Little River

The entrance to Little River

There are tons of caves in central Florida. Each morning, my husband and I wake up, assemble our gear, and discuss where we want to dive for the day. The last two times I've made trips to cave country (2021 and 2023), one of the caves called Little River was closed and inaccessible. In fact, in 2021, we stopped by to check on it and found an alligator swimming just above the cave entrance - that's a pretty good sign you should not get in the water! This year, Little River was thankfully open and alligator-free, so we were able to explore!

Little River is in a state park. The Suwanee River runs swiftly by, and the Little River entrance rests in a sort of cul de sac stretching off the side of the river. Crystal-clear water covers the algae-infested river floor. A stone wall surrounds the cave entrance, and concrete steps lead from the gravel parking lot down to the water's edge.

My husband and I parked our truck and opened the tailgate - we had a lot of gear to unload. We carried bail-out tanks one by one down the stairs and rested them on the algae-covered rocks. After donning our dry suits and rebreathers, we waddled carefully down to the water and slipped under the surface. 

Little River is a high-flow cave. And I mean high flow. As we descended through the cave, the current flowed so quickly that I couldn't even kick against it. Water rushed up and out of the spring, threatening to take me with it. My only option was to pull with my hands on the rocks. We followed the main guide line - a thick gold rope - around a hairpin turn and through another passage downward. 

When Carl and I reached 96 ft deep, we had no choice. The flow was so strong, we were exhausted trying to swim against it. I felt hot under my dry suit. Carl spun around to face me, made a fist, and stuck his thumb up. The thumbs-up sign has a distinct meaning in SCUBA culture: go to the surface. It's the signal that a dive needs to end as soon as possible. 

I gave Carl an "ok" sign back, then let him swim past me to get out of the cave. Here's the positive side of diving in a high-flow cave: you work your butt off to get in, but you don't have to work at all to get out. I actually had to brace myself against the rocks to make sure I didn't get carried to the surface too fast. When we made our hair-pin turn, I swung wide and momentarily wedged myself into a crack so I didn't pop up too quickly. 

By the time Carl and I waded out of the water, we were exhausted. Little River was one of our shortest dives, but it was also one of our most intense dives. I'm glad I got to experience such a cool cave.