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United States » Cypress Spring

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This system has a cavern and some cave system. Although the cave system is sidemount/no-mount from it is not known how far it goes. Depths in basin to ~30' and the cavern area can reach ~70'.

The following information was taken from Florida Geological Survey Bulletin 66.

Cypress Spring is surrounded by private property approximately 3.5 miles (5.6 km) northeast of Vernon. From the intersection of SR 79 and SR 277 in Vernon turn east then northeast on SR 277. Drive 2.2 miles (3.5 km) to Culpepper Lane. Turn northwest (left) on Culpepper Lane and go 0.3 miles (0.5 km) to Big Pine Lane. Turn northwest (left) and go 0.2 miles (0.3 km) to the boat landing. The spring can be accessed by boat. From the Big Pine Lane boat ramp, Cypress Spring run enters Holmes Creek from the northwest approximately 0.5 miles (0.8 km) upstream.

Description – The Cypress Spring pool is roughly circular, measuring 114 ft (34.7 m) north to south and 132 ft (40.2 m) east to west. The main vent is near the center of the pool with a depth of 26 ft (7.9 m). At least one other vent is present just 30 ft (9.1 m) downstream. The spring occupies a conical depression, and limestone is exposed over much of the bottom with areas of sand. The water is clear and has a light blue color and a large boil is directly over the vent. There are a few small patches of native aquatic grasses and small amounts of algae. The spring run flows south approximately 1,400 ft (426.7 m) into Holmes Creek. The run is swift-flowing and shallow, averaging approximately 2 ft (0.6 m) deep, and it often is wider than the spring pool. A semicircular berm was constructed around the northern half of Cypress Springs in order to divert the flow of Piney Woods Spring Run downstream of Cypress Springs’ pool for aesthetic purposes. Before the berm existed, Piney Woods Spring Run entered the northwest side of the spring pool. Now, it enters approximately 30 ft (9.1) below on the west side through a culvert. There are wooden entry platforms for divers and swimmers on the northwest side of the pool. The nearest high ground is 450 ft (137.2 m) to the west and it rises steeply to approximately 25 ft (7.6 m) above the lowlands. A privately- owned swimming and diving recreation area including a residence are to the west. Cypress Springs is located within the lowland floodplain of Holmes Creek. The surroundings are heavily forested with cypress and tupelo. Cave divers report that the cave system reaches depths of at least 65 ft (19.8 m).

Utilization – Previously a private diving/swimming concession, the spring is reportedly in the process of changing ownership in 2004.

Add a Conditions Report

Date	Submitter	Visbility	Remarks
11/25/2023	Michael	Great	69 degrees and clear as can be. The flow was great.we had to pull our selves I. The cavern.
7/7/2017	Dominick Gheesling	Infinite	First time at this site and the spring looked really healthy. Clear water, no hydrilla, no algae, presence of snails, native aquatic vegetation, and eels. Great Cavern!!! First time actually needing to use pull/glide to enter as the flow is very strong at Cavern entrance which dissipates and is manageable past the entrance. No noticeable fine silt. Primarily sand and limestone in the cavern. Restriction at about 55' depth is the end of the Cavern zone. Can't wait to go back. Plenty of cool formations and ledges to explore in a relatively smallish cavern
5/8/2013	Bil Lindstrom	100	Run is clear all the way to the creek. Cavern is beautiful, clear, and pumping. Also did Beckton. Its run was still murky from the creek intrusion. Basin was murky as well, couldn't see the hole until I was nearly in it. Clean and pumping inside, FWIW.
1/15/2012	David Dewberry	100' plus	Holmes Creek was down but very clear. Spring run probably 1-2' deep,crystal clear. Made it to the basin with no problem.Spring and cavern pristine as usual.Flow strong as normal. Had two deer cross the spring run in front of the boat as we were leaving. Saw no one else all day.
1/7/2012	steven yates	clear	The water was 70' degrees and was crystal clear. The cave is pumping very strong and is pretty hard to enter. Nice and quite with little to no interruptions, a great diving time
12/30/2011	Ryan Hoffman	100	Holmes Creek and the spring run water level was down. We did make it all the way up in our canoe with a motor. A small V Hull boat was leaving just as we got up. They made it in just fine also. The basin and run were clear and the spring was pumping hard. The cavern was in great shape.
3/12/2011	David Dewberry	100' plus	Holmes Creek and spring run way up and very stained, but the spring is pumping hard keeping the basin clear. Cavern pristine.
4/25/2010	Mathew Bull	100'	Runs clear for the most part, basin is crystal, and so is the cavern.
1/1/2010	Mathew Bull	10' in basin	Basin has tannic intrusion, but there's still a strong boil, I'm sure the cavern is fine to dive.
8/5/2009	Mathew Bull	100'	Just a few paddlers onsite, for the most part, the spring was ours. Conditions typical... perfect. Creek and spring run were deep enough to allow motoring to the spring easily.
6/21/2009	Mathew Bull	100'	The outskirts of the basin were skirted with local boaters filled with people trying to escape the heat, but hardly any of them were swimming in the main part of the basin. We were the only divers on site and conditions were great. The creek is high enough to allow easy travel and low enough to have a little bit of visibility. The spring run and basin are spotless as nearly always. Flow was kickin.
6/13/2009	David Todd	100	Evening we paddled to Cypress, awesome, 100 vis, massive flow pumping, not as high as I have seen Manatee but still pumping. Made two dives.
3/23/2009	Mathew Bull	100	Holmes Creek is up, but the spring run and basin are crystal clear. Caverns nice, looks like maybe a little more breakdown on the left(looking in) side of the cavern.
11/15/2008	Mathew Bull	100	200' visibility. Holmes creek is up just a bit, making it easy to motor into the spring with a small motorboat. Creek is still relatively clear as well.
11/17/2007	Mathew Bull	100	Holmes Creek is very clear and water levels are low, motor boats will have some issues. Spring run is shallow and will require some dragging towards the headspring. Spring is awesome as ever.
10/21/2007	Mathew Bull	100	On date of dive, water levels were up a bit in the creek making transit easy. There were a few new trees down along the way, that may make getting anything with a motor upstream interesting. The spring run, basin, and cavern are pristine. There is cave at this site, but its sidemount at best. Not sure how far it goes, I hear its tight, short, and nasty though...
5/14/2007	Mathew Bull	100	Water levels are low, its difficult to get anything that drafts much or has a motor out with a bit of dragging. Some areas of the run are only about a foot deep. Canoes and Kayaks should be fine.
12/11/2005	Mathew Bull	100' in the basin	The water levels in the creek are pretty high so the ride out was easy and fast since we didn't have to worry about hitting submerged trees. Up the spring run, water didn't really start clearing up until 2/3 of the way to the basin. The basin was as gin clear as always.
11/5/2005	Mathew Bull	20-100	Holmes Creek is still very low which makes it hard to get ride up to the spring run without hitting submerged trees and the spring run itself is only about a 1' deep in some places. We ended up walking the boat a bit up the run. Shouldn't be a problem with a canoe or kayak. The creek is fairly clear so you have a good amount of time to react to shallow submerged trees if you take it slow. The spring run, basin, and cavern areas are gin clear. Becton had 20' of visibility and was quite milky. The spring run and tributaries were also very shallow making the trip to the spring itself a bit of an adventure.
10/16/2005	Mathew Bull	25-100	Water levels are very low on Holmes Creek and there is 5-10' of visibility in the creek itself. The water levels make it hard to get a boat to the creek and up the run without bottoming out or hitting submerged trees on the motor. The spring run, basin, and cavern areas are gin clear at Cypress. The spring run is clear, but very shallow to Becton. The entire basin is aqua colored with a bit of tannic intrusion at the head of the cutoff streams on the East. Visibility varies from 5-~25' depending on how far from the vents you are, how aggressively the carp are sucking on the bottom, and whether or not anyone has silted up the bottom. The water is very milky as well.
9/18/2005	Mathew Bull	20-100'	Water levels are real low and relatively clear in Holmes Creek, you could see bottom for most of the trip to the spring runs. The spring run to Cypress was quite shallow and we had to walk my 10' Zodiac through parts. The spring and cavern is gin clear and the flow seems to be up a bit. Had to walk the boat again up the spring run to Becton as well. The basin had a blue/greenish tint and was relatively clear at 25-30' around the spring vents before dwindling down around the outskirts of the basin to ~ 5-10'.
9/5/2005	Mathew Bull	100 '	The majority of the spring run is clear and the basin and cavern area are gin clear. Strong positive flow coming from the vents. The cave line is broken and hanging loosely mid-cavern with the spring flow. The normal spring fauna are in the basin including lots of crawfish. Becton Spring(downstream from Cypress ~ 2 miles) is flooded, but does have a boil with a slight greenish tinge to it. I wouldn't be surprised if it cleared a bit below the tannic water, but we didn't dive it to confirm.

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Description	Type	Date	Author	Remarks

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System	Depth	Cave	Cavern	OW	Last Report	Distance (mi)
Ebro Blue		True	True	False	3/12/2016	13.9