Today’s destination was Rock Springs at Kelly Park, where the team’s goal was to collect water samples, bacteria and critters from within the cave. The dive team took samples from four different areas of the cave as well as the mouth of the cave. The surface team then ran the usual tests on the samples.

Today’s location was Wekiwa Springs, where our mission was two-fold. The first goal of our mission was to collect and analyze water samples from five different stations in the cave at Wekiwa as well as samples from the mouth of the cave. Our second goal was to collect bacterial mats from several pre-existing biomass sample sub sites at three stations in the cave. This was done so that Rima could return to the lab and analyze the bacteria as well as estimate a growth rate based on previous bacterial collection at the same sub sites. To do this, the dive team planned two dives to collect the necessary samples. They also added some new biomass sample sites at each of the three stations, including two new sub-sites at all three stations and one repair at station three.

Once again the very friendly gate attendants at The Springs community in Longwood, Florida welcomed us with smiles. Clive, Dan and the others made sure we were settled in properly and made us feel quite at home.

Today the team went to Sanlando Spring for bacterial sampling. This small cave system exhibits high flow up through a 45 degree shaft into a placid surface pool used for swimming and sunbathing by the surrounding community. The furthest a diver can get is to a depth of 45 feet where the cave passage is blocked by breakdown (broken rocks). The dive team today consisted of Karl, Renee and Andrew. Renee and Karl took the all-important water samples whilst Andrew took photographs. This cave is hard work to get water samples from because the high water flow tends to rip the sample containers out of the divers’ hands.

The dive team enjoyed another successful day of sample collection, this time at

To obtain the water samples required by the science team, Andrew Pitkin, Renee Power and Karl Shreeves fought their way upstream into Rock Springs. Andrew gathered the first set of samples just inside the cave, then after ferrying them to the surface team, the divers went to the second collection site, approximately 100 feet into the cave. Karl collected these samples, assisted by Renee who provided bright but brief lighting with her camera’s flash.

Today the team went to Wekiwa Springs, our tasks centered on the smaller of the two vents at Wekiwa. Our mission: to collect biomass and water samples from 5 different sites within the cave system. After the team had arrived at the springs, the surface team (Bob, Amy, David, Kris and Betsy) began setting up the water chemistry kits while the divers prepared to embark into the cave. We had a team meeting and the divers did a walk-through to finalize how they would go about collecting all the water samples required for testing. Terrence and Andy were responsible for collecting the samples, while Renee acted as a shuttle between the surface help and the divers.

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.