Florida
Rose Sink (Rose Creek Sink)
Info · exploration
Information only: according to the Ichetucknee Springs State Park management plan, Blue Hole Spring is the only public cave-diving access; all other cave entrances, including Rose Sink and McCormick Sink, are for permitted research dives only.
- Max depth44 m (144 ft)
- CertificationFull cave
- SpecialExperienced divers
Diving and fills
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Fills nearby
- Extreme Exposure (High Springs)Air, nitrox (32 %, 50 %), O₂ (AL40) and trimix ('mix' in doubles); walk-in fills of your own tanks: ask
- Cave Country Dive Shop (High Springs)Air, nitrox 32 % and 50 %, O₂, helium; trimix 21/35, 18/45, 10/70 and custom; CCR O₂ fills
- Ginnie Springs dive shopAir (high-volume) and nitrox 32 %; no trimix listed. Prices 2026, excluding tax: air $9, doubles air $14, nitrox single cylinder $15, nitrox $0.15 per cubic foot (for top-offs and doubles)
Now at Rose Sink (Rose Creek Sink)
What it looks like
All 1 videos and posts
Videos and posts
From other divers, via YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. They only load when you click; after that, Google's or Meta's privacy rules apply.
- Facebook
Karst Underwater Research
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Other people's footage, not advice: how someone else dives here says nothing about what suits your team. Dive within your training.
The dive
Beneath a duckweed-covered pond opens a cave entrance about 8 m high and 20 m wide. The cave stair-steps down and lies mostly at ~43 m; after ~210 m the passage shrinks to a low bedding plane with intersecting joints.
Profile and sections
Beneath a duckweed-covered pond opens a cave entrance about 8 m high and 20 m wide. The cave stair-steps down and lies mostly at ~43 m; after ~210 m the passage shrinks to a low bedding plane with intersecting joints. Organic silt covers almost the whole floor and bacterial mats the walls, and cave crayfish and amphipods live here. A round tunnel ~3 m across, the Swallet Tunnel, links the sink with Rose Creek Swallet; it is littered with branches, leaves and rubbish.
Rose Creek is an intermittent stream that disappears underground entirely at the swallet. The cave lies in the Ichetucknee Trace, a dry valley above a major underground conduit; dye traces in 1997 and 2003 brought the water back out at Mission, Blue Hole and Devil's Eye Springs. In March 2009 Jerry Murphy and Jill Heinerth connected the cave with McCormick Sink, some 900 m to the south. The Trust for Public Land gave the land around the sink to the state in 2002.
Practical: information only.
- Depth and profile
- Down to ~-44 m: the cave stair-steps down to -44 m and lies mostly at ~-43 m (-44 m on the McCormick Sink side) · sink ~-6 m · Swallet Tunnel ~-15 m, ~90 m long
- Configuration
- No configuration rules published. After ~210 m the passage becomes a small bedding plane with restrictions.
- DPV: unknown
- Research only; no scooter rules published.
Who can dive where
- At least Full cave
- Configurations: Backmount / twinset / Sidemount / CCR / Small cylinders / no-mount (speleo sumps)
- Configuration unknown — research beforehand
- Goes down to 44 m (trimix or deco may be needed)
- Experienced divers only
This is how the planner decides who in your team may dive this cave. Rules your own trip adds (organizer, a mail, the AI) show with your trip.
How to get there
In Columbia City, on the northeast corner of the junction of County Roads 47 and 240, below the edge of the Cody Escarpment. The sink belongs to the State of Florida and is part of Ichetucknee Springs State Park. The surface is often covered in duckweed.
Around Rose Sink (Rose Creek Sink)
Fills3 fill stations · nearest 0 km
Extreme Exposure (High Springs)
18481 High Springs Main Street, High Springs, FL 32643
Air, nitrox (32 %, 50 %), O₂ (AL40) and trimix ('mix' in doubles); walk-in fills of your own tanks: ask
Daily 8:00–18:00
Tech and cave shop since 1995. Rents singles, stages and doubles (steel/alu, air, nitrox or mix), regulators, backplate/wing, lights and scooters; training.
Cave Country Dive Shop (High Springs)
19808 N US Hwy 441, High Springs, FL 32643
Air, nitrox 32 % and 50 %, O₂, helium; trimix 21/35, 18/45, 10/70 and custom; CCR O₂ fills
Daily 7:00–19:00
Prices per cu ft online (e.g. 18/45 $2.04, 10/70 $3.15, O₂ $0.50; CCR O₂ min. $6). Rentals: backmount/sidemount doubles $14/day, trimix bailout cylinder $16, SUEX scooter $85/day, Shearwater computers. Cave courses from cavern to full cave and CCR cave (TDI, IANTD, NSS-CDS) by the owner's BJL Diving, and guided cave and spring dives, also with scooter, CCR, trimix and stages.
Ginnie Springs dive shop
Ginnie Springs Outdoors (in the park), near High Springs, FL
Air (high-volume) and nitrox 32 %; no trimix listed. Prices 2026, excluding tax: air $9, doubles air $14, nitrox single cylinder $15, nitrox $0.15 per cubic foot (for top-offs and doubles)
Park hours: Mon–Thu 8:00–17:00, Fri–Sat 8:00–19:00, Sun 8:00–18:00. Last fill between 15:00 and 17:00, depending on the fill technician's availability
Rents cylinders (incl. nitrox steel 85), BCs, regulators, suits and lights. Personal compressors are banned in the park.
Drive times from High Springs: we don't know this site's exact spot.
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