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United States » Pot Spring

Portions of the following information were taken from Florida Geological Survey Bulletin 66.

Pot Spring is located approximately 1.3 miles south of the SR 6 bridge over the Withlacoochee River. It is also accessible via land by following the signs just east of the SR 6 bridge.

Description - Pot Spring was not flowing during the November 2002 visit and the spring pool was filled by the tannic Withlacoochee River. The pool is oval shaped, measuring 30 ft northeast to southwest by 22 ft northwest to southeast. Depth measures 14 ft. When the spring is flowing, the water is clear and bluish-green. A wooden platform borders the southeast section of the pool. On the northeast side, stairs lead from the spring up to a picnic area and parking lot. SRWMD land surrounds the pool and rises to 15 ft above the water surface. Vegetation on the sides of the pool is sparse and includes grasses, palmettos, and cypress trees. The spring is used as a local swimming hole. Discharge on June 15, 1998 measured 38.19 ft3/s.

Add a Conditions Report

Date	Submitter	Visbility	Remarks
6/18/2017	Elisha Gibson	50-60	Very low flow, easy to get in the entrance. The tannic waters of the Withlacoochee were covering most of the spring boil. We went to the end of the line, and then checked out the first T on the way out. The line is well run, but probably due for replacement. We had a low viz exit, the cave was dusty.
11/2/2016	Sandy Koster	20-40	Beautiful dive with my buddy, who originally mapped this site many years ago, Guy Bryant. This is what sidemount is all about. Getting low for the dough, and exploring cave passage that often silts out. Total penetration for this dive was approximately 2100 feet. Max depth was 82 feet. Here is Guy’s post dive report: "The current at the entrance was strong, we had to pull hard to get inside. Once inside where the cave opens up the current was easily swimmed against. "The vis up to the first "T" in the line was slightly cloudy with a lot of particulates indicating that someone had dived here recently. Once we passed the first "T" the vis improved to crystal clear with no particulates. "We first took the left fork and went to the "boulder room" to look at the boulder that had slid and was blocking the tunnel. We then turned and went back to the 1st "T". Next, we went upstream to the 2nd "T", took the left and dropped down the crevice to 80ft depth and went downstream to look at the backside of the boulder that had slide and blocked the tunnel. "We then went back to the 2nd "T" and continued upstream to the end of the main line, turned and exited. Total bottom time of 66 min with 13 min deco [Guy was on air, but not for me on Nitrox] at 10ft."
11/21/2015	Stacy Dreher	80	Conditions are great. Vis is excellent and the flow at the entrance isn't too bad.
10/25/2015	cmint	80	Water is extremely clear, flow is like a fire hose. Strong boil.
7/19/2015	Sean Denney	50	The spring boil was evident on the surface, with crystal clear water holding back the tannic river water. The flow at the restriction was easily managed. Once inside, conditions were ideal. We took the main passage, staying to the right at each of the first two T's. Penetration was approximately 1000 feet before making our turn. Two intact turtle shells were visible at spot along our route. We collected what trash we could from within the cave before exiting. Dive time was approximately one hour with no deco required.
2/17/2013	Stacy Dreher	100'	The conditions are excellent right now. Almost no flow and unlimited visibility. Basin is a dark tea-color, so finding the entrance to the cave is difficult, but clears up once you reach the cavern zone.
9/26/2012	Andy Pitkin	10-15	River was black today and the basin was tea-colored, unlike the blue-green it has been, when the cave visibility was 50-60 feet. There is obviously some tannic river water intrusion somewhere. Flow was decent, about the same as it has been for the last couple of weeks.
2/27/2011	Rob Neto	Great	First time here. Water was crystal clear and there was a very noticeable boil on the opposite side of the basin. Flow was high enough it took some work to get in while running a primary. I'm not sure where the line in there is supposed to start, but it was buried under a pile of sand a debris on the floor. Tied in and waited for the rest of the team to enter. Beautiful system! We had a great dive. Turned just shy of 30 minutes. We were at a pretty good pace going in so we think we penetrated about 1200-1300' or so. Turned the dive in a larger (relatively speaking) area of the passage. Even there it wasn't very easy to turn around, especially with 3 of us! It was a little dusty on the way out, but not bad enough to ever have to get on the line. We stopped off at what ICD calls the pit passage and I stuck my head down into the no mount hole. Looks like the entire room in there is sanded in. Before heading over here we had heard there were some collapses in this system, but we didn't see any evidence of that. Maybe we just didn't get back far enough. Nice system and I'll probably go back sometime to find the EOL. From what I've heard we weren't too far from it when we turned. And I had plenty of gas at that point but we were trying to avoid deco since we had just done a deeper dive earlier in the day.
4/19/2010	ARY	30'	The entrance restriction was gone - you could make it with doubles now. Line is in descent condition. Flow was very strong. We only made it with Max Kuznetsov to about 1200' because we struggled with camera and lights. Weird stuff in there - we found handcuffs, sunglasses, etc. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ClAKkEUyCY
11/2/2009	Iowa Cave Diver	60-70'	headded back to Jax from Tally and stopped for a quick dive... conditions were very similar to the last visit... level was up about 12-18" in the basin, causing the flow to be down just a touch... I do believe the entry is easier than last year... still sidemount, but not as much of a squeeze as my first visits here. Lots of hunters out in the woods, but no issues or confrontations. Line is intact but old and brittle... could really use a re-lining. I'd volunteer if I could get some gold line!
10/11/2009	Iowa Cave Diver	70-80	Basin was pumping clear water, pushing the river water a good 50 from the spring pool. I believe the flood altered the enterance because besides the firehydrant flow, i had no issues negotiating the enterance, where on my last visit (Jan) I had a heck of a time fighting the flow and the squeeze. Mainline was intact approx. 30' from open water, just inside the cavern tunnel to the right. Ceiling chunks had dropped in a few places covering the line and the line was broken just before the T and I repaired it. Saw two turtle shells along the swim... took the right fork in the T and negotiated a very silt laden twisty passage and then upon returning to the T I checked out the pit passage... the no-mount hole in the bottom of the passage seems very enviting! No issues on exit, although viz reduced to 25' or less due to the disturbed silt.
9/19/2009	Craig Gaffka	100 Gin	The spring was pumping some of the bluest water I've ever seen. It was my first dive there and I was surprised at how much water was pumping out of the entrance. The feeling of water blasting by you is incredible. While pulling my self into the entrance I caused a pretty good debris flow which funneled lots of sand into the entrance. This caused a pretty violent sand storm in the basin which kept recirculating causing the basin to white out. The Flow was so high that the sand was kept from entering the cave. peaking around the torrent unveiled perfectly clear blue water, very cool. I turned the dive just inside the cavern just past the cobble crawl. I could not find a line and didn't have a primary to make a long run to one. So bring a primary to this one, and good luck running it into a fire hydrant. It would be nice if someone took the line to just inside the entrance. The Line may be completely displaced after the flood for all I know.
2/20/2009	Mathew Bull	0	Basin was flooded with riverwater, but there was still a boil, so there might be some vis down there?? Just observed from the surface this time around.
12/6/2008	IowaCaveDiver	Unknown	We camped out at Pot Springs (right near Madison Blue) last night... the river is way up, brown and nasty and flowing really strong. The spring has reversed and has a wicked looking siphon sucking water down in it.... looks like a toilet after a late night out. Probably won't be diveable for a while. Note: Pot Spring has a direct hydrological connection with the Courtyard at Madison Blue so it is expected that Madison is blown as well.
8/12/2007	Tom Hundley	80	Very clear today. I took ARY and after long setup to sidemount we did the dive. I let ARY lead so he could see the cave in the small area's in the back. Seonc person does not see as much. Lot of local here today and they were friendly. They even quit jumping into the basin when we silted it during the exit which was good for us since the person jumping could not see the bottom.
8/9/2007	Tom Hundley	60	Lost Dive computer had my dates but as best as I remember it was the last of June of 2007. My buddy went right into the system. I went in with sidemount and promply got stuck trying to get in the system. I had to back out and regain my thoughts and tired it again. I pushed in and got back into the system where the current dropped off a lot, Jordon does a good job discribing what you will see except he left off the broken shovel just inside the first room. I was wearing AL 80's as sidemount tanks and did not get as far as Jordon and did not like them at all as they got positive. Got out fine although mymask flooded on exit. We came back to do a second dive and to take some photo's. One trip in made the second trip in a lot easier although its like going upstream cow with current and it curves so you tanks, guages and stuff want to dive in as you go into the system. The back part of this cave is really special and very pristine. It is single file diving and the second diver will not see near as much as there is silt on everything. I was lthe first one in since I was taking the shorts. photo's hereL http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomhauburn/sets/72157600403609956/
10/23/2005	Jordan	Very Good	Once in the water, I spiraled down to the opening and noticed a heavy flow pouring out of a small little hole. After about 30 seconds of clawing and scraping and moving rocks and using my feet to push against the ceiling and finally by using the wall on the right side I pulled myself through the restriction and then got myself into a little chute that is still the same restriction and somehow made it through there. I say somehow because there was nothing to grab onto and I couldn't kick into the flow, but I just went - somehow. Finally out of the flow, I turned around and watched my buddy struggle along. It was nice to relax after dealing with that bottleneck - my breathing rate finally settled down after a couple of minutes. Then I saw my buddy's 2nd attempt 10 minutes into my dive (I waited at about 25' depth just inside the entrance - he crawled and scraped and pushed but he didn't have the wingspan that I do and couldn't reach that right wall to pull himself through. He got spit out like he didn't stand a chance...since his 2nd attempt was just as unsuccessful as the 1st, I turned and did my dive alone. We both knew that he was done for the day (I'm surprised I got him that far from his couch!). Pulling the line out from underneath sand mounds, I swam along into the biggest room of the cave (that I have found so far) and then spiraled down, descending over a huge rock that looks to have fallen and turned to the right and looked up at an all black ceiling (the closest thing I've seen to that black was some goethite formations in Indian). You descend from 45 feet to 65 feet and enter a tunnel that trims down in size and zip zags constantly. It seems to make a 90 degree turn about every 30 feet. I follow the line and come to a Y. Go right and continue on. Come to another Y. Go left because the low bedding plane duck under looks fun. The water in this tunnel was so clear and blue it was remarkable (it was blue blue in the whole cave so far but in this tunnel there was no sediment being kicked up from the flow so the vis was just cracklin'...this was also the first tunnel that I was in that I could see farther than 30 feet without seeing a wall). I sure was enjoying myself but after a quick check on my gauges and noggin I decided to come on out. Had an uneventful exit.

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Description	Type	Date	Author	Remarks
System Map	Map	1980	Guy Bryant, Lee Sams

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