Skies were clear and sunny, with a slight breeze out of the east on April Fool’s Day 2023. FSS President J. Fletcher set up a morning work day for the group, with an afternoon exploration of Catacombs Cave. No one was really sure if we would get underground–it was April Fools Day.

After working in the hot sun and getting a bit of lunch and hydration, everyone was looking forward to the cool waters below ground, provided we could all get through the tiny awkward entrance gate. The timing was perfect. The water levels had dropped, and bat maternity season would start in a couple of days. Which means the cave would be closed, so the bats can do their thing.

This was the first time anyone had been in this cave in two years due to the water levels being very high in Florida. They have now dropped to almost record lows. This allowed us to access passages not seen in many years, but it is an environmental worry, with the Florida heat starting to turn up.

Thanks to Nicole Marti, Kat Newell, and Fletcher for providing pictures.

Being a caver is not just about exploration.
Cavers also have an obligation to the conservation of caves. While we normally bring trash bags to pick up occasional litter on our caving trips, certain caves are trashed so regularly that we must organize dedicated cleanup events.

Jennings Cave is an example of a cave that is often treated as a trash bin by those that are not educated on the significance of cave conservation. For this cleanup event, several members of our group geared up and rappelled into the pit with trash bags to collect litter, including a multitude of broken beer bottles.

Jennings Cave property is also subject to illegal dumping of materials, such as concrete, wood, appliances, and scrap metal. Fortunately, no large items were tossed into the cave this time. However, there were a lot of materials scattered on the ground surrounding the cave entrance.

Despite a little rain on March 6th, 2021, Natalie, Fletcher, Kat, and Bill were joined by the newest Florida Speleological Society (FSS) Members: Sean, Nicole, and the Ritter Family, to help clean up the beloved Jennings Cave property.

Thanks to Bill and his truck we were to be able to take debris away to a good place for the county to come out and pick it up.

Jennings Cave is owned by the Southeastern Cave Conservatory Inc. (SCCi). The FSS helps to manage the cave. If you are interested in caving, the SSCi is a valuable resource, always working to save caves and surrounding properties.

Are you interested in learning safe and responsible caving? Message us through the CONTACT tab on this very website for information on becoming involved in the community.

Story by Fletcher Jacobs

Many people make New Year’s resolutions: eat less, lose weight, exercise…Kat and Fletcher are no different, but their resolution was to go caving. After contacting Dave and Phil who came down from Jacksonville, we went to Whitcliff Cave on the beautiful morning of January 16, 2021.

We had a little trouble getting into the cave, but once we were able to access the property (legally of course). We dropped through the Caliber Check opening and explored the underground.

Whitecliff is a good winter time cave. Underground temperatures are the average of the yearly temperatures of the area, Florida is 70-72, Georgia is 60-65 degrees, New York is around 50. Florida caves are warm. Whitecliff is even warmer. The theory is that the sun warms the lime rock cliff radiating heat underground. Whitecliff is fairly shallow (10 to 30 feet underground). If it was a little deeper maybe we could conjure up some good volcanic activity theories. Never the less: this is a great winter time cave.

Caving in Whitecliff is a great way to start off the year.

Story by Phil

Sometimes its just nice to get away. With COVID looming, trips have been down. There have also been a few new members that were looking forward to getting underground. Natalie rose to the challenge and put together a small group to explore Florida’s underground oasis on Septeber 26, 2020.

All photos taken from Kat Newell’s GO-PRO film that can be seen on the FSS Facebook Page:

The group walks into the underground wonder.

If you are a caver, you may recognize the old dock from when they gave tours here long ago.

Water was down to the bottom step, which is a great time to explore.

Everyone still had to get wet, even though the water was down.

Due to the slightly lower water tables, there is a lot more cave to explore.

If you want to see more, visit the Florida Speleological Society (FSS) Facebook Page. If you can’t see it, and want to, maybe you should become a member.

The Florida Speleological Society (FSS) volunteers to take groups underground. We would actually prefer to get a call, coordinate permissions with landowners, find good guides, and  write-up, fill out, and file all paperwork for a group than the group simply going by themselves. This ensures everyone is safe, the landowner knows about the trip, and all bases are covered.

The plan was originally going to be leading a group of Boy Scouts through Lundy’s Cave on December 10th. However, the scouts double booked and cancelled about a month and a half prior to the trip. Since we already had permissions set up–we thought we would just go and have some fun. Folks from the River City Grotto (RCG) in Jacksonville Florida and the FSS in Gainesville came out to spend the day. We explored seldom traveled area’s and rigged the pit. At the end of the day we were saying our good byes and a large tree fell over right in front of our group. It was an exciting finish to an absolutely beautiful day.

Photos and Story by Phil Walker

The gang exits Tucks. After a little food, drink, and rest everyone heads back underground.

Joey, Tony, Ben, and Benjamin heading into Lundy’s.

Benjamin finds the route.

Not to be outdone, Joey follows Benjamin.

Working smarter, rather than harder–Tony takes the stars.

A stick bug, or as Tony called it…a Anisomorpha buprestoides.

Benjamin strolls the tunnel.

Home to the right, so Mike heads to the left.

How many caves can you egress by simply walking up the stairs.

Steve exits with the rest of the nuts, having a great time.

Every caver from the Ocala area has a soft spot for Ocala Caverns. The property was originally a turn-of-the-century quarry. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the property was cleaned up and used as a movie set for a Tarzan movie starring Johnny Weissmuller. Later, the property was bought by the famous wrestler “Man Mountain” Dean, who beautified the area with botanical gardens, waterfalls, pools, and paths. Dean, himself, who was quite a showman, gave very colorful tours of the dry cave known as the Iron Curtain Cave, and also the Main Cave from a boat on the underground Olygoygus river.

After the death of “Man Mountain” Dean, the gates were locked, the waterfall stopped flowing, fittings and hinges rusted, structures rotted, weeds encroached, and nature took back its beloved quarry. Eventually, the remnants of buildings were demolished. To make matters worse, vandals trespassed onto the abandoned property, leaving trash and defacing the two caves with paint.

In 2009, the Florida Speleological Society and the Ocala Sheriff’s Department launched a clean-up effort to preserve the cave area and provide a training ground for K9 units.

On Sunday afternoon, December 2, 2012, the FSS visited the area again to clean up trash that had blown in around the fence line and to trim a bit of overgrowth. Rob Bradshaw came by with his children, Shelby and Chris. Stories were
told of “Man Mountain” Dean and the Ocala Caverns when they were a local attraction. Rob brought a box of memorabilia from the Ocala Caverns glory days for everyone to ponder. These treasures are being scanned and will soon be available for all to see. In appreciation, we took Rob and his family on a tour of the property and the two caves. Shelby and Chris seemed to be naturals, squeezing into the drop in the back of the Uranium Mine and trudging through the water in the main cavern.

Thanks to all who participated: Jon Singley, Mike Gordon, Kitty Markley, Steve Nemith, Phil and Betsey Walker, Al Krause, and his grandson Brian.

All photos taken by Jon Singley, story by Philip Walker.

Marissa put together a trip to Catacombs on November 18, 2012. We have 10 people total for the trip. We met at the regular meeting place, and got to catch up with Danny and Annette. After chatting with them we headed over to Catacombs. Jason went ahead and graciously rigged both drops for us. Everyone got geared up their wetsuits, vertical gear, and rubber duckies. We headed in. If you haven’t been to catacombs before the gate there is very small and interesting. You enter through the gate laying on your stomach, feet first, and go right into a pretty decent size drop. The only thing holding you there is a small piece of re-barb sticking out. Jason hung out and guided everyone onto the re-barb. Once a few of us made it down both drops. We saw how high the water was! From past trips there none of us had ever saw the water so high! We knew this would be a fun and interesting trip! We spent the next few hours literally swimming around in the cave. We did quite a few ear dips in some areas. It was loads of fun! We got very lucky, if water levels had been much higher we wouldn’t have been able to go past the first room. We had a blast

swimming around and checking out all kinds of neat fossils. At the end of the day we all climbed out, wet and muddy. We had a great trip and decided to head to Olive Garden.

It was the weekend of the TAG fall cave in and Wade and I made it to Jasper, TN at 3am. We pulled up to Kelly and Jason’s house and snuck in for a few hours of shut eye. We all awoke around 7:00 am to get ready to go. We headed towards the Cave In but took a small detour to go see Anderson Springs Cave first. The hike to Anderson Springs is great on the way to the cave. It’s all downhill! Of course we all joked about the fact that after completing our visit we’d be walking back up hill for about a mile to get to our vehicles. During the walk we talked a bit about Anderson Springs Cave. Kelly was our fearless leader today sense she is only one that had been there before. Kelly had actually been there about nine times! She made it clear this time we were making it to the 25 foot waterfall in the back! We were only too happy to oblige. Wade and I live in Florida so we try to make the most out of every cave trip we do.

Once we made it to the cave entrance we all got changed into our caving gear. As we entered the cave we all noticed the water level seemed really low. This was a good sign sense some areas can sump in this cave, making it impossible to reach the back. Shortly into the cave you get to the first area that can sump. It’s was a nice wet crawl today! Jason and Kelly in the lead, we could hear the noises we know we all make when that initial cold water gets into your clothes and shoes. Nothing like getting wet the

first 10 minutes into the cave! After the crawl we were able to stand up again. The passage continued for a ways with mostly walking and some stoop walking. Then we saw that beautiful Georgia mud we all love. You know the kind that suctions your shoes. We worked our way up to a room that Kelly had wanted to show us. We were really glad she knew about this room. What awaited us in the stream passage was another wet crawl. So we headed up into this room instead. This room was beautiful! There were formations everywhere. We took a short break in this room while Kelly got out her camera equipment. We all obligingly spread out around the room with flashes. I quickly volunteered to go hide behind a beautiful row of formations. While back there I noticed a beautiful pool of water with an interesting formation in it I’d never seen before. There was also a spot between the formations that look just like a heart. After photographing this room we moved on to find some awesome looking bacon formations. Kelly and Jason played with all kinds of ways to light this up. We then headed on and did a slide down of mud that we all kept telling ourselves would be easy to climb up later. Jason decided to go a different way and popped out below us. We knew we were definitely going out the way he came!

The next area was very unique and beautiful. It was an area where the stream when thru all kinds of fossils. We decided to photograph this passage. Jason stood in the middle with his carbide lamp lit and showed Kelly the biggest smile I think I’ve seen on a picture of him yet. Wade hid behind him to get the lighting just right. I lit up the area from next to Kelly.

After this point the cave becomes a blur of stoop walking and wet crawling. Kelly had never come much further than this in the 9 times she had been there. At this point everyone had always turned around, wet and cold. Well we were not about to do that! We pushed on. I recall some cold ear dips that is for sure. We got to area where Jason was in the lead and he disappeared down a crawl way. While I watched his body slide downward and disappear I thought, “oh this is not going to be fun coming out.” I sat there for a moment and said, “I don’t know if I want to do this.” Wade was all ready to go and was about to jump in front of me and I couldn’t have that. We heard some moaning and grunting coming from Jason and thought, “oh this can’t be good.”

I had already told Wade I was going next so in I went. Once I saw that crawl way I knew why I had heard moaning and grunting, there was a huge rock right in the middle of the crawl way that you had to work your way over. The passage was just big enough for my helmet and body to get thru. At one point I started laughing and that yelling that my helmet was stuck. Once I was able to unstick my helmet and turn my head I started grunting as pulled my way over the large rock in my path. I decided to exhale and push and pull all at once, determined to make it thru with that breath. Well I did, but I also ripped a giant hole clear thru the first shirt I had on. Luckily I had on a few layers. I made it thru and we were in a low area that looked sandy. I waited for Wade and Kelly to come thru. Kelly laughed as she got her

helmet momentarily stuck, as well. Once all of us were thru the squeeze we continued on. At this point the cave went from crawling in and out of water. I decided during the areas where I couldn’t crawl on all fours that I would roll. It seemed perfect for rolling sense it was a long sandy/rocky area with no formations. They all made fun of me but I was super-fast that way!

I can’t remember who called it first but someone heard a waterfall! This excited all of us. We knew we were getting close. Kelly had warned us there was a small waterfall before the large one so we weren’t disappointed when we first approached a tiny 5 foot waterfall. We climbed up and crawled around the waterfall excited, knowing we were close to the end. We turned a corner and there was the waterfall pouring from the ceiling. There is a rope installed back there and the cave apparently

continues on. We noticed a small wear spot in the rope. None of us had brought vertical gear, anyway. We were just excited to have made it to this point. Kelly quickly handed out strobes to all of us so we could get a picture of this waterfall we had heard so much about. Plus, I wasn’t so sure any of us would go all the way back there to see it again! After a few photo attempts we decided to head out.

I don’t think I’ve ever exited a cave so quickly. We bypassed the muddy climb ups that we were worried about and swam thru the wet crawls instead. It’s funny how no matter how many times you crawl thru those, the water always shocks you. We took a couple breaks and that crawl we all enjoyed so much on the way in was just as fun on the way out. Going uphill while squeezing thru a tiny area is always fun, especially when there are no foot holds. I accidentally kicked some mud in Wade’s face and it stayed there all night. Kelly and Jason made it out first. Wade and I followed and I was excited to see sun light. We made it out and changed into some clean clothes. We then started the mile hike back up the mountain to our cars.

The hike seemed to go on forever. Once we finally made it we headed over to the TAG Fall Cave-In and set up tent for the weekend.

By: Marissa Lasso

Photos Courtesy of Kelly Smallwood

Photo Courtesy of Kelly Smallwood

Photo Courtesy of Kelly Smallwood

Photo Courtesy of Kelly Smallwood

In early January Sean and I decided to check out an old Ocala quarry that we’d both been to, but had never really checked that well. We decided to systematically walk every inch of the quarry looking for caves. Unfortunately we didn’t find anything more than shallow alcoves, but we did see some interesting junk.