Your Source for Tampa Bay Boating & Diving Information
 

So for sometime I have had issues with my sites staying up (x64, x86, SQLServer, ADO, MDAC, yadda yadda). It has frustrated me to the point of finally doing something about it. I have finally embraced virtualization for my personal systems  and now have new servers running for my sites (caves.tampadiving.com, www.karstunderwaterresearch.org). You should not experience the downtime you have seen in the past. My apologizes if you were looking for conditions or using the maps and they were unavailable.

Other Updates

• Changed method of displaying system overview pictures
• Changed method of posting condition reports
• Fixed Firefox 3.x bug experienced when attempting to add a condition report
• Added TOPO maps to all map views
• Resources tab for system pages (maps, pictures, videos, etc.)
• Always new systems being added

If you have any comments or questions please let me know. Also, I am always looking for new features to add to my site.

From time to time I have to travel for work and ultimately I leave on Sunday.  This usually leaves me in the position of not being able to dive on Saturdays.  Lucky for me we have some great friends at USF Karst (Jason, Grant and others) as well as Tom and Robert (TRUE Karst Hounds) that don't mind taking us to see some great dry caves.  We enjoy it almost as much much as Daisy does.  Daisy is our beautiful Walker Treeing Coonhound seen at the bottom of the picture.  She is trying very hard to be a good karst hound!

Robert has taken us under his wing and has been teaching us the finer arts of belly crawling and rope work.  In return, we have tried to show Robert some interesting wet caves and help him in the fine art of pulling and gliding.  It really is a great partnership!  To make it even better, we are trying to get Tom to take Cavern and Intro with Jim Wyatt.

Tom is simply an unbelievable source of information from caves to karst to flora and fauna.  Click here to take a look at some of his pictures of the Florida underground.  Also, take a look at the some of the amazing formations that have been unearthed by mining operations.  It is truly amazing, while at the same time horrifying, to see clear calcite formations littered on the ground.

The North Florida caves are starting to show some improvement.  The common systems (Peacock, Little River, Cow, etc.) are improving but are still not diveable.  However, if you need to get wet, Ginnie is still pumping clear water and Madison has started to improve.  Central Florida caves such as Wayne's World, Eagle's Nest, etc are also diveable.  Those North Florida systems should be opening up within a month or so.

Systems up in the Panhandle seem to be doing well and lets hope that is the case.  We are taking a trip up to Marianna next weekend so we will get see for ourselves.  Although I have been really looking forward to that trip, I would rather be in Weeki Wachee.  I have had my fingers crossed all spring that the flow at Weeki Wachee would drop like a rock so we can get back in there; only time will tell.  As of today the flow is 117 cfs which is still too high for safe diving operations.

If you haven't already, sign up for the 2008 NSS CDS Annual Workshop.  You can find more information by clicking here.

Great news everyone! The Protect Florida Springs specialty license plate is now available at most DMV offices throughout the state.  I actually got mine a few weeks ago -- the first day they were available.

Getting this plate approved was a very long process and a lot of work was done by many people.  I greatly appreciate Wildlife Trust and Wildlife Foundation of Florida making this plate a reality.  Do your part to protect Florida springs and get one of these plates.  The registration fee is only $25 and is distributed to Wildlife Foundation of Florida.