[Nmcaver] Divers discover new Wakulla cave

[Lee H. Skinner]

*Congratulations to *Casey McKinlay and his team!
*

From:
http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070508/BREAKINGNEWS/705080347

Originally published May 8, 2007*
Divers discover new Wakulla cave
By Bruce Ritchie
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

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.
/ For more on this story, read Wednesday's/ Tallahassee Democrat.

/*Contact reporter Bruce Ritchie at (850) 599-2253 or 
britchie at tallahassee.com <mailto:britchie at tallahassee.com>.*/