By Starr Munro
Riverbend News
On the South side of the Suwannee River, Northeast of Mayo in Lafayette County, lies Jim Hollis's Suwannee River Rendezvous. Inside that resort/campground lies Convict Springs, a well-known spring to locals, with the story behind its naming just as familiar. In the early 1900's the State of Florida used the property to house chain gangs who were on work detail if they worked too late into the evening to be brought back to Lafayette County Jail. Most residents of Mayo know of the artifacts from that time in history that are sometimes unearthed in the area. But, some may be interested to learn about the dangerous cave diving of the past that is no longer permitted there today.
One may feel inclined to chuckle at the thought of “what might have been,” if some secretly ingenious convict had somehow known about the cave systems underneath the spring, built himself a breathing apparatus and given his guards the slip. It seems absurd, and may make some laugh at the impossibility of such a thing but stranger things have happened. The very act of cave diving would be considered absurd, impossible and strange in most of our past eras and to the people who lived in them.
Cave diving is a beloved Florida pastime for natives and snowbirds alike. Scuba divers come from all over the world to traverse through the turquoise springs that are sometimes home to secretive little caves that normal swimmers can't easily reach and where you can see everything clear as crystal. This is an experience that has helped the Florida tourism industry become what it is today after diving became more popular in the early 2000's than it ever had been in the 1950's. In the 1950's, civilians first began experimenting with the bold adventure that is diving deep underwater with an extra supply of oxygen.
Between 1985 and 2015, 165 divers who perished in cave exploration in America have been identified. Cave diving is considered an extreme sport, submerging in an area underwater where you cannot swim directly back above to resurface for air is a risk one takes when cave diving. It's a danger that can happen easily due to the chance of getting lost underneath caverns by the sifting sand that is kicked up while swimming that can disorientate a divers sense of direction, resulting in the waste of oxygen. And a majority of the deaths that have taken place in those 20 years have occurred in the caverns of aquifer systems that reside deep under the entire state of Florida.
The very first team of cave divers to explore the cave system under Convict Springs, which at that point was a complete and utter mystery to people, was in 1968 when a team of divers from the University of Florida explored 497 feet. However, the caverns continued to reside beneath the water of Convict Springs for another decade until Sheck Exley and Mary Ellen Eckhoff dove again in 1981 and mapped out the first 93 feet of the area. The endeavor was cut short and a lot was left unmapped and unknown due to the blockage of a sand-filled and silty dark cave that proved the mission a risky one. After this attempt, the caves were once more left alone for another decade until Bill Rennaker came along in 1992.
Rennaker, who recently retired in 2018 from an impressive career of teaching diving techniques to countless students, was instructing some classes on cavern diving for Jim Hollis, the landowner; when he requested permission to attempt another feat of exploration of the cave system. At the time, Hollis merely pointed to the “No cave diving” sign that was posted nearby before eventually agreeing to allow Rennaker the chance in 1996, knowing of his expertise in a technique called “Sidemount diving.” Hollis realized that this particular technique may allow Rennaker to explore the tight passages that reside under the spring with more ease than previous divers who had attempted. Rennaker would have less of a chance of one of his oxygen tanks getting struck or stuck by the extremely tight limestone walls and ceiling.
On that first dive, Rennaker and John Moseley explored for longer than an hour underwater and discovered a new cavern. This new cavern was more than 500 feet from a cavern area previously discovered and mapped where an old tree had fallen through. The tree left a ceiling in the cave, and therefore, received the name “Hangin' Tree.” Hollis was not only thrilled when they came back up safe and sound but to hear that they also reported on the cave system being much larger than anyone originally knew it to be. On the next dive he organized, Bill and Dell Moats covered yet another 500 feet below Convict Springs before Bill eventually went further on his own, carefully making his way through a very small and sand filled passage for a further 75 feet until the cave opened up yet again into a small canyon. Later on, Mosley returned by himself and investigated the Northern passage to a total of 1,530 feet. Rennaker and Dooley came back and did eight more dives which they filmed. The caves are nitrate-rich and filled with crawdads and catfish, but not being able to see where a diver is going is half the danger, the water is murky with rich nitrates and sandy silt compared to some caves that are open to diving. So, the caves of Convict Springs is one area in Lafayette County that is not open to the public and may never be.
There are so many marvels around us, not just above and among us but below us as well. It took seven more dives to survey the areas that were accessible to divers and to map out what lay beneath Convict Springs by Michael Poucher. Poucher graciously took the time to write and make all this information public for people to read, since they will never have the adventure themselves. It was a collective effort that took years of collaboration and endurance to piece together 2,054 feet of cavernous area. If people like the ones mentioned above didn't make it their mission to try and discover as much about the cave systems of North Florida as they could, the people who live here would be left in the dark. They would be left unaware of so many natural wonders that human beings cannot learn about naturally, without the help of a breathing apparatus.