Jacob's Well Natural Area
- Thread starter hsnowden
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I just don't understand the general attitude in this state regarding cave diving. It's like most people think it's some terribly taboo activity that only someone with a death wish would participate in. It's either that or you have to be allowed in "the club" to have access. I got news for you folks...it's not for thrill seekers and those members of "the club" got their experience somehow and somewhere. They have no special skills or knowledge that any other technical diver has or can't gain quickly.
I think what aggravates me the most is when every system is described as being so very dangerous. I'm no fool. I understand why there are some sections of Jacob's and Goodenough that can be dangerous, but to describe the entire system as hazardous is hogwash IMO.
I've dove Mante for example. When we were trying to locate it an experienced cave diver had this question for us:
"Do you know what you will find at the bottom of Mante?" he asked.
"No, what?"
"El Diablo," he replied.
Well, maybe so, but El Nacimiento del Rio Mante is 881' deep. We had no intention of going to the bottom of Mante. We did dive it and turned around at what I consider a safe depth. I don't understand why our caves can't be dived with equal prudence by qualified divers.
I don't want to hear the "endangered species" BS excuse either. Certified cave divers are just as environmentally sensitive as anyone...way more than most. They don't touch the cave walls if they don't have too...much less the marine life. They don't drag around on the bottom and they don't do anything to contaminate the water. Using bug spray to keep the mosquitoes away on the trek to the cave is even a no-no.
Yes, keep the unqualified out for their sake as well as the cave environment, but let those who have the training in. We can take water samples, map the system, count those salamanders and even bring back samples of living species for scientific study if they need it. A lot of times the samples of life can even be returned alive with zero damage done.
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FYI...Phantom Springs Ranch, including the springs, is for sale. Anyone want to do a Sheck Exley and buy their own cave here's your chance!
Debraw
Contributor
And what would be the asking price for Phantom? I thought Phantom had a sizeable donation from the government to keep those endangered pupfish alive.
ianr33
Contributor
Phantom Springs is drying up. There is too little recharge and too much irrigation. Last time I was down in the region (little over a year a go) it was pretty dry.. There is a picture on the Internet of a pump pulling water out of the system because the water levels are too low to flow out. The system did blow out around October 2004. San Solomon Springs looked like a normal TX lake for about 2 months with about 1ft of visibility and the water levels up to the side walk... We were getting a whopping 24ft of depth then.
Debraw
Contributor
I know some people that dove that property about 2-3 months ago. There was plenty of water at that time. Maybe it's not the pupfish, but it is definitely an endangered species that lives there and the government has aloud the environmentalists to still allow a sizeable amount of money to keep them going. I will try and get the name.
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