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Eagles Nest Access Policy
Eagle's Nest Sink
will be open on July 1, 2003! The NSS-CDS and NACD
have worked for over a year with the Florida Fish
and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWCC) to
re-open the site for cave diving. Many thanks to
Larry Green, Ken Hill, John Jones, and Michael
Poucher for making this happen!
Access will be
through the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management
Area. Divers must check in at an iron ranger at the
entrance and pay the $3.00 daily fee, or you can
purchase a yearly Wildlife Management Area pass for
$26.50 at most hunting supply stores, Wal-Mart or
on-line at:
http://floridaconservation.org/license/index.html.
Either the day pass stub or the Management area pass
should be displayed on the dash so that law
enforcement can see them while you are in the water.
The road to the
sink is not improved and four-wheel drive is a
must. Fish and Wildlife is not responsible for
getting your vehicle out if it gets stuck. They
intend to make improvements by the end of this year
to allow two-wheel drive access, but until then,
they ask that drivers stay on the existing road and
not to wallow out the holes. This will just make
repairs more extensive, more costly, and take more
time. The roads will have to closed while the
repairs are made.
This site is deep
and a very advanced dive. The NACD and NSS-CDS
recommends that you have the following MINIMUM
qualifications to dive:
1. Full Cave
Certification.
2. Trimix
certification.
3. Appropriate
experience with deep cave dives.
In addition we
highly recommend that first time divers go with
someone familiar and experienced with the site. It
took over a year to open Eagle's Nest, but accidents
due to irresponsible divers could close it
overnight. Lets all be safe and Eagle's Nest will
be there, and open, when we are ready to dive it.
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