Devils Den

These Florida people LOVE their initials. They have initials for everything. They say “went to DS and NPR”. I have no clue….. But I will become one of the gang …. I will use initials…. From now on I will say… Them F people LOVE their initials. They have initials for everything….. it just seems wrong….. but when in Rome…..ahhhh

And so you F people….. here is my dive report

Devils Den with the Two F Gentlemen

l got up very early….. just let it be known….. but Skim was driving and as long as I didn’t get lost trying to find him he would get me to the dive site……

And so my morning begins….. feed the dog, pack the car and off I go to find the parking lot of choice. We were going to Devil’s Den. Cave country is officially flooded and cold air and strong winds have made diving scarce in these parts and a day at the springs was in order.

Devils Den is a karst window, an underground spring, inside of a dry cave which the ground overhead has opened up, exposing the water to the outside world above.

This is no small cave with a little sump inside. The water surface extends approximate 170 feet, end to end and the sump is shaped like an inverted mushroom, with the edges extending out beyond the water’s surface. The rock around these extended edges hold myriads of ancient fossils embedded in the limestone walls and 4 cave entrances.

In the mornings, on a cold day, when the cold air meets the constant 72F water, steam rises from the surface and it is said early settlers seeing this “smoke” believed this to be a direct sign of the spring being connected to the Devil and a gateway to Hell, thus giving it the name, Devil’s Den.

This is what you see….. What you don’t see are the 4 caves extending beneath the pools surface. These are blocked off by a latticework of plastic piping and rebar or grim reaper signs stating nothing beyond is worth dying for.

It is down the passage known as Chamber 3, at approximately 70 feet that there have been discovered the remains of extinct animals from the Pleistocene Age over 2 million years ago including a salamander, some anurans, a slew of turtles, an alligator, a lizard, and a bunch of snakes and along side of these the bones of early man from over 75 thousand years ago.And this is our playground for today.

Brian drove and we made it to the dive site without detour or drama….. well maybe a slight detour through the Mickey D’s drive through… which left Chris yearning for Cinnabuns the whole day.

We arrive at Devil’s Den and pull into the loading zone. A quick trip to the potty and my 2 nights in shining armor are….. gone. We all know my amazing directional abilities. The area we are in is at the back of the office and I walk down the road, through the grass, over the fence, down the path, through the gate around the side and in through the sliding door to be greeted by a pleasant gentleman who asks “are you diving with the other 2 guys? They just left” and he opens a little door and lets me out the back of the building 20 feet from where I started. And are my two little gentlemen escorts standing there awaiting my arrival? Noooooo…. Like Pinky and the Brain they are off plotting more confusion for my day.

We unload the truck to picnic tables near the Den entrance. I lug tanks, bags and a crate full of dive gear….out of which falls a 2lb soft weight. Pinky, who is carrying a small gym bag, the size of a Kate Spade purse, and an empty coffee cup, picks up the weight and like a true gentleman….. gently places it atop my oversized load. I can’t thank him enough… really… I try, but I can’t.

We suit up in the brisk morning air… the gentlemen into the chilly neoprene of their wetsuits, and I, with sweats intact, into my dry suit……hehehehe…..

You enter the Den through a vine covered narrow passageway, down a steep narrow set of stone steps, arriving in a huge cavern of limestone rock etched out over eons of time with cracks and nooks and crannies, and long stalactites dripping from above. A low narrow archway leads to even steeper wooden steps going down to the water.

Did I mention steps….. like a gazillion o f them….. I let Brian go first…just in case… so I have something soft to land on. This all leads to a wooden platform at the waters surface. From here, as you gaze up and around at the ancient rock formations lining the walls you see the beams of light center stage coming from the moss and vine framed opening above. It truly is beautiful and impressive.

We pull on our fins and masks and slip beneath the water’s surface. Here the water is dark and clear and we turn on our lights to explore what lies beneath. Well some of us do….others are still perfecting that on off thing……

There are limestone rock formations at every turn and in several places huge rock pockets form long swim throughs as we circle the sumps walls. There are deep dark pockets to peer into and we have been forewarned entry of any of the caves of jutting off the main room is not allowed. They are truly inviting and I do take a peek. The upper cave entrances have signs blocking their entrance; one a grim reaper and one just don’t go here sign. The lower caves are blocked with a matrix of rebar and plastic piping.

And… there are fish. Great big catfish and little bitty perch and teeny baby fishies….. all just itching for a game of chase and poke. As I circle around I stick my head in all manner of crack and crevice, shining my light into the darkness, sometimes seeing the rounded rock walls meet the sandy silty floor and other times just seeing the narrowing of the passages as they funnel into nothingness.

All along the walls are fossils, hundreds of them, embedded in the stone. Sand dollars and shells of all shapes and sizes…… millions of years old….older than my 3rd grade teacher even….. you just move along and they follow one after the other and you can reach a finger out and touch what was such an unfathomable long time past.

After an hour we head up and clamor atop the platform and ready for the long walk up…. you know it’s really far….. you know there are 57 stairs…… uphill stairs…..all of them….every last one of them….

We sit outside as the sun peeks its way out. It doesn’t really warm up but the brightness is welcomed. We eat chips and talk diving and all manner of things as we while away the time between dives. And as the time for dive two approaches, my companions begin to waiver in the chill February air. What is up with this weather F people…. Who did you guys piss off? Ahhhh, but in the end they manup and don their frigid wetsuits and rush to the warmth of the cave and spring water.

We plan on only a short dive…..just check things out once more and then we are heading home to heat pumps pumping and big screen TV’s and that super bowl thingy….. but for now, just once more around the dance floor. Nooks and crannies, little fish just out of reach, shimmery puddles of air caught against the overhead rock just waiting for a finger to come along and swirl them back into tiny bubbles floating up into the water. Deep holes and lacey openings leading to who knows where and remnants of days gone by. All in this little cave half filled with water, that looks like the land that time forgot.

Our dive is done and all that is left is the final climb back to sun and civilization. A climb up the narrow rickety stair case. Did I mention steps….. like a gazillion o f them…..

We load up the truck, I slip into my rig, grab 2 more tanks and someone takes his little gym bag and a tissue and we load up the truck and are soon on our way home. Did I mention my home has no steps…. Home Sweet Home…….