Phantom Cave Exploration – SemDIVE!

Phantom Springs Cave Exploration


 

Deep in the desert of West Texas lies Phantom Springs cave. Exploration divers have hit a record depth of 462ft/140.8m making it the deepest natural underwater cave system in the United States! This is a closed site and only those with a scientific permit are permitted to dive. The team set up sediment traps, collected water quality data, surveyed over 8000ft of the cave, and shot hours of high definition video and stills both topside and underwater. The site is a biological preserve set aside for the endangered pup fish that lives in the pools outside of the system. 


phantom2To tell the entire story, we need to flashback to January 2012. Our team of cave explorers, scientists, and underwater photographers was granted access and scientific collection permit by the US Bureau of Reclamation, the owners and caretakers of the Phantom Springs property.

 

During the 2012 seven-day expedition, our team managed to extend the known horizontal cave passage from 8,445 feet (2,475 meters) to 9,845 ft (3000 m), and the maximum depth from 79 feet freshwater (24 m) to a totally unexpected 237 ffw (72 m).


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These numbers officially catapulted Phantom Springs Cave to the 14th deepest and 17th longest cave in Texas, also making it the third longest underwater cave in the United States (outside of Florida).  We knew then that we had to return and finish what we had begun.




SemDIVE!

SemDIVE!