Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park is a

Florida State Park There are 175 state parks and 9 state trails in the U.S. state of Florida which encompass more than , providing recreational opportunities for both residents and tourists. Almost half of the state parks have an associated local 501(c)(3) non-pr ...

located on Peacock Springs Road, two miles (3 km) east of Luraville and on State Road 51, southwest of

Live Oak, Florida Live Oak is a city in northern Florida and it is the county seat of Suwannee County, Florida, Suwannee County, Florida, United States. The city is the county seat of Suwannee County and is located east of Tallahassee, Florida, Tallahassee. As of 2 ...

. Activities include picnicking, swimming and diving, and wildlife viewing. Among the wildlife of the park are

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the ...

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. ...

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers a ...

and

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes we ...

s, as well as

turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, blue heron and barred

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

s. The park name commemorates the work of diver and explorer

Wes Skiles Wesley C. Skiles (March 6, 1958 – July 21, 2010) was an American cave diving pioneer, explorer, and underwater cinematographer. Skiles lived in High Springs, Florida. Background Skiles was born on March 6, 1958, in Jacksonville, Florida, and g ...

. Prior to 2010 the park was known as Peacock Springs State Park. Amenities include a nature trail, six sinkholes, and Peacock and Bonnet Springs, with miles of underwater caves popular with cave divers. The two springs are tributaries of the

Suwannee River The Suwannee River (also spelled Suwanee River) is a river that runs through south Georgia southward into Florida in the southern United States. It is a wild blackwater river, about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset h ...

. The park is open from 8:00 am till sundown year round.

Expansion

In 2006,

The Trust for Public Land The Trust for Public Land is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a mission to "create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come". Since its founding in 1972, the Trust for Public Land has compl ...

purchased approximately for expansion of the park. This donation more than doubled the size of the park that was previously .

Cave System

The Peacock cave system is a

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, Dolomite (rock), dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathe ...

environment in

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

. The Peacock Springs Cave system was first explored by Vasco Murray in 1956. The first map of the system was completed by the

National Speleological Society The National Speleological Society (NSS) is an organization formed in 1941 to advance the exploration, conservation, study, and understanding of caves in the United States. Originally headquartered in Washington D.C., its current offices are in ...

team leader,

Sheck Exley Sheck Exley (April 1, 1949 – April 6, 1994) was an American cave diver. He is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of cave diving, and he wrote two major books on the subject: '' Basic Cave Diving: A Blueprint for Survival'' and ''Caverns Mea ...

, in 1995. Exley's team made over 521 dives to complete the survey. A resurvey of the system was completed in 1996 by a team led by Michael Poucher. As of June 13, 2008, the Peacock cave system was the 24th longest underwater cave in the world at 7408 meters. In 2010, a connection was made by

Agnes Milowka Agnes Milowka (23 December 1981 – 27 February 2011) was an Australian technical diver, underwater photographer, author, maritime archaeologist and cave explorer. She gained international recognition for penetrating deeper than previou ...

and James Toland between Baptizing and Peacock springs, extending the total length of the system an additional . On April 25, 2002, in order to protect the cave system from damage, the park stopped allowing divers to use

Diver Propulsion Vehicle A diver propulsion vehicle (DPV), also known as an underwater propulsion vehicle, sea scooter, underwater scooter, or swimmer delivery vehicle (SDV) by armed forces, is an item of diving equipment used by scuba divers to increase range under ...

s (DPV). It is one of the largest underwater caves in the continental

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

with over of explored passageway. The cave system consists of seven major springs and sinkholes, six of which are located within Peacock Springs State Park. Peacock Springs is a popular destination for cave divers all over the world and is extensively used to train new cave divers.

Springs and Sinkholes

Peacock I

The Peacock I Spring is the most accessible and most popular site in the system with an elevated walkway and stairs leading to the spring. There are three passageways that converge on the spring called the Pothole tunnel, the Peanut tunnel and the Peacock II tunnel. Each of these three tunnels has a permanent guideline (called a gold line) placed in it to ease navigation by cave divers.

Pothole Tunnel

The Pothole tunnel, named for the sinkhole down the tunnel from Peacock I, is the deepest of the three tunnels with a maximum depth of . It contains large open passageways, relatively high ceilings and a silt bottom. The walls are often covered in silt but occasionally the silt will be blown away by floods exposing the white limestone underneath.

Peanut Tunnel

The Peanut tunnel is a relatively shallow and narrow tunnel. It is named for a section that resembles the two lobes of a peanut. Its depths range from . At approximately into the tunnel, crossover tunnels connect the Peanut tunnel to the Pothole tunnel.

Peacock II Tunnel

The Peacock II tunnel leads to Peacock II spring.

Peacock II

Peacock II Spring is a smaller spring than Peacock I. It is one of only two sites available for diving by open water divers, as it contains no access to the cave system.

Pothole

Pothole is a small inline sink approximately one third of the distance between Peacock I and Olsen. The sinkhole has a very small entrance into the Peacock Springs cave system and due to the steep sides, it is inaccessible to cave divers.

Olsen Sink

Olsen is a small inline sinkhole approximately from Peacock I down the Pothole tunnel. There are two small entrances into the cave system at Olsen dropping into the same tunnel. Being central to the cave system, Olsen was once a popular entrance for cave divers as it allowed easy access to much of the cave. To prevent erosion, cave divers are no longer permitted to enter at Olsen sink as of 2002, although it remains a popular place to temporarily surface during a dive.

Orange Grove

Orange Grove is a large terminal sinkhole northeast of Peacock I. With a raised walkway and stairs leading into the sinkhole, it is a popular entrance into the cave. Two winding tunnels extend from the sinkhole called Lower Orange Grove and Upper Orange Grove. Lower Orange Grove is a deeper tunnel extending down to . As a very advanced dive, it is not as popular as Upper Orange Grove. Upper Orange Grove is a winding tunnel in all three dimensions starting at deep and becoming as shallow as . The tunnel extends outside Peacock Spring State Park to Challenge Sink.

Challenge Sink

Challenge is an inline sink, the northernmost sinkhole in the system, and is the only sinkhole outside of the Peacock Springs State Park. Steep sides make entering and exiting Challenge difficult. It is a popular destination for divers entering Upper Orange Grove.

Cisteen Sink

Cisteen is a large offset sink like Orange Grove. It offers a very small, silty entrance to the cave system, and is usually covered in a thick layer of duckweed.

Peacock III

Peacock III is a siphon, meaning it takes in water rather than discharging it, as a spring would. Peacock III has a separate system from Peacock I, II, and its related sinks. The system is very low, silty, and shallow, except for one room, Henley's Castle, which drops to depths of over .

Waterhole

Waterhole is another offset sink. It contains geological features not seen in the rest of the system, such as low bedding planes, as opposed to the vaulted ceilings found in the rest of the system.

Gallery

File:Peacock Springs SP Orange Grove Sink01.jpg, Orange Grove Sink with algae (2009) Wes Skiles Peacock Springs Orange Grove 2.jpg, Orange Grove Sink without algae (2022) File:Peacock Springs SP spring I01.jpg, Spring I File:Peacock Springs SP spring II02.jpg, Spring II

References

External links

Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park
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Florida State Parks

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Absolutely Florida

{{authority control Parks in Suwannee County, Florida State parks of Florida Caves of Florida Landforms of Suwannee County, Florida Bodies of water of Suwannee County, Florida Springs of Florida