Madison Blue Spring State Park is a popular dive site located near Lee, Florida.
There are two main entrances to the cave system – the headspring and Martz sink. Both are accessible from the state park, both for permit dives and the general cave diving public. In addition to these two entrances, four other entrances are known, but require special access and considerations as they are quite inhospitable. Madison has two main “levels” which are connected in only a handful of places throughout the cave. The shallower side is near the entrances and trends around 60-70 feet deep, making it ideal for training and newer divers. The deeper, and much larger portion of the cave trends below 100 feet, with the deepest areas reaching 145 feet far from the entrance. The current limits of exploration are nearly 9000 feet from the nearest entrance, and the cave system has nearly 8 miles of mapped passages. Madison Blue Spring empties into the Withlacoochee River, where it makes up about 50% of the downstream water. Conditions at the site are highly variable with changes in river level, which can happen quickly with rain in southern Georgia due to the steep banks of the river. Check the river gauges before visiting. The system will generally be clear when the Withlacoochee River Gauge at Madison is below 14′, but that measure isn’t perfectly reliable due to complex influences with the aquifer and water levels over time.
Facts of Madison
- Max Depth: 144 feet
- Surveyed Passage: about 8 Miles And Growing