NSS-CDS Guide May Have Found Exley’s “Lost” Tunnel At Madison Blue

Header image by Kirill Egorov

April 1—This week, National Speleological Society-Cave Diving Section (NSS-CDS) guide and veteran cave diver Rick Crawford discovered a new passage in the Badlands section of Madison Blue. The cave, which is located ten miles east of Madison, Florida, on the west bank of the Withlacoochee River, recently reopened after a month of flooding. Crawford entered the cave at the main entrance, took the Crossunder Tunnel to the Well, descended down, took the upstream tunnel into the Badlands

Crawford said that he noticed a small opening and dropped down to investigate. There he saw a broken piece of old line and a tannin-stained line arrow. He stuck his head in the opening and shined his light. “There was going passage,” he reported. Crawford was not carrying a camera and so pocketed the broken line and line arrow and turned the dive. Crawford headed to Amigos Dive Center in Fort White and discussed his find with Wayne Kinard. They removed the tannin stains and realized that Crawford had found one of famed cave explorer Sheck Exley’s line arrows. 

Crawford reached out to cave explorer and author/photographer Guy Bryant, who had been one of Exley’s regular dive buddies. He was excited about the find. “I remember Sheck saying something about a small tunnel he found one night at Madison. Back then we could dive it at night,” Bryant recalled. “I was getting in the water when Sheck surfaced. As we were talking he mentioned that he had found another lead in the Badlands that was small but going. He said that he had put some line in the tunnel and it appeared to keep going. I never thought about that again until now. Perhaps Rick has found Sheck’s lost tunnel!”

Crawford also contacted cave diving pioneer and instructor Paul Heinerth. “I remember meeting with Sheck, back in the late 80s, maybe early 1990s about revisiting Giant Cave in Belize. He told me about finding a small new lead at Madison but he was vague about the location—he was guarding his finds as always. Ever since he scooped me at Twin Dees, I never trusted Sheck’s description of leads. I’m glad someone finally found it.” Heinerth exclaimed.

Word travels fast in Cave Country. Rumor is that Charlie Roberson, principal of Fathom Dive Systems and a director of Karst Underwater Research (KUR), which has been actively engaged in new exploration at places like Weeki Wachee Springs and Lineater Spring, is already planning a KUR dive to investigate further. Roberson, who has been doing survey work at Madison, will likely not be alone—Crawford also plans to return to Madison this weekend, and there may be others.

Ironically, Exley, who died during an attempt to bottom out Sistema Zacatón in 1994, is still stirring things up in the cave diving community. Watch this space.

In honor of Sheck’s April first birthday, let us be the first to wish you April Fools! 😁 The events detailed above are fictional. For more information check out our lead story, Celebrating Sheck Exley.