United States » Royal Spring

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Rated 3.4/5 stars (442 ratings) Thanks for rating this cave system!

Overview Location & Specifics Conditions Resources Nearby Systems  
Portions of the following information were taken from Florida Geological Survey Bulletin 66.

From the junction of US 129 and CR 349 in O’Brien, drive northwest on CR 349 approximately 8.9 miles to the intersection with 198th Terrace. Turn west (left) onto 198th Terrace and travel approximately 0.7 miles to the intersection with 157th Lane. Turn south (left) onto 157th Lane and travel approximately 0.3 miles to the spring.

Description - Royal Spring forms a spring pool 160 ft northwest to southeast and 105 ft northeast to southwest. The maximum depth is approximately 42 ft. The spring was not flowing during the September 2002 visit and the entire pool surface was covered with duckweed. The dry spring run forms on the northeast side of the spring pool, travels approximately 200 ft and enters the Suwannee River from the north. On the north and east sides of the pool, limestone and clayey sand walls rise 25 ft above the water surface. A set of wooden stairs leads down to the water on the north side of the pool. To the east are the remnants of an old cement retaining wall. The spring is surrounded by county-owned forested riparian corridor associated with the Suwannee River.
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Latitude: 30.08351
Longitude: -83.07488
Zone:
Coordinate System:
Maximum Depth: 50'
 Cave Diving
 Cavern Diving
 Open Water Diving
Date Submitter Visbility Remarks
11/15/2022 buhlz 50 Had DPV training with Paul H and Jay today- started out by doing drills and buddy breathing- towed Jay into the only tree in basin.. Some basic issues but over all good little place to practice- had place all to ourselves-- basically couple little dives buddy breathing and towing- Paul was getting sick--avg 27 foot- 17 min x3 dives
12/30/2019 Jack Hammer 60 Very little flow, basin is a few feet below bottom steps. A lot of algae in basin.
8/31/2019 Kole Kindschuh 80 Completely gin clear from top to bottom of the cavern. We were the only dive team, so it stayed that way. Did not go into the cave.
8/4/2012 Rick404402 80ft Stayed in cavern zone and this spring is at it's best right now. It is flowing and actually has a spring run. Visibility was about the best I have seen it but still one fin kick away from a silt out.
3/4/2012 Hunter Sutton 10 Viz is about 10' and has a milky white haze to it. Cave itself has a very fine white clay type silt that sort of explodes when you get near it. Just gliding 12" over the top of it without kicking sends it up and your bubbles dislodge a lot of it from the ceiling as well. Over half my exit was done holding on to a line. Overall the basin and cavern are kind of cool but the cave is fairly boring, low entry viz and zero exit viz.
8/9/2010 JahJahwarrior 50-60 throughought Basin was nice and clear. Not quite as clear as Ginnie, but pretty close. Green muck covering all the bottom, it's not really flowing enough to clear the basin up, but the water is clear. Cave is clear, but very silty. Saw atleast 20 small crayfish and many more amphipods and things like that whose names I don't know. Quite a bit of locals swimming and using the rope swing.
5/1/2008 Tom Johnson (tj) 20 Good enough to dive but VERY silty
3/9/2008 JahJahwarrior 0 Water is up 8-10 feet. Visibility is almost negative....I swear I was looking into my own mind. Fortunately, I ran a line from the steps, or it would have been a horrible dive. We lasted 11 minutes in the 63* water with something like 1 foot of viz (beyond that, my 10w HID was eaten by the dark water) before calling the dive and heading to Manatee.
5/13/2006 Kovudalion 60-70 Foot Spring flowing heavily with the normally absent run now flowing to the river. Initial entry provided for 30-40 Ft. visibility with visibility increasing to over 60ft once below 20 feet. Minimal fish life in cavern with only 3-4 fish sited. Did not enter cave system due to level of training.
10/31/2005 Mathew Bull 30-40' in OW and Cavern 30-40' in the OW and cavern areas of the spring. Water was kinda milky and silt covered everything. I didn't go into the little cave so I can't comment on conditions inside.
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Description Type Date Author Remarks
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System Depth Cave Cavern OW Last Report Distance (mi)
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   Powerline Cave 60 True False False 9/17/2015 9.1
 Overview Information Available for Mearson Springs  Mearson Springs True False False 6/6/2015 4.2
 Overview Information Available for Peacock Springs - Peacock II  Peacock Springs - Peacock II True False False 4/8/2015 4.4
 Overview Information Available for Peacock Springs - Waterhole III  Peacock Springs - Waterhole III 55 True False False 9/26/2013 4.5
 Overview Information Available for Bathtub Spring  Bathtub Spring 20 True False False 2/5/2011 1.5
 Overview Information Available for Crazy Horse Sink  Crazy Horse Sink 60 True False False 1/30/2011 9.1
 Overview Information Available for Peacock Springs - Baptizing Spring  Peacock Springs - Baptizing Spring True False False 8/15/2010 5.1
 Overview Information Available for Branford Spring  Branford Spring 101 True False False 1/16/2010 12.5
 Overview Information Available for Bonnet Spring  Bonnet Spring 48 True False False 8/15/2009 4.7
 Overview Information Available for Hidden Spring  Hidden Spring True False False 6/1/2006 2.7
 Overview Information Available for Running Springs  Running Springs False False False 2.8
   Thomas Spring True False False 10.2
   Double Sink True False False 9.2