It started with the alarm clock bringing me out of a deep sleep at 3:00AM. Normally, nothing could get me of bed that early with the exception of a dive at DiePolder Sinks. The gear was already loaded in the truck the night before while my mind was functioning. DiePolder Sinks are located on The Sand Hills Boy Scout Reservation east of Weeki Watchie Springs about 1 hour north of Tampa. Named after the DiePolder family who deeded the property to the scouts, it is synonymous with big, deep cave. The sinks suitable for diving are Sinks II & III. Diving at DiePolder is reserved for The Florida Speleological Research, Inc. (FSR) and their guests. I was fortunate enough to be enrolled in a trimix course through Larry Green of FSR, Inc. who escorted me into Sink III. Sink III is very typical of sinks in Florida, with a basin approximately 75 feet in diameter. We dropped oxygen deco bottles at 30ffw and continued down a vertical shaft dropping EAN40 deco bottles at 110ffw. A line starts near the surface and is tied to a submerged tree making it easy to hang bottles. The line continues its vertical descent until the walls suddenly disappear on all but one side of the shaft. At this point the line Ts in two directions close to the ceiling at 180ffw. The bottom is approximately another 70ffw beneath the line at this point. Needless to say, good buoyancy control is rather important. The lines head into the cave at about 90 degrees to each other. DiePolder III is comprised of one large .no .. one very large room approximately 400 feet by 300 feet with depths in the back section of the room at nearly 300ffw (like a Super Wal Mart 11 stories tall). The two lines create a circuit circumnavigating the room. On this trip we made two dives (one on Sunday one Monday). On the first dive we took the line to the right which takes you counterclockwise around the room. On a trimix blend of 17/35 we made our way around the room admiring the school bus size boulders on the floor 30 feet below us. At the back of the room the floor slopes down to just under 300ffw but I stayed with the line at around 254ffw. Equipped with a SarTech HID light (an incredible light saber) I was able to illuminate breakdown on the floor 50 feet below me. Continuing around the room the line hugs the wall before reaching the T indicating the completion of the circuit and unfortunately the end of this dive. The circuit takes roughly 20 minutes at a moderate pace. Starting our ascent at 30ffw/minute we make our first deco stop at 110ffw while still on trimix. Stops between 100ffw and 30ffw where conducted breathing EAN40 and stops at 20ffw & 10ffw using oxygen.
After only 76 minutes of leaving the surface I return the same, physically at least (except for the infusion of inert gases) but somehow different psychologically. Call it spiritual or whatever you like, but it will change you for you have just observed one of the most awesome sites on earth. On Monday we dove the same gas blend and profile, only this time we elected to swim clockwise around the grand room yielding an entirely different perspective. Visibility exceeded 200 feet in the grand room with pristine silt mounds everywhere.
These dives represent my 4th & 5th dives at DiePolder III Sink since 1988. I dove it twice on air and three times on trimix. The air dives were in 1988 & early 1989 before trimix training was as easily available as it is now. Given the depths involved, the ease with which trimix training can be acquired and how little memory I have of those air dives, I strongly suggest saving this dive for a good trimix blend with an EAD of around130ffw or less. In addition, The FSR, Inc. requires that you are a Wakulla or Abe Davis award recipient (bestowed upon cave divers having logged at least 100 safe cave dives after completing training by the NSS-CDS or the NACD) prior to diving this sink. It would help if some of the dives were at depths well exceeding 100ffw (i.e. 100 Peacock type dives at 70ffw does not prepare you for 260ffw so I suggest diversifying your dive portfolio).
Great Diving
