United States » Little River |
| Overview | Location & Specifics | Conditions | Resources | Nearby Systems |
Portions of the following information were taken from Florida Geological Survey Bulletin 66.
Little River Spring is located 3.5 miles (5.5 km) north of Branford. From the intersection of US 27 and US 129 in Branford, travel north on US 129 for 3.1 miles (5 km). Turn west (left) on CR 248 and travel 1.7 miles (2.7 km). The spring is located on the south (left) side of the road.
Description – The Little River Spring pool measures 108 ft (32.9 m) north to south and 93 ft (28.3 m) east to west. The depth over the vent is 11.0 ft (3.3 m). Limestone is exposed in the pool, and there are areas covered by sand. Spring water issues from an elongated fracture in the limestone. The water is clear and greenish blue. Algae cover approximately half the area in the spring and run, and frequent swimming probably keeps the other half cleared. There is a sizeable boil over the vent near the center of the spring pool. The spring discharge flows through a 150 ft (45.7 m) long run southwesterly into the Suwannee River from the east. Steep, sandy banks rise to approximately 18 ft (5.5 m) above the spring, and the land becomes flat on top. A boardwalk leads from a dirt parking area on the northeast side down onto the exposed sandy shores near the spring. Land surrounding the spring is generally forested. An extensive cave system exists below this spring. Cave divers report that the cave system reaches depths of well over 100 ft (30.5 m).
| Date | Submitter | Visbility | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3/15/2024 | stmonaco | 3-60 | River is up higher. Basin down to cavern is red brown tannic. There is virtually no flow, just enough to prevent the river from intruding past the cave opening. Inside the cave, visibility is about 60ft. |
| 3/13/2024 | stmonaco | 60 | River was up and there was some intrusion over the entrance. Cave is putting out medium flow and created a pocket of clear water just outside the entrance. Insids the cave was clear with just light flow. |
| 2/8/2024 | Mr_v | 20' | Great diving conditions. River water is above the retaining wall, but 20' deco is in spring water. Flow is less potent than usual, but it still flows. Probably this is the best time to dive the spring. |
| 1/20/2024 | qlyoung | - | park closed due to river flood |
| 1/14/2024 | qlyoung | 3ft | Tannic throughout the cavern to the gold line and siphoning lightly. |
| 12/10/2023 | Arctic Mike (via CDF) | 100 | The river water was in the spring run but it was clear right outside the cavern. Crystal clear in the cave itself. Flow is minimal so this is a great time to dive there. We were there early but quite a few teams had arrived by about 10 AM. |
| 4/30/2023 | Buhlz | 100 | Two dies here today with Andy got there early morning Sunday set up loaded up 85 a scooter helmet GoPro and a stage bottle and penetrated almost to the well casing where I turn the dive due to small reasons had some configuration issues need to work on stage bottle location and hose access other than that great dive the first one 103 ft or 64 minutes 28% second dive 55 ft 21% Dove wet another set of teams were there and took up the cave couldn't scooter around them other than that great dive great biz flow was up second dive. |
| 3/1/2023 | buhlz | 100 | Birthday dive with Mr ward- took my boat and parked it at springhead/Suwannee on the side hanging with the locals! Tried my new Santi Drysuit- went in bout 500 feet or so turned about the florida room and coasted. Flow was kickin and very light on the divers. 103 ffs 56 min 15 min deco--- awesome day besides breaking the foot off my boat traveling upriver after the dive- coasted all the way back to Branford boat ramp.. Was a long but glorious day with friends! Thanks Ward and Dave |
| 11/16/2022 | buhlz | 10 | Flow was great- really strong. Had DPV training with Paul and Jay. Had some issue with some broken bungees and communications. Once fixed by Paul, I ran the primary reel and tied off to main gold line thinking Paul went ahead of me. I scootered in to catch up finding out he was last in. Turned dive due to miscommunication on my half and Jay was at thirds about 300' from florida room. Perfect day other than that - Paul was getting more sick (has a cold/sinus infection) through the day. Met up at the dive outpost refilled and ate dinner- always a great time up here!Dove dry- 33 min avg 50' |
| 9/25/2022 | Teddy Garlock | Gin | Sooooo good. Flow moderate, water up the first set of steps. Spring flowing clear with river intrusion only on the surface. |
| 1/31/2022 | TJ | Perfect | Perfect VIS, very little current. VERY COLD, zero vis, river intrusion down to the entrance. Run and/or share a line from the steps. |
| 12/18/2021 | Jordan P | 50 | Did 3 dives at LR. Water level was up to 2nd to last stair step. These were my first dives at this site so I have no prior experience with which to compare flow to but I will say that it was very high by my standards. Viz was excellent. |
| 10/12/2020 | Guy Bryant | 40-50 | Today Lee Sams and I decided to play around with our refurbished Tekna scooters from the late 80's. We scootered back to the Well Casing and back out with a loop around the Serpentine and Merry-Go-Round passages. The current seemed good and strong but the vis was a greenish tinted 50 ft with lots of particulates. After we passed the 3-Way Split the vis seemed to decrease to about 40 ft. The clearer water was coming from the Deep Tunnel. |
| 9/6/2020 | Richard Blackburn | 50-80 | To back of FL room all looked good |
| 9/3/2019 | Jason B | 40-80 | Main passage 40-50 feet, some river intrusion in the back, 80’ish deep section. Average little river flow |
| 5/21/2019 | jeffrey Dobbertien | 70-80 | infant river is still ripping with flow but the viz is way up compared to a month ago. |
| 5/19/2019 | Cory Bell | Clear | mild particulate within the water column, high flow |
| 12/8/2018 | William Ruble | 0 | Currently 100% browned out and siphoning hard due to river flooding. Lots of debris as well. Visibility is one foot or less and while my buddy was attempting to tie in the primary to find clear water, the flow of the siphon was pulling line off the reel. |
| 11/24/2018 | IowaCaveDiver via CDF | Crystal Clear | Little river is awesome right now... river intrusion is up into the basin and most of the basin is a foggy brown/green, however just feet before the overhead you will encounter crystal clear water and very little flow. I had a nice dive yesterday up to around 1300', checked out the florida room syphon tunnel, harper tunnel was great (first time there) and poked around a bunch of interesting holes I'd swam past on every other dive i've ever done here. Good times! |
| 9/7/2018 | Brian Deatherage | Excellent | Entrance is crystal clear water, level of water is over the ledge near the stairs making it super nice to put sidemount tanks on at. Flow was insane, I am a new cave diver and went here to expr. a high flow. We had to pull ourselves in and reallllly work to get inside. |
| 8/26/2018 | Ja Darr | 70' Nice | Top of Basin is Tannic, but not too much particulate (15-20'). Clear around entrance. Basin is up to first landing on staircase. From surface, looking down you can still see the entrance; very slight boil (hardly noticeable) on the surface. Bottom of Chimney is 103'. Deepest depth back of Fla room is 110'. AVERAGE bottom depth throughout the dive was 100' There is some current. Much less than usual; but nevertheless, you will still have to work a little to get back to the Fla room. I would say: 25% of the current. Good conditions throughout. Deco on 80% was 1 minute at 30', 3 minutes at 20', and 8 minutes at 10'. Temp is 75F at surface, 71F at deco, and 70F at bottom. I was nice to be able to get to the back of the Fla room on LP85s @ 3800 and still be 300 lbs above thirds. |
| 6/19/2018 | Troglodyver | 100' | Little River was fine Friday 15 June. At 8:30 am, spring basin was fully tannic, no boil, although the cave was clear starting at the entrance. By late morning, clear water reached the surface, so there was a gin clear spot mid-basin with small boil surrounded by tannic water. Flow was low enough that running a line wasn't a challenge even for newly-trained cavern divers. You could swim upstream, rather than pull and pull and pull and pull. Viz in cave was great, despite lots of cave divers that day. Be aware that the water is slightly deeper, so you'll accrue deco faster than usual. I hit 98' just past the Chimney. Your biggest challenge may be locals at their swimming hole who want to ask questions about diving as you're trying to get into the water or out of your gear. |
| 4/27/2018 | Chris Sutherland | Great- 70ft | Correction: Only one team in so no silt* No other teams diving upon exit. |
| 4/26/2018 | Chris Sutherland | Great | Medium flow and great vis. Only one other dive team entering so silty passages. 10am dive. |
| 2/10/2018 | Dominick Gheesling | Excellent | Two dives today. Made it about 550' down the mainline. Flow is down. Flow is down from tuesday 2/6/2018 when I also made two dives and the visibility has improved. Pretty much like swimming through air visibility. |
| 12/25/2017 | TMC | 50-70 | Flow isn't bad. Gets a bit hazy up the mainline past the Florida room |
| 9/3/2017 | IowaCaveDiver | 50' | flow is kickin'... river is a bit hight, but below the concrete side walk around the spring area. Basin is crystal clear and full of locals. Viz in the system is a touch hazy 50-60'. We dove the mainline back to around 2100' |
| 7/8/2017 | Elisha Gibson | 70-80 | Visibility was decreased from last week, river came down about a foot. There was particulate in the system, maybe someone was in the deep section because it seemed to get clearer after that. Went a ways past the well casing and stopped shortly after the cracks back there where it gets low again. There was some tannic intrusion back there. Flow still low. Good dive. |
| 7/2/2017 | Elisha Gibson | 100 | This is the cave I fell in love with. Wonderful visibility. Flow was low but noticeable. I love when Little River's walls are clean because you can really see the goethite. We swam to the dome room on back-gas and hadn't hit thirds yet. I was all "well-casing or bust!" but my buddy called the dive. A good thing because it was chilly diving wet. All of the sidemount lines towards the front of the cave are easily visible now and looks like some have been re-lined. The new gold line is good, but be aware that the T's aren't any easier to see. This was a really enjoyable dive and I can't wait to go back. Water level was up, but not quite reaching the paved walkway at the stairs. |
| 2/12/2017 | Cleavitt (via CDF) | 30' | Vis in basin is under 10', but clears to 30'ish at the sand in front of the cave. Flow was moderate, noticeable, but swimmable without pull/glide. Only went to the T and viz was the same 30' throughout the cavern/cave. The stop sign is gone (post is still there, but sign is obliterated). More silt than normal of course. Saw several albino crayfish in the chimney. |
| 11/21/2016 | Jason | 60 | Flow is down. Vis is up. Great time to dive LR. |
| 10/22/2016 | from CDF | 50' | Did a morning dive and conditions were normal by my standards. Water was down the rocks a bit. Flow was there. You could swim it but it was tough at times. At the start of the gold line for the first 25 feet or so was the toughest part to swim. Had to give it darn near all I had. After that it was fine. Viz was a clear 50ft then dimmed off after that.
The sign is missing and the gold line for the first 10 feet was very sloppy. Line places under 1' rocks ect. Not a huge deal but its not right. On a blind or no viz exit it would play tricks it you didn't tie in past these few rocks. |
| 9/24/2016 | IowaCaveDiver | 40' | Viz was hazy and lower than normal. Flow was kicking hard! We swam and wished we hadn't. Get ready to work hard if you plan to swim here! |
| 5/25/2016 | Guy Bryant | 40 | The system is starting to clear. Currently the vis is around 40ft, greenish with lots of particulates in the water. The current is strong, no way to swim against it. You have to pull, pull and pull, or use a scooter. Went back to within a couple 100 ft of the "well". No change in current or vis from start of dive to turn-around point. |
| 3/27/2016 | cmint (via CDF) | 40 | I dove it yesterday. The vis was probably in the 30-maybe40ish feet but with a lot of dusty particulate. The flow was moderate to strong but not a firehose like I have seen it. The basin is clear and nice conditions for swimming/snorkeling. There were a LOT of divers going in and out. |
| 1/7/2016 | M Bloedorn | 50 ft | Little river is open. But you need the gate code during construction. The river is rising, but little river was holding its own for now. Flow is way down. |
| 1/4/2016 | M Bloedorn | 80 ft | Little river currently closed to diving during construction at site. |
| 8/28/2015 | alcornl | 50 | Basin and run clear. Strong boil. Moderate flow. 40-50' vis to Florida room. 60' past. Dome room was 80'. The deep tunnel was 100 . |
| 5/10/2015 | Niko | 60 | Vis is ok and flow is back up, not extreme but I would consider it high flow. Florida Room is pretty clear. |
| 4/27/2015 | cmint | 50 | Vis was up, flow was down. Made it farther than I ever have. This was the first time I was able to look around at the cave rather than concentrating on finding places to pull and glide. I hope it stays like this for a while. |
| 4/9/2015 | Larry Vrooman | 60' | Water is a step above the first platform but the basin is crystal clear. Good viz and normal flow in the cave. Floor is still quite dusty back past the Florida room. |
| 4/9/2015 | Larry Vrooman | 60' | Water is a step above the first platform but the basin is crystal clear. Good viz and normal flow in the cave. Floor is still quite dusty back past the Florida room. |
| 12/29/2014 | Larry Vrooman | 0 | It's not visibly siphoning yet, but the viz is zero with tannic water all the way to at least the main line. We ran a line from the steps and felt our way down to the mainline at 60'. The viz was still zero so we turned the dive. |
| 12/8/2014 | Jack Hammer | 70 | Flow is down but very noticeable. Good vis around 70. Finned to 2nd t, nice ride back out |
| 12/8/2014 | Jack Hammer | 70 | Flow is down but very noticeable. Good vis around 70. Finned to 2nd t, nice ride back out |
| 11/3/2014 | John LaManna (via CDF) | 40' | Friend I and dove Little River this last Wednesday. The flow was really ripping! Was struggling setting the primary, and getting thru that little tunnel before the chimney. Stayed low and pulled along, set reel at Mud Tunnel jump and back on to mainline. We opted to take the left thru the Serpentine tunnel to the Florida Room. We went to the end of Florida Room where bedding plane starts and I turned the dive 300 psi before my thirds to leave extra gas to pull reels (not needed with the flow!) We exited via Merry go round, pulled Mud tunnel reel, and eased up Chimney as close to negative as possible. While pulling the primary, I had to put my fin tips into the sand on my knees because the flow was trying to flip me over! Overall it was a great dive. My first time back there in several years. Vis was about 40' and cloudy. |
| 10/21/2014 | Niko | 20-30 | Visibility isn't great. Flow is extreme, lots of work without a scooter. We swam up to around 1400ft on the mainline and flow stayed high the entire dive. Took 51 mins to 1400ft and 9 mins out |
| 9/28/2014 | Jef | 30-40 | Basin is clear and a little high - over the sidewalk and up two steps on the wooden staircase. Flow is fairly normal or a tad high. Cave is dusty. Water is a little hazy with lots of little particulate. Same conditions all the way around the merry go round. |
| 9/7/2014 | TS | 80 | Great vis, moderate flow. Basin level is down and cave looks clear. |
| 2/18/2014 | Peter | 50 | Suwannee is up about 5' from normal and up to the 4th step on the stairs. Flow is low and vis is fine. A good time to dive LR |
| 1/4/2014 | Jason | Good | River is up, so the flow is down. It's a great time to dive Little River. |
| 12/7/2013 | Dillon | Clear-blue/light green 100 ft | Great dive!! Love the cork screw! Went through the merrygoround tunnel into Florida room halfway. Current was really strong though, like spider man pulling yourself through. It'd ease up and then boom here it is again, on way out current kicked my feet up but plan was no further than Florida room and it wasn't to bad of a dive for a 1st time there |
| 12/7/2013 | Dillon | Clear-blue/light green | Great dive! Love the cork screw, like heaven on earth!!!. Went through the merry go round tunnel and halfway through the Florida room. But the current was really strong! Kicked my feet over my head 1 time but not to bad for a 1st time dive there, plan was though no further than Florida room |
| 11/24/2013 | PsychDiver (via CDF) | clear/hazy | We were the only team there. Water is way down, just below the little cement walkway that goes out towards the cave from the walkway at the perimeter; there's probably 3' of mud/rock from the cement perimeter walk to the water. Very prominent boil. I would say the flow is down marginally from when I dove it last 7 - 8 weeks ago when the water was up to the 3rd or 4th wood step, but it's still a good workout on the way in and like a pinball on the way out; no pull-and-glide, just pull and pull then pull some more. Nice blue-green at the boil; clear on the way in; clouded up some in the Florida room. |
| 10/3/2013 | BUNIT (via CDF) | 30' | Water is down to the top of the block wall. ~30ft viz with lots of crap in the water, was like diving offshore Jacksonville. The brown line has lots of stuff on it and is really lose before the chimney and possibly in other spots as it seems to be run alot different/sloppier than last time I was there a few months ago. All the arrows are covered in crud also back to 1600ish. Went up both merry-go-round and serpentine. Pretty much what'd you'd expect at this point. Flow is very high before the chimney (uv-26 on pitch 6, 3rd gear to make headway there), I'm sure its around normal, but I had never dove it with high flow. Once you get past the chimney it was less. |
| 9/21/2013 | Nick | 25 feet | Pool was just beautiful. Not perfectly clear, but it was very nice. the branches/leaves/tannic has been flushed out. The cave has plenty of flow, I couldn't claw my way below 67 feet where the two tunnels converge. Fun dive. But you will be working for it. The "permanent line" is looking a little questionable right now from weathering. Maybe keep laying your own. |
| 8/23/2013 | Derek | 20 | Vis still around 20 feet, water level is coming back up again and flow is dropping. |
| 8/17/2013 | Derek | 20 | Vis is still around 20 feet. Water level has dropped about 2 feet. the basin is starting to clear up a bit. |
| 8/13/2013 | Derek | 20 | Gate to little river is open. One small puddle of water in parking lot still. Water level is up to second landing. Cave water starts around 7ft. Threaded rod is at 25 ft. Vis in cave was about 20 ft with a lot of particulate in water. The cave is flowing pretty hard. Only dove to mud tunnel and line was in good shape. |
| 7/10/2013 | Derek | >5 inches | Little river is siphoning. 3-4 inches of vis. The threaded rod is at 27 feet. Didn't dive much farther then the threaded rod. |
| 4/22/2013 | DecoHokie | 30ft-50ft | Basin level still high, above wooden landing on steps. Some flow, good dive. |
| 4/15/2013 | Paulmal | 25' | River is up, water level is at the first landing. The basin is clear and there is a slight boil. Vis in the cave is 25'. |
| 2/24/2013 | Mer | 1' in basin | Suwanne River up, basin flooded to second wooded step, gate locked by county. Not obviously siphoning yet, but no visible out flow. |
| 2/24/2013 | Mer | 1' in basin | Suwanne River up, basin flooded to second wooded step, gate locked by county. Not obviously siphoning yet, but no visible out flow. |
| 2/10/2013 | Anton van Rosmalen | 20 meters | Nice dive, some flow, good viz |
| 11/19/2012 | Alan Fossum | 70ft | Tried diving LR today, my buddy and I were the first dives in. Flow was strong. So much so we turned the dive at the second jump to the mud tunnel. Most divers showing up seem to have scooters :-( |
| 10/6/2012 | Jason | 50 | Visibility has improved a bit. The flow has dropped a bit, but it still kickin' hard. The tree has slid down in to the opening, and now partially blocks the entrance. WARNING! The submerged concrete walkway is dangerously slippery. Be very careful moving gear to the water. |
| 8/25/2012 | sean | good 50 plus | Vis a little hazy but can still see everything around 50 feet plus. Really flowing. Hard to exit slowly. Had to pull along to get in. Did not pen to table to due limited gas. Exit could have been less than 1/3 of pen but had to watch ascent rate. |
| 8/12/2012 | Jesse Scott | 50 | Walked right off the steps because the water is high. It was quite a challenge to lay line and get to the sign. Then it really kicked up. We just ended up doing high flow line lay practice and called it a day. |
| 8/12/2012 | Greenwood_60 | 30 | Water is still up. 6 inches on the walkway. Makes gearing up in SM beyond easy. The flow is kickin'. Just past the bend at the sign is the worst. You'll get blasted from the left side just before the duck under. No large rocks here. Pulling is almost useless, but you can stick to the left wall and crawl it just above the flow. Backs off quite a bit at the duck under. Picks back up at the top of the shaft. If you jump straight over the shaft to the back wall, the passage to the left of the visible jump is a kickin' siphon. I assume it matches the outflow before the duck under. Swimming anywhere you can't pull is tough. Took the mud tunnel jump. The floor of the mud tunnel is covered in rippled sand, and the flow is still up. Pull and glide. Back on to the main line and in to the full force of the flow. Was very happy to see the hard cracked limestone floor after a bit of hard swimming. Turned at the first T, still short of thirds. The exit was unbelievably quick. Had to fight a bit to not ascend the shaft too quickly. Pulling the reel was fun. If you keep you line far to the left on the way in, you will avoid most of the flow pulling it out... but keep you fin tips down. |
| 7/15/2012 | Mer | ? - But Flooded | Surface check, did not dive. Park closed. 6" of water flowing over road between gate and parking lot. Parking lot dry. Mosquitoes intense. Lots of debris from flood left on access road. |
| 7/1/2012 | Kristi Draper | unknown | Little River park is closed until further notice. I was there on 7/1 but could not dive. Water was above the wooden stair landing that leads to the concrete walkway and gear-up wall. The road between the park entrance and the parking lot was under 3' of water. The parking lot is on higher ground, though, and was dry. The area around the outflow looked calm. We could not determine if Little River cave system is siphoning. The Suwanee is not expected to crest until 7/8. It looks to be a month or more before this system is diveable. |
| 6/17/2012 | Mer | 40-50' | Little River flow is up from 2 weeks ago, but still not quite "normal" Little River flow. A bit green and milky, vis 40-50', Florida Room a bit better. River is still lower than basin. Crowded with swimmers on weekend, but still able to get parking just outside lot at 1pm on a Sunday. |
| 5/29/2012 | Patrick Hassett | 10ft-2ft | Not the best day on Little River. It had a very thick white haze in the water that got worse the further we went in. Made it 500 ft in before I called it. Probably due to the all the heavy rains we had. |
| 5/17/2012 | Mer | 100' on mainline | 100' plus vis on mainline through Merry Go Round tunnel. Flow waaaaay down. A lot of small catfish in cavern and beyond. |
| 4/29/2012 | Jeff Hawes | 30-70 | Current seemed down a bit on entry. "Very enjoyable" dive up the Harper tunnel. Can't see very far in a straight line due to all the bends, but the water seemed pretty clear. Light coating of dust in the HT that is begging to get in the water column |
| 4/8/2012 | Brandon Cook | 30'-100' | Easter stage dive to the dome room and a bit beyond but turned before the well casing. Moderate flow was noticeable most of the way in and out. Visibility was mostly 40-60' in the mud tunnel and Florida room. Took brief jump to look at the beginning of deep and new deep sections where vis was clear cobalt blue..very inviting but wrong mix. |
| 4/4/2012 | Ian Riddington | 20-30 feet | Reasonable flow,nothing crazy. Viz was reasonable but very black in the Florida Room.Good Dive. Our main mistake was being there during Spring Break,won't be doing that again. |
| 4/4/2012 | Ian Riddington | 20-30 feet | Reasonable flow,nothing crazy. Viz was reasonable but very black in the Florida Room.Good Dive. Our main mistake was being there during Spring Break,won't be doing that again. |
| 3/21/2012 | Josh Thornton | 20 feet | LOTS of river silt on the bottom and walls. Not bad if you don't stir it up. We did the mud tunnel and short cut and then went to the end of the Florida room. If the silt is stirred up, it gets nasty. |
| 2/26/2012 | Bob Bost | 100 | Great dive at Little River today. No other divers there, and very few locals hanging out. Very very very slight flow to help on the way out, but only noticed it because I was looking for it. |
| 2/14/2012 | Claudia Milz | 100 | Low flow, high visibility. One team sat this one out and the two of us had the cave to ourselves, armed with photo gear. Nice pics, nice couple of dives. |
| 1/9/2012 | Jim Wyatt | 100 feet | Flow is still down, visibility is up! |
| 12/3/2011 | Brandon Cook | 80' | Low flow, low basin. Vis. 80 easy. Beautiful time to visit, had park to selves other than 2 other cave divers. |
| 10/30/2011 | Patrick | GIN CLEAR | We arived at the basin with only one set of divers present, nice! Suited up took a relaxing dive along the serpintine and partial way of the merry go round. Second dive went the opposite way. Perfect dives. Very low flow !!! We talked to a set of CCR Divers from Quebec,Canada very pleasent company. Also,on the exit of second dive we were overan by a set divers, never mind we had the priority since we reeling up and out. I then checked the parking lot and saw only Florida taged vehicles. |
| 10/29/2011 | Paul V | excellent | low flow, excellent conditions. Dove up to water pipe, we took 1h to get there but swimming very slowly. Visibility stay good on way back. Easy dive in CCR. |
| 10/8/2011 | Jason | 100 | Flow is even lower than my report on 9/10/2011. It is a leisurely swim at this point! |
| 9/25/2011 | Walter Pickel | 100 | I am amazed at how low the flow really is and how high visibility is. This was like being the first diver in Ginnie and there being no flow. Dove the ever beautiful Harper Tunnel and some other sidemount tunnels. Walking to the end of the run, the bottom of the Suwannee River is actually visible. |
| 9/11/2011 | Patrick | 80 | Water in basin is very LOW... Cave was really nice and clear and the flow was almost nonexistent. |
| 9/10/2011 | Jason | 100 | Water level continues to drop. Flow is still way down. Cave is clear. |
| 7/31/2011 | Shirley Kasser | Excellent | The water level in the basin is very low, but the basin is electric clear, making for a gorgeous sight from the stairs. Flow is low, but good enough for a nice easy ride out. Tons of baby catfish are out, and there are even some larger catfish back in the Florida room. |
| 7/6/2011 | Flyczek | 80 | very low flow for this system. Low water level also (reduced max depth by about 15 ft) vis was as good as I've seen it in last few years |
| 6/17/2011 | Kristi Draper | unlimited | Very low flow, super viz all the way to the Florida Room and in the Harper Tunnel. Fantastic conditions. Easy to stay in a perfect hover while doing a deco stop in the cavern zone without getting blown out into open water. |
| 6/9/2011 | Jason | excellent | Flow must have been very low... didn't even know it was known as a high flow system until a conversation at CE. |
| 5/31/2011 | mag3 | 50-70ft. | Flow was very low today, as opposed to a week ago when it was normal strength. Had little if any trouble entering. A great dive. |
| 5/9/2011 | Don six | 50-60 | The flow was so low that I was able to hover in the entrance with very little kicking required. I only made it to the jump for the deep section as I was carrying my camera today. |
| 4/24/2011 | Louis | 60 | Gate locked yesterday until some unknown point in the day. Today the gate didn't open till about 9am. Park was busy but the cave looks great. Flow is still down and the river level has started to come back up. |
| 4/23/2011 | Steve | 60' | half a million people there today but very few divers when we arrived late in the day (~15:00). Flow was WAY down compared to the half-dozen or so times I've seen Lr. Some particulate matter in the water. Went to about 1000' and turned just because. |
| 4/16/2011 | Dan Sledge | 70-80 feet | The water level is high and the flow is down. Made it into the Florida room on a single tank. The younger kids take over the place around noon so get there early. They open at 7 am if you don't mind being an early bird. |
| 4/3/2011 | eric b | 80 | went to the florda room with mike m. the vis was the best I've ever seen in little river and the flow was way down. |
| 3/6/2011 | Cary Ernst | 60 | First time in this system. From what I have been able to gather the flow here can be quite heavy. I did notice it but did not find it to be as heavy as I imagined. Making the assumption that according to other post that the flow is still down. Went in for 20 minutes then turned the dive. Total run was 40 minutes with 5 min deco @ 10 feet. |
| 2/25/2011 | Louis | 60 | no change from last report - low flow & good viz |
| 2/8/2011 | Louis | 60' | Flow is still down (for here) and diving is great. |
| 1/26/2011 | Jerry Sliker | 70-80 feet | Had a great dive,flow was way down even after day of heavy rain in the area. 1100 foot penetration. |
| 1/22/2011 | Scott Hussey | 60ft | We had the system (and the park, most of the time) to ourselves. We were able to get two great dives in. Flow was down and we had no problem getting to the bedding plane beyond the Florida room on thirds via the mainline and right at the T. Second dive we took the mud tunnel to the end of the Serpentine Tunnel. |
| 12/25/2010 | Tony Flaris | 60' | Flow is way down. Great visibility. |
| 12/23/2010 | Rick H | 50 | Great dive! Just did the main line and around the merry-go-round. Didn't make it out of the water until 6:15 (oops) and left the park at 6:45, but didn't have any pronlems with being there after hours. |
| 12/22/2010 | Phil | 70-80 | Conditions are good at LR. We were the last team of the day with a sidemount class... Thanks to Paul Heinhert for that class BTW. It was verry fun to play around in theses tight passages... |
| 12/18/2010 | Walter Pickel | 80 | Conditions are perfect: river is down tremendously, flow is positive (nothing like the "good old days"), visibility was the best I have seen for as long as I can remember. Definitely a system you want to dive soon! |
| 12/10/2010 | Louis | 50 ft | Flow is down and viz is good. A great dive all around! |
| 10/30/2010 | Shirley Kasser | Excellent | Flow was low and viz was great! I wish I had another day to hit it while it's perfect like this. |
| 10/8/2010 | Diverlee | 50 | Conditions are very nice! Flow is down and vis was good. |
| 10/2/2010 | Andy L | 50ft | Swam to the dome room. Easy swimming since the flow is down. |
| 9/16/2010 | wepiv | 75 ft. | We did a dive at LR today and swam back to the well casing. The water level is down a bit from earlier this summer and the flow seems really low. Once you get past the Florida Room, and certainly past the Dome Room it appears that not a lot of traffic has been back there due to the darkness on the rocks and silt. This is a good time to dive LR though! |
| 7/16/2010 | Randy Fountain | 50 | Turned just passed Table Rock. Flow in the section approaching the chimney isn't bad. Few divers, LOTS of swimmers... |
| 5/29/2010 | JahJahwarrior | 15-30' | Busy, with 4 teams present. On the way in, visibility seemed to be about 30', but near the end of the Florida room, it got hazier. On the way out, the entire system seemed to be pretty hazy. Lots of people there to swim, people selling snowcones ($2) in the parking lot, and deep frying turkey. |
| 4/24/2010 | Scott Pulliam | 20-30 | Water up to bottom step. Flow up. vis down. Improving Not bad overall. |
| 4/18/2010 | Andy Lamborn | 20-30 | Went to the Florida Room and turned early due to poor visibility. The flow is up and vis down. |
| 4/3/2010 | Tony Jordan | 20-30' | Little River is just starting to spring again. Basin was clear enough that I didn't feel there was a need to run a line from the steps. Depths were slightly deeper than "normal" @ 1100' of penetration, max depth was 113'. Water temps were running around 68 degrees. On the return trip, the cave opening was visible from the bottom of the cavern. Visibility averaged between 20-30'. The walls of the cave are black and stained. Diving Little River during a time like this gives an entirely different perspective of the cave. |
| 1/18/2010 | Flyczek | 20-50 | Flow was moderate, I was able to swim the whole system, no pull and glide required. Visibility varied depending on the passage. My bubbles were knocking dust off the ceiling, so vis was better on the way in. |
| 1/13/2010 | Ken Clizbe | 30-40 | Flow is up, probably normal actually. Lot's of particulate in the water and the cave is very dusty due to river intrusion. I would imagine it will take some time for vis to get better while the cave cleans itself out. Tannic river intrusion is at about 9-10 ft, so a 12 ft last stop is still in warm cave water. |
| 12/20/2009 | Phil | great | Tanic water till you reach the steel pin. After that, conditions are great. |
| 12/11/2009 | Andrew K | Excellent | Staged at LR, viz was excellent throughout the system back to about 1800'. Flow was down, no problem staying put at deco! GO dive it! |
| 11/27/2009 | Shirley Kasser | Great | Water levels are even lower than two weeks ago. The flow is a dream! Viz is still very good. Not many fish about today, though. |
| 11/16/2009 | Shirley Kasser | Excellent | The basin is indeed VERY low. The flow seems down, not bad at all. Very few folks around topside, great time to dive. |
| 11/11/2009 | Jeff Schreiber | 30' | basin is down really low, which makes the flow look like it's kicking, but it's actually quite moderate. Basin very clear. |
| 10/25/2009 | Paul Ludwick | 40 | Not cracklin', but I wasn't first in. Flow was moderate, but not light. Swam out past the well casing where vis was better. The line is looking degraded around and past the casing. |
| 10/20/2009 | Tim Owens | Sparkling.... | One team leaving as we arrived, another suited up and entered just before we started. Phenomenal dive, flow not bad, only really noticed at one point near the sign. Water level seemed higher, noticeable boil at surface. |
| 10/6/2009 | Scott Pulliam | 50 | Same as 2 weeks ago. 50' plus vis tint to the water. River has come down 1'. Only 2 teams. I was teaching so this was perfect. |
| 9/22/2009 | Matt Myers | 50-60' | Flow was down compared to normal... scott was right about haze/greenish. There was some sort of decaying carcass just as you dropped down the chute within the first 200'P... possibly a cow or deer that drown durning the floods and was sucked in during a sphon... hard to tell what it was. |
| 9/20/2009 | Scott Pulliam | 50' | Vis around 50' but still hazy and walls still a little dark in areas. Went just passed FL room. Flow still down easy swim. Not many dive teams. Great surface coditions and good cave conditions. Great way to spend the day diving. |
| 8/30/2009 | Elisha Gibson | 20-50 | Vis much better than last week. Flow down a little bit. Water level up about a foot. |
| 8/23/2009 | Elisha Gibson | 10-30 | Still dusty, flow pretty good, nice boil on the surface. Visibility better towards the back, maybe just because the cave is smaller. Lots of gross stuff floating down from the ceiling. Sturgeon carcass still there but much smaller than it was from what I hear. Nice dive. |
| 8/16/2009 | Walter Pickel | 30' | Nice to be back in Little River...Cave is noticeably dark from the floods. Viz was no better than 30' to the back of the Florida Room. Flow was moderate and easy to swim against. |
| 8/7/2009 | Paul C | very good 50' plus | Conditions continue to inprove. Moderate flow with very good vis that is not yet perfect Dry land is now between the concrete and the water entry. |
| 7/26/2009 | Ken Paramore | 25'-30' | Basin clear. Water level near normal, top of concrete pad. Slight haze but solid 25' to 30'vis. Walls stained dark from tanic water. Good diving conditions! |
| 7/3/2009 | Tom Johnson (tj) | 15' | Flow good, clearing, but vis only 15'. Didn't see much with the scooters, but did remove the trash cans. |
| 6/27/2009 | Billy Fowler | 15-20 | The river is still up a bit, about 2.5ft above the sidewalk, the water is somewhat clear just a slight tan to it. The flow is up compared to what it’s been this past year. Went to the end of the FL room and the visibility is the same throughout, saw two dead sturgeons one about 6ft long and the other was about 3 ft. also saw a lot of dead flat fish. |
| 6/21/2009 | John Spann | 20-30 | Dove Little River today. It was a very good dive, we tied in at one of the columns for the stairs (between the guy with 15 teeth and a beer and the DD I think, she had the keys hooked to her top, locals everywhere wish I had a camera) and ran it to the rebar. You could see the surface here where the water was pushing through the tanic. From there we tied into the new gold line(thanks for the work on it guys) and made our way back to the split. The vis was around 20 to 30 feet. You could barley see day light from the beginning of the gold line. We went in the serpentine tunnel and back out the merry-go-round. The line past the tee still very dirty. Lots of sand/silt everywhere. The cave was actually very beautiful though due to the newly stained walls it was a shame though you could already see where the walls had been bumped or touched from the white spots. Saw a couple dead crayfish but that's all. Very nice dive 45 mins, no deco, max depth 106ft, moderate flow. |
| 4/3/2009 | Marc Bryan | 0' | LR went under last night. The river has flooded the basin and it is completely brown. It is swirling over the cavern, and the water is up to the first two steps. |
| 3/25/2009 | Lori | 100 ft | Good dive at LR back to the Florida Room, turned dive to avoid excessive deco. First time in LR in a long time due to closings during past trips. Flow was way down from the norm. Only one other team before us...finished before we got in. |
| 3/21/2009 | Kristi Draper | limit of lights | Our cave team of 3 were the first to enter the cave this morning. Viz was outstanding. Flow moderate; required moderate effort to pull & glide, especially at the beginning. Turned the dive in the terminal room on no-stop time. Still well within our 1/3 penetration gas allowance. |
| 3/21/2009 | Eileen | 100 plus | Great vis and only moderate flow. Only went back to the terminal room and then turned the dive to avoid deco with 30% EAN. |
| 3/14/2009 | Buhlz | awesome! 60 | Busy! Got to little a little late but we swam up to the beginning of surpentine tunnel and turned. Nice little quicky and checked out some leads towards the entrance. Very cool formations in there to see especially when you're not in training. First time in Little w/o having cave class! 47 min 94'. no deco 32% |
| 3/9/2009 | Gene Page | 100 plus | Dove Little River on 9 March 2009 and conditions were great. Clear water with great vis and low flow. There were a number of teams there for a Monday and after noon many locals came to swim. |
| 3/2/2009 | Cantey | 40-50 | Dove a couple hundred feet past the first t with some intro divers. Flow is down, vis is great! |
| 2/21/2009 | Mathew Bull | 40-50' | Flows down alot, vis is good. |
| 2/15/2009 | Anthony Tedeschi | 70-80' | Dove LR today, water level down about 1' from the rock at the end of the path and the flow was down (3 fpm). Made our first dive down to the first T and headed down the Merry Go Round, to the Florida Room, and continued down the mainline. Reached the 1400' marker at the top of an incline and then headed down the other side of the incline. The gold line continued and the passage became low and wide passage. I believe we made it to about !700', but couldn't find any marked line arrows & the newest map isnt to scale and we couldn't seem to find are exact location. The dive was turned and we started are coast out the system. We spent some time checking out the FL room & the two large cracks in the roof. Upon reaching the second 2, we went right & took the serpentine tunnel back to the first T and continued back to the surface. Total dive time was 96min, 15min of deco on 100%. Dive two we headed down the mainline and jumped to the Mud Tunnel, traveling to the EOL of the tunnel and jumped back to the mainline, still heading upstream. We reached the first T, made a left and followed the gold line to the Harper Tunnel Jump. After making the jump we head in to the tunnel. It was my first time there and it was awesome. Pasted about 4 or 5 huge white clay piles and continued in. 2 |
| 1/21/2009 | Jim Wyatt | 60 feet | Flow is low - vis is 60 feet. Good diving. |
| 1/2/2009 | Tony Daly-Crews | 60 | Did some mainline dives. Basin is crystal clear and there is no longer and particulate in the water. The flow is a moderate. |
| 1/1/2009 | Paul Ludwick | 30-40 ft | The water is up to the lowest step on the stairs from the parking lot with about 1-4 inches on the sidewalk ringing the pool. The entire pool is clear, making it very easy to get into the water. Swam out to about 2000' marker on main line. Particulate made vis somewhere in the 30-40 range. Firm flow, but not strong. The line could use more cleaning than I was able to do. Also noticed some intermittent fraying of the main line, mostly in the first 1000'. Nothing terribly bad, just showing strong wear. I registered water temps from 64 - 62. All in all a very nice swim. |
| 12/28/2008 | Andy Pitkin | 80' | Very good visibility, even despite a little particulate in the water. Clear to the Last Room & beyond. Flow way down. River water at lowest step of stairs but cave entrance clear. |
| 12/21/2008 | Phil | 50 | Great dive on december 20. Bassin is full of darx river water, cold... But, as soon as you reach the entrance (before the steel road for tie off), water is cristal... The only thing, as Ben said, verry lite silt covering everything so it is disturb easily, eaven with good swimming technique. |
| 12/15/2008 | Ben Cook | 50 ft | Good to go, decent outflow. Fine river silt covering floor. |
| 12/10/2008 | DogDiver | 0 | Blown Out |
| 12/6/2008 | Billy Fowler | 0 | couldn’t see a thing made it to the gold line and still in zero viz flow seemed to be siphoning but there was a slight slick on the surface |
| 12/5/2008 | Gene Page | 50' | We did a dive at Little River earlier today and we were surprised to see that the river water was already covering up part of the sidewalk area on the lower level.
And although the basin had a lot of tanic water in it, a dive team that was exiting said that the vis cleared once you got into the cavern.
After running our primary we did a dive into the Harper tunnel and then around the Merry-Go-Round and the short cut as well as mud tunnel and the vis was fine. There was no flow in the cave but it appeared that the river water was rising a bit just during the time we were there. |
| 11/25/2008 | Elisha Gibson | 50' | Basin was a little milky with a lot of particulate (no it wasn't because we stirred it up, it came from the cave). We went through the mud tunnel to the second T. Flow was down from the last time I went, visibility similar. A lot of handmarks present on the silt covered walls. |
| 11/24/2008 | scblade27 | 70' | I just did Intro at LR on Thursday. While I am not familiar with the system, the flow was moderate and the visibility was very good, 70 ft ish, at least in the first part of the cave to right past the chimney. Max depth at that point was about 95 ft, if that tells you anything about the water level. |
| 11/4/2008 | Rick Palm | 40' | Dive: Up the main line to the big dorf marker, turned Left for the Serpentine Tunnel, and then Left again and through the Florida Room to the 1100 foot marker, and back by way of the Merry Go Round for a total dive time of 46 minutes. No deco. Conditions: Flow was PI 1.55*, with particulate matter in suspension reducing visibility to ~ 40 feet. There is much fine silt that has settled over the rocky bottom parts of the proximal system, with silt settling out in the bottom of the Serpentine Tunnel. With carelessness, someone could really muck things up there. A fun dive, but a long shot from the old days of crystal clear cobalt blue water, and the "Little River Pull and Glide" system of locomotion. *Palm (Flow Rate) Index: 1.55 [The PI is computed by dividing the dive time entering the cave to the point where the dive is turned, by the dive time to exit. An index of 1 means no flow. A PI of less than 1 is a siphon, and a PI of greater than 1, is a spring. For this dive, it took me 28 minutes to swim to the 1100 foot marker, and 18 minutes to swim back: 28 divided by 18, is 1.55. The greater the PI, the higher the flow. Obviously, the PI is only applicable to dives where the ingress is the same as the egress. (Note: The Serpentine Tunnel is approximately the same length and character as the Merry Go Round, so the PI is still applicable)]. __________________ Rick Palm, RN k1ce@arrl.net High Springs, Florida |
| 10/5/2008 | Bert Wilcher | 30 | flow manageable, lots of cloudiness to the water that remained all the way to the florida room |
| 10/4/2008 | Jim | 40 feet | Moderate flow, 40 feet of vis to the back of the Florida Room. |
| 9/18/2008 | DogDiver | 30 | In one word..."Kicking" Lots of particulate and tannic water. Vis in the 30 foot range. Dove the Harper Tunnel sidemount and there is significant flow in there also. Outbound was like a "pinball" machine.......lots of fun. The iron stake is at 21 feet with the river falling slightly every day. Ken |
| 9/11/2008 | Charles Read | 15 feet | Glad to say Little River is flowing in the correct direction (strength of flow moderate, lower than usual) with visibility a whopping 15 feet or so. Quite fun, but not a patch on what the cave is usually like. Water level is down to the fourth wooden step as of Thursday afternoon. |
| 8/30/2008 | Shirley Kasser | ?? | The water at Little River is up on the rocks beyond the retaining wall. There's a fisherman on the first landing of the stairs, and a boat of fishermen over the entrance to the cave. There is no discernible water movement, outflow or inflow, and no debris on the surface. The water is very dark. |
| 8/9/2008 | Walter Pickel | 40' | Nice easy dive...Viz is 40' or so...Starts to degrade in the Florida Room to the Dome Room.Water color is yellow-green. Flow was nice and positive (nothing close to what it should be). |
| 8/1/2008 | Mike McAuliffe | 50' | Basin is very clear, vis was 50 or so up to the Florida Room and diminished to 30ish from there to the well casing. Flow is up from pre-flood but I would not call it significant, pretty low for normal LR actually. |
| 7/6/2008 | Barbara Dwyer | 80-plus | The flow's up, and the boil's visible from the stairs. We swam back to the well casing. Visibility was fine till we got over the hill beyond the FL room, then some percolation. Returned a few days later and dove around the serpentine tunnel. Very nice! It's a great time to dive Little River. The flow's better than I recall in the last several years, and it's clear. Dark, but clear. |
| 6/29/2008 | Mathew Bull | 20-25' | Flows noticable, but nothing that can't be handled with ease. Particulate in the water, but plenty of vis for the system, just with a nice green hue. |
| 6/15/2008 | stairman | 25ft. | vis in the basin was good other than swimmers churning it up.Cavern was ok but darker than usual.Cave vis was 25 ft.Not good for Little River but ok.Fiow is down but still very noticable. |
| 6/13/2008 | Jerry | 60 | Water level is just below the last concrete step. Water in the basin is emerald green; if I didn't know better I would say it was beautiful. Good vis in the system; no flow. |
| 5/26/2008 | Walter Pickel | 30'-40' | Water level is near where it has been for the past year or so and the flow is close to what it was 3 years ago. Water at the surface and in th system is is green. All lines look good up to the Dome Room. The cave is now very dark; taking on an almost Manatee'esque affect. |
| 5/11/2008 | Shirley Kasser | very nice | Traffic is up, both diver and non-diver. The water is lapping at the base of the sidewalk "T" The basin looks great, only a little more green than normal. The lines look good as far as the Florida room, on both the Merry-Go-Round and the Serpentine Tunnels. The flow is coming back, but she's not back to "normal" yet. |
| 4/17/2008 | Corbett | 20' | Dove LR this morning. Water is waist deep at the concrete, 21ft. at the steel rod. Vis in the basin and the cave about 20ft. I seemed to get worse further in. (I turned at the first super-sized arrow) The line was very slack and WAY under the ledge between the sign and the chimney so I fixed that the best I could, and removed any crap that was on it. There is positive flow, but not much for LR. Sorry I didn't bring a garbage bag to clean up all the beer cans and bottles (I guess no one drinks soda around there). |
| 4/15/2008 | DodDiver | 20 | You could clearly see the spring basin from the steps and parking lot. 6 inches of water cover the bottom wooden stair landing. Clear tannic water flowing in the run flowing tward the suwannee. Could be diveable... |
| 2/25/2008 | DogDiver | 0 | As reported in CDF Little River is reversing and not diveable. |
| 2/9/2008 | DogDiver | 100 | Suwannee River is up with water over the previously dry rocks in the basin. Flow about the same, plenty to keep river out of the run. |
| 1/21/2008 | Martin | 80 | Just did a short dive up to the Merry-go-round. Flow is way down, water temp was 71 degrees. Nice dive. |
| 12/16/2007 | Walter Pickel | 70' | Did a couple of swim dives this weekend. Interestingly, the flow seems a bit more positive than the last time I dove it. MANY juvenile catfish in the cavern zone by the "Abe Davis" Tunnel and in cavern tunnels. Eric and I looked at the Well bypass. It is obvious it hasn't been dove in some time. Also, some of the unmarked jumps need some line repair. |
| 12/4/2007 | Joe Park | 80 | Flow way down. Visibility excellent. Very low traffic due to being a weekday. Only 2 other teams of 2 there. Awesome cave and dive. |
| 11/11/2007 | Jim McMichael | 100 | Flow is still down, good dive |
| 10/22/2007 | Chad | 60' plus | Vis was great, not much flow. Only 1 solo diver before us and 1 team after us. Awesome dive and a great cave. |
| 10/6/2007 | Robert Pawlak | 60 | Flow still way down in the initial section, and only slightly higher past the Dome Room. It seems that current picked up slightly after the rain on 10/5/07. Good visibility in the main and side tunnels. Perfect conditions for long, scooter-less penetrations. Enjoy while it lasts :-) |
| 8/9/2007 | Narcosis | 70-80 | Dove here on 8-7-07 vis was great, not sure how to rate the flow as this is my first time there. I can say there wasn't much flow. |
| 7/22/2007 | Walter Pickel | 70' | As has been recently, the flow is way down (almost non existant) and the viz is good. Good time to go see the well casing. |
| 6/21/2007 | Mike Huff | 80 | As the reports from the last few months have noted, flow is WAY down, and it is a PRIME time to dive this site. Viz was fantastic, and the locals weren't horrible. Getting in isn't too bad despite the low water level. Everyone should make the end of the Florida Room on thirds right now. |
| 6/17/2007 | Raphael Tremblay | 60 plus | Flow is significantly down from last month. Did the mud and shorcut tunnel and then up the Fl room. Very nice. Still busy with divers on weekends. |
| 6/10/2007 | Bob Schulte | 80 plus | Flow is way, way down. Viz is awesome. Went to the well casing and my buddy and I were doing double takes at our SPGs we were using so little gas. Little River is PRIME right now. |
| 6/6/2007 | Waters | 60' plus | Tuesday was my first dive there and it was an amazing one. From what Bert and Ben said the flow is way down. Visibility was exceptional. The small twisting tunnels gave many spots for an easy pull and glide dive. My only question about the dive is the line arrows at the second 't'. Seemed a little odd. |
| 5/15/2007 | Raphael Tremblay | 60 | Flow is still very low compared to last fall. Might even be down from a few weeks ago. Clear basin/cavern. Pull/glide not really needed at this low flow. Swam up to about the end of Florida room. Water clear all the way. Locals show up around noon so morning are pretty much only divers. |
| 5/3/2007 | joe boone | 80 plus | dove little river on the 3rd. basin and cavern is clear. water level down to the rocks. gold line is in back of cavern. flow moderate as compared to ginnie. pull and glide helpful in parts of system. mud tunnel,merry go round and surpintine clear. now is a very good time to dive LR springs. weekdays have very few locals, weekends can be a zoo. joe boone |
| 4/23/2007 | John Young | 60' | Yesterday. Staged in, swam to well casing. Flow is way down. Vis around 60'. |
| 2/24/2007 | Walter Pickel | 80' | Dove the New Deep as well as the Harper Tunnel. Conditions remain great here - low flow & excellent viz. The water is a yellowish color and in the basin is about a foot from the sidewalk (down a foot from 2.18.2007). |
| 2/14/2007 | Jim Wyatt | 100 feet | Flow is way down . Visibility is 100 feet. |
| 2/6/2007 | Brian St.Clair | Excellent | Flow's way, way down, viz is excellent. |
| 1/7/2007 | Walter Pickel | 50 | Did a couple of scoter dives checking the lines and doing some survey work. Ended up a little passed the well casing. Flow is down as is the water level. Viz seemed to be degraded a bit with green water. |
| 11/5/2006 | Alex Mendez | 80 | the flow was way down vis was 80' really nice to dive there being that the flow was so minimal |
| 10/4/2006 | Craig Gaffka | Very Good | Lower flow and great viss. A very good time to make a dive at little river |
| 9/3/2006 | Walter Pickel | 100' | Did a nice dive down through the Florida Room. Flow is still moderate and viz is fantastic. |
| 8/14/2006 | Bert Wilcher | 100 | Water level is down, flow manageable with excellent visibility. Swam all the way through the Florida Room. Someone has changed the connection of the lines as you enter the Florida Room the arrows point down both the serpentine tunnel and the merry go round tunnel. |
| 8/6/2006 | Richard Atyeo | 60'-80' | Flow is way down the waters edge is a lot closer to the spring than the steps. Lots of swimmers. |
| 7/17/2006 | Bob Overstreet | 60 | Flow was much lower than was expected. Good visibility. Relatively easy to dive. |
| 7/16/2006 | Stacey Sandrey | 60 | Dove LR 7/15 & 7/16. What absolutely beautiful dives! Flow is down, and the viz is incredible. It's also the cleanest I have seen it in a very long time. No more huge particles flying past you. |
| 7/9/2006 | Kathleen | 80 feet | River is down creating a long entry/exit past the stairs into the pool. Flow was solid, but not impressive. New line has been placed moving the tie-off slightly closer to the entrance and in the middle of the tunnel. Distance has not yet been marked on permanent line arrows. Jumped to Mud Tunnel and followed Serpentine at the Merry Go Round. Second dive went right at the M.G.R. (a beautiful passage) on through Florida room. |
| 7/6/2006 | Rick Palm | 100 | Four of us entered the cave at 1215, and encountered a stiff flow, but excellent visibility. We shuttled out of the mainstream through the Mud Tunnel, and then took the Serpentine Tunnel to its terminus. We swam up the Florida Room to its end, and then turned the dive around, traveling back by way of the Merry Go Round.
Bottom line: Recommended. Nice, improving conditions and visibility, with the infamous Little River flow intact. We saw no other dive groups, just the locals swimming in the run and river. |
| 6/16/2006 | Sean Denney | 80' | We scootered up to the Dome room and swam from there up to the well casing and beyond. The visibility up to the well casing is almost crystal clear (only my light was the limiting factor). Beyond the well casing, the visibility began to drop out as our bubbles and swimming and stirring (scarring) the shrimp caused the particulate to come off the walls and ceiling. We decided to turn after a few hundred feet after the well casing. |
| 5/31/2006 | Jim Wyatt | 70 feet | Excellent vis - good flow. |
| 5/7/2006 | Jim Wyatt | 60 feet | Same as the report below. Flow is still up, vis is good. No other divers there today except the 2 of us. |
| 4/30/2006 | Jim Wyatt | 50-60 feet | As remarked below. We did a trip to the Florida Room on dive #1 - swimming and reached it well before thirds. Dive 2 we swam the Merry-go-Round. The flow is up but it is not an issue if using proper technique. The vis is fine. It is nice seeing this system again coming alive. |
| 4/26/2006 | Jim Wyatt | 50 feet | Basin is clear. Flow is rocking. Vis was 50 feet all the way. LR is definitely getting back in shape. I will be going there again next week. PS - To the poster below, Sean ---The cave did not swallow up the light from my 21 watt Salvo HID. :-) |
| 4/20/2006 | Sean Denney | 40' | The basin and entrance way are very clear, but further into the system, the visibility drops as your light is swallowed by the dark walls and the particulate in the water. The flow is pumping pretty hard. |
| 4/8/2006 | Scott MacLean | 60-70 | River is down to the concrete walkway around the spring basin and the flow is kickin'. Good vis back to the Florida room. No more permanent line run out from the gold line. |
| 3/31/2006 | Walter Pickel | 40-50' | The basin is very clear now and the water is just a bit higher than the walkway around the basin. There is a temporary line still installed from the tie off stake to the goldline.
We scooter a "few" times around the Serpentine and the Merry-Go-Round and did a short swim through the Florida Room. Water was yellow and hazy. Viz wasn't bad but not great either. |
| 3/14/2006 | TJ | 100 | THE BASIN IS CLEAR !!!!! Water is still high, but you can actually see the cave entrance again from the steps. Slight amount of particulate in the basin but the cave itself was crystal clear. Flow is down slightly, but it makes for a very nice ride out of the cave. |
| 3/11/2006 | Walter Pickel | 30-50 | Dove to the back of the Florida Room. Flow is picking back up and the basin has decent viz. However, there is a high level of particulate in the water. River water is only intruding above the entrance to the system -- makes for some spectacular views. |
| 3/1/2006 | John LaManna | 60-70' | Tannic water is starting to move away from the steps, only goes down 6 or 8 feet now. Flow is starting to go up some. A temporary/permanent line is in place starting at the steps, going into the cave, looped around the horseshoe stake, and right to the main line. The diving there is excellent. I went almost to the dome room swimming with one stage. Had a 94 minute dive. I highly recommend diving it while the conditions are like they are. |
| 2/25/2006 | Tim | 60' | Tannic is at 12-15'. The temporary guideline is still in place. Vis in the system is still good, but flow is picking up. |
| 2/22/2006 | John LaManna | 50'-60' | Tannic water is about 12 feet, so you can deco in warm water. Flow way down, easily made it to the end of the Florida room in about 20 minutes with plenty of gas before thirds. Vis 50-60, little milky. Bring a camera. The shot of the sun coming thru the tannic water on deco is awesome. |
| 2/19/2006 | Andre Basso | 75' | Tannic water is now only down to 20-30 feet. Just follow the guideline installed at the last step of the staircase all the way to the cave entrance. There may be people at the 20' entrance doing their deco where the water changes from zero viz to clear spring water. Be prepared to bump into them when you are coming from the tannic water. |
| 2/19/2006 | Adam Gonzales | Excellent | Tannic water went right down to 20ft, making for rather chilly 20 and 10ft stops! The cave was wonderful past the river water. |
| 2/11/2006 | Scott Byars | 40 -50 | Tannic to about 60ft. River is very high. No flow. |
| 2/5/2006 | Scott Byars | 60 | River is up. Water covering the bottom section of stairs. Flow way down and viz was great. The pool looks ugly but it is nice from the spring opening on down. |
| 1/18/2006 | Mike McAuliffe | 15-20' | River is down. Flow has increased since Friday and the vis is going down hill in a hurry. 15-20 foot, milky.grey to the Florida room, gets worse from there. We turned it in the Florida Room, needed to get to work and didn't want a lot of deco and the vis was getting worse the further we went. Maybe got down to 10 feet. |
| 1/8/2006 | Mike McAuliffe | Great! | Little River is awesome right now, flow is down and the particulate is down too, but cold deco |
| 12/30/2005 | Walter Pickel | 40' | Had a nice dive a couple hundred feet passed the Florida Room. Viz wasn't bad and the flow was way down. Sitting on O2 at 20' was easy. |
| 12/25/2005 | SLIM | 50-60 | Flow not bad but do not know what normal is. Water was up to the second wooden step. Spring pool was clear. |
| 12/10/2005 | Gary Ashburn | 40' | Main passage was about 40'. Cleared slightly at the 3 way split but in the dome room viz was 40' at most. In the passage leading to the Last Room vis varied widely 20'-50' in spots suspect intrusion from the left side of the passage and lots of light powder on floor getting entrained in the flow that seemed to contribute to the low vis. By the last room flow was quite low. Past the last room the light powder was thick on the floor - slightly packed but eroding at the edges like a light crust. Not quite clay like but so fine it may be a precursor - even light flow would entrain it and contribute to the low vis. Vis still in the 40' range. Light buildup of crap on the ceiling and walls - dark brown coating. At the spring vents the flow was unnoticeable but it was enough to keep the areas free of the entrained powder circulating everywhere else. Past the vents into the no-flow area beyond. Some haze and trapped tannic in the water. vis in the 20-30' range. Buildup getting much thicker on everything. Ceilings a heavier thick brown coating. On the floor a orange and white slurry of little snot-like balls. Thick orange buildup coating the line ranging from rare bare spots to literally 1 or 2 inch diameter sheaths of gunk. Vis continued to hover in the 20-30' range until a minor mistake zeroed viz in a small area. Once on the line contact the rest of the way out caused the gunk to shed the line and add to the peculation and already bad vis. Long way of near zero vis. Strong flow coming out of the deep section. The Old Deep and the New Deep have vis in the 60-80' range and good flow. Unfortunately the Small Creek Tributary is also flowing heavily spewing cloudy and tannicy water out to mix with the two cleaner sources. Vis coming from Small Creek looks to be in the 10' range. Most of the flow in the system seems to be coming from the deep sections especially Small Creek. The flow in the Last Room is almost zero and the source vents are so limited they barely have clear water at 5' from the vent. There is likely intrusion from the river downstream the Last Room as well. Flow from Small Creek is heavy and sustained. This seems to me to be a change from years past. Also flow from the source vents area seems reduced - also sustainedly so as evidenced by the light powder persisting there. |
| 10/24/2005 | Ken Paramore | 30' | Made it in with a class. Did four jumps and got a really good penetration, on two dives. I've never seen the flow at LR this strong. Larry Green commented on this, and agreed it is probably as strong as it has ever been. The tannic stain is heavy and the water still has sediment afloat, with a haze. I wonder if river water intrusion might be a factor, after all the flooding of the past? Speleogenisis? The caves live and continue to change. Great Diving! Bless, Kenny P. |
| 10/23/2005 | John Viehe | 20ft | Very heavy flow, only went to table rock, 300ft in. Lots of sand in the water. Tannic staining on the walls. |
| 10/16/2005 | Walter Pickel | 30' | The flow at Little River is running pretty strong. Visibility is around 30 feet with some cloudiness. Also, the water still has a bit of a yellowish tinge to it. |
| 9/18/2005 | Tom Hundley | 25-30 FT | Still kicking but getting clearer. Big chunks of silt or algae exiting the system made it interesting but did not detract from the dive too much. The whole run is clear now. |
| 9/6/2005 | Jim Wyatt | 20-25 | We made 2 dives -- kicking flow & 20 feet of vis. Water is green/clear in the basin. |
| 11/26/2003 | Admin | Unknown | Diver expired in the system IUCRR Report |
| Description | Type | Date | Author | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cavern Map |
Map | |||
| Decorative Map |
Map | |||
| System Map |
Map | |||
| System Map #2 |
Map | |||
 Video |
YouTube | |||
| Video |
YouTube | |||
 Video |
MOV HD | 2007 | Slawek Packo | "The Loop" |
| System | Depth | Cave | Cavern | OW | Last Report | Distance (mi) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  Cow Spring |
110 |  True |
 False |
False |
1/20/2024 | 11.6 |
| Ruth Spring |
50 | True |
False |
False |
6/11/2023 | 0.6 |
| Peacock Springs - Peacock III |
214 | True |
False |
False |
3/12/2023 | 13.2 |
| Peacock Springs - Peacock I |
175 | True |
True |
False |
11/17/2022 | 13.2 |
 Royal Spring |
50 | True |
True |
True |
11/15/2022 | 8.8 |
| Peacock Springs - Orange Grove |
175 | True |
True |
True |
3/30/2022 | 13.3 |
| Troy Spring |
70 | False |
True |
True |
9/16/2020 | 2 |
| Owens Spring |
45 | True |
False |
False |
10/7/2019 | 5.6 |
| Suwannee Blue Spring |
40 | True |
False |
False |
6/28/2016 | 8.5 |
| Convict Spring |
30 | True |
False |
False |
11/23/2015 | 10 |
| Mearson Springs |
True |
False |
False |
6/6/2015 | 4.7 | |
| Peacock Springs - Peacock II |
True |
False |
False |
4/8/2015 | 13.2 | |
| Bathtub Spring |
20 | True |
False |
False |
2/5/2011 | 10.3 |
| Branford Spring |
101 | True |
False |
False |
1/16/2010 | 3.7 |
| Hidden Spring |
True |
False |
False |
6/1/2006 | 11.5 | |
| Double Sink |
True |
False |
False |
4.6 | ||
| Running Springs |
False |
False |
False |
11.6 |