May 2007-DS

Divers have discovered almost two miles of vast new watery cave passages extending northwest from Wakulla Springs close to caves extending from Leon Sinks in southern Leon County.

The narrow cave system grew as large as 50 feet across when the divers had to turn back because of lack of air, said Casey McKinlay, one of the divers.

The discovery, announced today, almost completes a quest begun in 1990 to find a link between Leon Sinks and Wakulla Springs State Park, McKinlay said. The cave systems now could be separated by as little as 1,000 feet or perhaps as much as a mile.

"Probably in the 17-year history of exploring Wakulla Springs, this is the big one," said McKinlay, project director for the Woodville Karst Plain Project.

McKinlay announced the discovery at a meeting of the Wakulla Springs Basin Working Group. Springs supporters said the discovery was an important step in understanding and protecting the water flowing to Wakulla Springs.