I went on a mild hike on Sunday. Ouch.
153 hours or so.
Hill country, Tx.
Morning, so the heat not too bad yet.
High humidity tho,
Had hat and water.
Enjoyed it.
But, my! Am I out of shape or whut!!!
Los and lots of getting sweaty and resting here and there. Fortunately, lots of shade.
—-
Jacob’s Well near Wimberly, TX.
Warning to divers: If you aren’t a very experienced and professionally trained cave diver, don’t even think about it.
Besides, only certified and approved cave diving persons are allowed by special license from the county,
Having the professionals bring up what’s left of no-longer-breathing-daredevils is financially and emotionally exhausting, and also puts the rescue/recovery personnel at risk.
This place has a lot of confirmed deaths among too-eager divers, and rumors of possibly 100’s more since it first was mapped in the 1800’s.
However, it’s absolutely lovely ultra clear pure water straight from the acquirer.
I just went to look. Always wanted to.
No swimming right now, the water levels are way too low for the pool area to fill up.
Also, the trail to the well has to be hiked. No paved your wheelchair/stroller friendly ways, and some rough staircases or rocks to clamber over.
A gifted free diver who had probs on his dove and might be lucky to be alive:
—-
A story of diving fatalities 1979:
https://www.texasmonthly.com/travel/jacobs-well-diving-deaths/
Both bodies were recovered, separately, one after about 10 years, the other decades later.
Several v experienced divers have died in the underwater cave system since then. I know of at least 4.
- 6 comments, 2 replies
- Comment
Fifty-ish years ago, I had a neighbor who did cave diving, and then one Saturday morning he and his three well-trained fellow cave divers arrived at their dive site to find a vehicle with a warm hood, but no sign of a surface support person of any kind. It got worse from there, and it was by absolute sheer dumb luck that the two who’d gone down earlier were hauled out alive.
If someone gets stuck, or loses their light, or misunderstands their oxy req, or kicks up silt/gravel and doesn’t have a fixed metal guideline, or triggers a gravel or rock slide, things might quickly become highly unrecoverable.
That’s said, if I were a fit and practiced scuba person, o would understand the allure.
—
The water there is almost mythically clear.
Of course that doesn’t help much when one is completely in the dark.
—-
When the spring was first discovered by settlers, it was under so much aquifer pressure that continuous fountain always bubbles several feet.
The spring/well never runs dry wound the source cavern, but the pool sometimes does nowadays. Due to drought, development, and alternatives demands for aquifer water.
The pool was dry when I was there. I think it has been for most of the summer, but the water in the well is still up at the pool level.
The county and environmentalists are trying to get the aquifer and the spring/well/pool completely protected.
@f00l I actually know what this is/have seen some of the documentaries. I agree it’s really cool… But also… Chamber 4 is not worth it. All I could think was don’t do it… And then people do anyway. Narrow caves are bad enough than add an air supply limit…
@unksol
There is a society: a team of experienced and prof trained cave diving explorers who are the only people who have permission to go down w tanks anymore.
They are slowly and carefully mapping the cave structure over time.
If someone want to go down w a permit, the society has a contract with the county, and they control all permits.
I don’t think even experienced cave divers outside that group can get s permit anymore. Unless the interested party proves their cave diving bona fides and then only goes down with a pre-planned mapping expedition.
I don’t know if free diving requires permits or not
But the place isn’t monitored so if somebody wanted to free dive it, it would be hard to stop them
Free divers can’t get to the truly deepest and dangerous places. A free diver could die, but they would be recoverable.
If somebody who was truly stupid, wanted to sneak onto the site with scuba equipment and go down, they could probably get away with going down
Maybe they could get away with coming back up
—-
They have ecology and park care teams, and aquifer monitors to come out and monitor the park for well-being
But when swimming isn’t permitted because the water is too low, the gate house is empty and you just drive in and hike around. That’s what I did. There was nobody checking who showed up you just drove in and parked.
The gate house is only occupied when there’s enough water in the pool to allow swimming and then I think there’s a small fee.
There is some pleasant like hiking on various trails, as well as the trek to the well.
Various picnic spots, etc.
I don’t think there is water on site purified for drinking I didn’t see any outlets
—
I think the allure for divers is the dangerous reputation, the “mystery”, the forbidden aspect, and that the water is so insanely beautiful clear.
I enjoy spelunking but also like air. So I’ll stick to damp but not submerged caves and just let my toes enjoy this one/
Nope.
Nope, nope, nope, nope!
Hmm… tight, dark spaces combined with being underwater - two of the things I like the least. Beautiful spot to observe and enjoy, but I don’t think I’ll try going in any time soon.
The sounds made in that last free diver video posted are enough to keep me far away from diving