', flow was slight. Beautiful dive! |
| 12/28/2008 |
scububa |
50 |
Couple of jumps heading back to the Crypt. Almost made it, but called on turning the last corner. |
| 12/21/2008 |
Phil |
40 |
Dove there today.
I considere there was no flow, viz was good. Went to the T and back. What with the rocks over the line on the right end of the T???
|
| 11/7/2008 |
Serota |
30 - 50" |
We dove P3 again today and found the viz. & flow to be the same as previously reported on 10/30. Today we followed the mainline to 1100' and jumped to the "Spring Tunnel" line. Our plan was simply to follow the Spring Tunnel until one of us reached a turn pressure (yes, sooner than 1/3s for the syphon) or until one of us just wanted to turn. The first 100' or so of the Spring tunnel is low and VERY silty and I was thinking of turning just because it was getting tedious when after going under and even lower spot, the passage suddenly opened up and became large. The tunnel remained large and very interesting for several hundred feet and I turned the dive at an abrupt left turn that ducked under and appeared to be entering another very low area. We hadn't reached turn pressures back at the jump, so we continued another ~200' to Henley's and turned there. Exit was uneventful. Run time of 85 min., total penetration ~1800', no deco! |
| 10/30/2008 |
Serota |
30' - 50' |
Did 2 dives today in P3 and found conditions to be "good" - viz. 30 - 50' dependent on where in the system you were and flow into the syphon to be modest, but very noticiable (especially in the first 500' or so from the entrance). On the first dive, we followed the mainline to around 200' past the "T" and along the way placed jump reels where we would begin/end a small circuit off of the mainline for the 2nd dive. I thought the area after Henley's Castle jump and to the "T" was very impressive in terms of rock formations and also in this area it seemed to be raining albino crayfish. The clearest water we saw was also in this area.
We completed the circuit for the 2nd dive easily, but were later discussing how we were both thinking that the side passage was not a place you would want to have to follow the line out in bad viz., as there are many line traps, in fact, I think even the mainline has its share of places where it would be difficult to follow the line. Overall, excellent dives in a system that is a bit "different" and more challenging than some. |
| 8/7/2008 |
Paul Ludwick |
30-40 |
Viz good in the basin and in the cave. Clearly no divers in in quite some time. Clumped algae covering line. Cleaned some off. Slight siphon, but noticeable. Algae settled on most surfaces. CCRed to end of Hendley Castle line. Swam out, then swam back around circuit again for a 140 minute dive. |
| 2/28/2008 |
DogDiver |
0 |
River water from the Suwannee is pooring in....not divable. |
| 2/2/2008 |
Allen Wooten |
10' - 60' |
Basin is clear, cavern is nice, but at 200 ft of penetration, it gets very hazy. Vis drops from 40-60 ft to about 10-20 ft. It's still diveable, but don't go in expecting to see near as much. There is a very slightly noticeable siphon going on. |
| 10/14/2007 |
Bob Schulte |
40-60ft |
Clear basin, slight siphon. Vis is good in the cave. |
| 9/18/2007 |
Jerome |
40-60ft |
Dove Peacock 3 today. The basin was crystal clear. The cavern was 20-30ft. After tied in the main line we had a nice dive to the Hensely castle jump 1300ft the turned dive and make our way out slowly. There were alot of rice sized crawfish must of had a hatching and catfish were seen around 1000ft mark. Anyway great dive |
| 7/1/2007 |
Tim |
40' |
Great dive, very slight but barely noticeable siphon. Lots of tiny particulate in the water, but otherwise really nice. |
| 5/2/2007 |
kevin |
60-70ft |
Did P3 to Henley's Castle. Great dive. The water level was very low and the basin was covered with a thick mat of algae. Viz in the cave was very good, not tannic and the system was springing slightly. Spent much of deco exploring the tunnel from P3 to P2 (conveniently located at 18-20ft) - very cool, had never done that before! |
| 11/28/2006 |
Barbara Dwyer |
30' |
Dark with lots of 'gator and beaver poo in the basin. Slight siphon, barely noticeable. Dove to Hendley's, where the water was much more clear than in the tunnel. |
| 7/15/2006 |
Walter Pickel |
30 |
Good dive...Very slight siphon. We did a relaxing dive up to Hendley's Castle. Couldn't find the gator but cleaned the lines for Kathleen. |
| 7/9/2006 |
Kathleen |
40 feet |
Slight siphon. Dark and line was covered with growth - doesn't appear to have had much traffic in a while. Watch out for the gator in the surface pool. As always an interesting dive with lots of nooks and crannies to investigate. |
| 4/2/2006 |
Curt Schuster |
30-40 |
Dove Peacock 3 first time in 12 years. Last time was to what I thought was 157 ft on air, something tells me it was 177 on air -20' for the narcosis I really don't think the river could be twenty feet lower. Anyway this was a Trimix 21/30 dive and the difference is remarkable.
Of course the system just turned and vis has dropped according to reports. I found there was virtually no flow possibly very low siphon. Vis was 30-40 but it is hard to judge as PIII is a DARK passage. Lots of goethite (sp) covers the place. Run time was about 87min with 21/30 back gas for the trip in and the drop to Henley's then I switched to 33% for the exit swim and O2 for deco.
It has been suggested that Henley's is best done with 50/50 exit gas as this will just about take care of your deco obligation. You will need to run the numbers and decide for yourself. Great Dive! Get there soon before the rain comes and the tannic moves into the Slough and gets sucked into the system.
|
| 3/5/2006 |
Tim |
30 feet |
Very slightly springing at this time. Vis was ok, varied between 20 and 40 feet or so... somewhat cloudy. |
| 2/12/2006 |
Scott Byars |
30 |
No siphon at this time. A bit cloudy. First time to the castle. It's big and impressive. |
| 12/27/2005 |
SLIM |
30 |
Siphoning, walls dark, drop down from the top water seems to clear a few feet until you go through the restriction at 130. |
| 11/13/2005 |
Jim Wyatt |
40 feet |
Slightly siphoning |
| 10/23/2005 |
John Viehe |
40ft |
Slight siphon, basin and cavern clear up to sign. |
| 9/26/2005 |
Jim Wyatt |
45 feet |
3 of us went to Hendleys' Castle on Tmx 21/35. Vis was 40-45 feet. Temp was 71° F. The system is still springing slightly. |
| 8/30/2005 |
Jim Wyatt |
45'-50' |
Hendleys' Castle. Vis was 40-50 feet. Peacock 3 was a spring on 8/30. Conditions are good in there now.
Shelly Orloski reported 100 feet vis in P3 last week at Hendleys' Castle. |
| 1/5/2005 |
Admin |
Unknown |
Diver expired in the system. IUCRR Report |
Portions of the following information were taken from Florida Geological Survey Bulletin 66.
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