Sanlando Springs was the focal point of today’s events. The team met there at around 1pm this afternoon.

After another visit to Holler Chevrolet to pick up Renee’s car we met at Amy Giannotti’s new home to rendezvous with the rest of the team. Joining us today were Marissa Williams and Brittany Griffiths, interns who are joining us for 2005. Marissa is a junior at Rollins College majoring in environmental studies, and Brittany is a junior geosciences major at Tulane University. Due to Hurricane Katrina, Brittany is now enrolled at Rollins College for the fall semester of 2005.

The plan for today was to continue exploration and survey at Rock Springs in Kelly Park. It took quite an effort even to get to the dive site though. Andrew and Renee were on their way to Kelly Park in Renee’s Blazer when first the battery light came on, then the windscreen wipers died, and finally the instrument panel refused to give up any information. A diagnosis of a dead alternator was made, indicating a detour to Holler Chevrolet. It was lucky we decided to do this, because the car finally broke down just before we got there and had to be pushed the last few hundred yards to the dealer. A huge thank you to the staff at Holler Chevrolet in Winter Park for being so accommodating and efficient. And we welcome Kris Shannon to the Cambrian Foundation. Today he helped push a car and served as surface support under the supervision of Bob Giguere.

The team visited Rock Springs in Kelly Park today. The objective was to gather and analyze water samples from five stations – one in open water and the others in the cave. The day began by driving close to the spring with four heavily laden vehicles, which we promptly unloaded and carried to waterside. With a large Sunday crowd present, the team had ample opportunity to explain what our scientific purpose was and how it relates to the importance of protecting Florida’s groundwater.

Today the Cambrian Team dove in Sanlando Spring, a scientifically significant spring in a private subdivision. The dive team had three goals: to collect water samples at four stations, to document organisms found in the cave, and to survey line in the cave put in by Terrence and Andrew Pitkin previously. The topside team would collect, analyze and record the data from the surface and from the samples brought up by the dive team.

Our adventure started out early today as the team, Terrence, Amy, Renee, Karl, Josh, John, Woody, Ricky, Marissa Williams an intern with the Florida Park Service from Rollins College, and Rima Franklin, Ph.D., a microbial ecologist prepared for an exciting day of sample collection from the no-mount cave at Wekiwa Spring.

After spending yesterday talking to children at the Seminole County Library/Oviedo summer camp about ocean critters, we finally got to hit the water ourselves as part of our summer internship program! After filling our tanks at Scuba World, we headed north to DeLeon Springs. Today’s team consists of Terrence, Amy, Josh, John, Ricky, and Woody. Josh, John, and Woody are veteran Cambrian-ites from Farmville, Virginia, and they are joining us this summer as the 2005 recipients of the Legare R. Hole, III, Memorial Scholarship. Ricky Simon was awarded the Frank Scalli Internship at the 2005 clinic of the Boston Sea Rovers, and as such, will spend two weeks interning with the Foundation.

Members of the Cambrian Foundation continued their research today at Wekiwa Springs State Park. They were joined by Girl Scout Troop 433 from Lake County, FL, led by Ms. Rosi Mulholland. As part of the Cambrian Foundation research team, the scouts were involved in several hands-on projects and demonstrations teaching them about their aquifer and the resources beneath their feet.

The day was centered around Rock Spring and finishing the sample collection and data gathering. Once again, the dive team split into two groups - Terrence and Andrew went to the limits of the current exploration lines and Renee, Bob and Rhiannon remained nearer the entrance. The primary purpose of the dive was to collect rock samples and details of each sampling site such as water flow, level of daylight, character and depth of substrate from the same sites as yesterday (see ‘Creature from the Black Cave’). A secondary purpose for both teams was to acquire more specific survey measurements for a detailed map to be drawn.

The purpose of today’s diving activities was to obtain the same water samples at Rock Spring that we have already obtained at Wekiwa Spring, and to place some crayfish traps in the cave. We wanted to get basic water quality data from the important areas of the cave, along with water and substrate samples for microbial assessment and trace element analysis. Accordingly, Renee and Andrew took a variety of specimen containers into the cave, whilst Rhiannon and Bob took the crayfish traps to fix in the cave. These were, as before, baited using tins of cat food with holes punched in the lid. Terrence and Amy remained on the surface to conduct chemical tests and water quality analysis using the hydrolab of the samples that the divers brought back.