United States » Twin Dees

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Rated 2.7/5 stars (377 ratings)

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

Little Spring (Twin D's) is located within the town of Weeki Wachee, approximately 0.5miles southeast of Weeki Wachee Main Spring. The spring is located in back of the main parking lot adjacent south of Weeki Wachee Main Spring. A sand track leads to the spring beyond a locked gate. The spring is surrounded by a locked chain link fence and is not accessible to the public.

Description – Little Spring is also known as Twin Dees Spring. The spring pool measures 36 ft east to west and 75 ft north to south. Two vent openings occupy the oval spring pool. The spring measures 13 ft deep over the south vent. The spring water is clear and blue-greenish. There was a moderate boil on the water surface over the south vent where water samples were taken in March 2003. The north vent was not flowing during either of the visits. Two spring runs that eventually merge exit the spring pool and flow generally northward into the Weeki Wachee River. The smaller of the two runs exits the pool on the west, and the larger exits on the north side. The surroundings to the east are recently cleared upland sand hills. To the west is a dense swamp forest along theWeeki Wachee River. In the Spring of 2002, Little Spring was not flowing, and the springrun was dry. By March 2003, the spring was again flowing, and the spring run averagedabout 10 ft wide and 1.5 ft deep. An underwater cave has been mapped in this spring.

Utilization - The spring is undeveloped and surrounded by SWFWMD land. There is nopublic access.
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Latitude: 28.5134
Longitude: -82.580911
Zone:
Coordinate System:
Maximum Depth: 335'
 Cave Diving
 Cavern Diving
 Open Water Diving
SWFWMD Owned - Permit Required
Date Submitter Visbility Remarks
8/3/2013 Andy Pitkin 30-40' Still plenty of bacteria in the shallow part of the cave, but the flow is reasonable (new well is at 15.47) making entry and exit straightforward. At the Beach it was milky, around 40'. Brett and I scootered down to Middle Earth and into the Mines of Moria - vis didn't really change. Pleasure Dome passage still looks stagnant and unenticing.
7/7/2012 Andy Pitkin 20-100' After tropical storm Debby, Twin Dees is flowing hard with clear blue water. Today the main spring was at 188 cfs. The boil on the surface at TD was impressive. The flow made it hard but not impossible to get in. Brett was in side mount 85s, I was in backmount 104s. The cave looks cleaner than it ever did last year. Clear water with strong flow up to the Beach, where it was a bit hazy. Brett's big home-made exploration reel was still hanging from the float ball. We started down the Pleasure Dome drop but at 135 ffw the vis dropped to <20' with green/brown turbid water. Deco in the entrance was uncomfortable with all the flow going through it.
10/26/2011 Andy Pitkin 30-60 Almost no detectable flow at all, except a little in the entrance shaft. Bacteria proliferating in places beyond the fissure. Two dead turtles. About 50' visibility at the Beach and beyond into Middle Earth. Resurveyed the Middle Earth circuit and the Near Earth tunnel. Safety stages at the Beach were growing some interesting bacteria but they have now been removed. May be the last dive in here for a while, as the Weeki well height is dropping rapidly towards 15 feet.
10/15/2011 Andy Pitkin 50-80' Got past the breakdown in the new tunnel ('the Mines of Moria") but it walled out 300' later. Shame because it's headed directly towards the Dead Marshes tunnel in WW. Rest of the system is as it has been: 50-60 in the Beach, Grand Central and upper Middle Earth; a little better deeper. Flow has peaked and is just starting to drop - we may only have a few more weeks of diving.
10/6/2011 Jeff Petersen 100' Andrew Pitkin and I dropped into Middle Earth hoping to find the suspected siphon tunnel. We found it directly below the "Far Earth" balcony and added 200' of line at 250ffw. Tunnel is 40' wide x 20' high and going. More to come...
9/27/2011 Andy Pitkin 40-120' Pushed the end of the line in the Alph tunnel. Visibility there around 100-120' depending on depth (layering). Generally better deeper (>310 feet). Around 80' in Middle Earth, similar at the Beach and in between. Shallow entrance passage less but getting better as flow picks up.
9/18/2011 Jeff Petersen 1-60' Matt Vinzant and I went out to Middle Earth. Did some line adjustments and made sure stage depo were ready for a push. Water quality improved since prior dive (getting much more blue). Visibility varied depending on location in the cave. Very clear past 245ffw in the Alph tunnel.
9/11/2011 Jeff Petersen 50' First dive of the "2011 season". Matt Vinzant and I went to the Beach to assess conditions. The bacteria growth on the floor due to the surficial feeders is bad for the 1000' - after the last feeder water quality improved substantially. It has been flowing for a month, but still too weak to force out the organic materials.
9/3/2011 KUR 0 Although the system is flowing minimally, organic build up if choking the entrance resulting in zero visibility in the first room.
4/8/2011 KUR 10 Due to increased rainfall in the area we went to check the system. The system is starting to purge itself and flow is visible in the run.
9/18/2010 Jerry 75 The entrance is daunting at first but not bad after you commit; vis was exceptional. The flow was adequate to keep things clear; a small boil was perceptible. There were many large crayfish and a lot of amphipods. We made it past the "Beach" to the T; this room was incredible. Dropped down towards the Pleasure Dome the vis dropped to about 15 ft below ~145 ft. The spring was pretty stirred up after deco but cleared within 30 minutes or so
9/22/2009 KUR 0'-80' KUR did a scouting dive on Twin Dees to determine if the system would be able to support exploration. Visibility was fair with periods of zero visibility between the entrance and the Beach. Beyond the Beach visibility was 80'. Exiting visibility was reduced to near zero. Unfortunately, the system will not support exploration at this time.
9/13/2008 Stanley Fatmax 60 at the beach did a swim out to the beach with Walter, visibility improved over the previous week.
9/7/2008 KUR 20'-30' In an effort to continue exploration of the Weeki Wachee Karst Plain, KUR has conducted a series of familiarization dives. These dives were to get divers acclimated to Twin Dee's difficult entrance and first 1,300'. All divers made it out to The Beach where a float ball has been installed to assist staging exploration.

The system is trying to heal. The flow is positive, the water is blue and particulate is high. Viz at the Beach is hazy but beyond 30'.
1/13/2008 Eric Deister less than 1 foot. Went over to check on the hole, we thought it a had filled in. Going down feet first with a line in one hand and a light in the other I hit a mud mound at the bottom. It’ didn’t fill up the room. I had about 10 foot of vis going in the tunnel ( only had a backup light ) . I turned and kicked the mound trying to break it up so we could get back in without mucking it up. Came out in 0 viz. Should be a fun dive with ZERO flow.
11/3/2005 Eric Deister 50' - 80' Well my midweek dive this week was to Twin D’s with a diver from Karst Underwater Research, we stopped by there about a month ago to see how it was flowing and I couldn’t even get in the solution tube. Well last night the flow was way down. My buddy went first pushing his HUGE sidemount bottles and his RB in, I followed with my stage and O2. We geared up in the small room at 40ft and headed off, that’s when the vis went to crap. The bacteria build up in there was incredible, my bubbles, our fin kicks and just us moving was enough to dislodge all of it and have it screw the vis. I moved up to be parallel with my buddy so I could see. There the water was crystal clear. We made it back to Grand Central, which is huge room. Several lines went off from there but do to time and gas mix we called the dive and headed back out. Due to the low flow vis didn’t improve much. Deco wasn’t too fun since I had to do it in a nice tight tube with my stage, O2 and fins all above my head. But the worst part of the dive was in the basin, my buddy was in the tube about 15ft down and I was just playing around...Well I saw this nice big stick in this hole and decided to pull it out…big mistake, it was blocking everything behind it, so all of a sudden the whole side of the basin decided to go down the solution tube..where my buddy was...lucky for him (and me) there was enough flow to push the silt away from him but once it was clear enough for me to see him, he was covered with shells, rocks and sugar sand oh to have a camera...Total Run time was a little over 2 hours.

As a reminder, Twin D's is a closed site and is owned by SWFWMD. The only way to dive this site is with a permit.
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Description Type Date Author Remarks
 Profile Map
 System Map Map
 System Map Map 2018 KUR
Sslect Search Radius:
System Depth Cave Cavern OW Last Report Distance (mi)
 Overview Information Available for Buford Spring  Buford Spring 167 True True False 3/14/2024 8.3
 Overview Information Available for Eagles Nest  Eagle's Nest 315 True False False 3/14/2024 3.3
   Lost 40 165 True False False 7/15/2023 2.8
 Overview Information Available for Hospital Hole  Hospital Hole 143 False True True 4/30/2023 2.8
   Warm Springs 140 False True False 11/1/2022 8.5
 Overview Information Available for Wards Sink  Ward's Sink 198 True True True 9/30/2022 8.3
   Arch Sink 197 True True False 7/18/2021 6.1
   Bulldozer Sink 60 False True True 3/22/2020 2.9
 Overview Information Available for Diepolder III  Diepolder III 300 True False False 5/27/2017 3.2
   Little Gator Siphon 180 True False False 1/3/2015 8.4
   Isabella Spring 110 True False False 5/22/2013 9.8
 Overview Information Available for Weeki Wachee Spring  Weeki Wachee Spring 407 True False True 4/28/2012 0.5
 Overview Information Available for Diepolder II  Diepolder II 360 True False False 12/23/2010 3.2
   Gator Spring 192 True False False 12/6/2009 3.5
 Overview Information Available for Blind Spring  Blind Spring 180 True True False 11/29/2009 10.5
   Free Ride Cave 120 True False False 10/10/2009 10.1
 Overview Information Available for Cedar Island Springs  Cedar Island Springs False False False 9/19/2009 12
   Double Keyhole 230 True False False 1/11/2009 8.9
 Overview Information Available for Horseshoe Spring  Horseshoe Spring True True False 1/10/2009 10.3
 Overview Information Available for Little Salt Spring  Little Salt Spring 240 True False False 9/23/2008 3.3
 Overview Information Available for Bobhill Springs  Bobhill Springs False False False 12/29/2007 6.6
 Overview Information Available for Jewfish Sink  Jewfish Sink 200 True False False 9/2/2007 9.7
   The Jewel 315 True True False 6/2/2006 9.1
 Overview Information Available for Mud Spring  Mud Spring 210 True True False 11/20/2005 3.5
   Nursery Sink 214 True False False 2.1
   Garden World Sink 250 True False False 8.5
   Willow Sink True False False 2.8
 Overview Information Available for Marys Sink  Mary's Sink 58 True False True 2.6
 Overview Information Available for Jenkins Creek  Jenkins Creek 50 True False False 3.3
 Overview Information Available for Joes Sink  Joe's Sink 60 True False True 2.6
   Snook Spring 120 True False False 10
   Star Sun Spring 120 True False False 10.1
   Snake Eyes False False False 3.4
   Wolf Sink False False False 2.1
 Overview Information Available for Hospital Spring  Hospital Spring 40 False True False 3
   Coffee Sink False False False 8.5