A team of the world's foremost cave divers are venturing into the granddaddy of Florida's underwater caves, discovering clues about Florida's geologic evolution and testing cutting-edge exploration technology.
Halfway through an 11-week expedition at the Wakulla Springs cave in North Florida, the divers are in the thick of an adventure that leaps beyond any of the Tarzan movies filmed here a half-century ago.
For decades Wakulla has been a mystery, but with each exploratory dive a few of the cave's secrets are beginning to surface.
Until last month, divers thought the cave stretched out like a gargantuan throat from its underwater mouth -- a long, watery tunnel. After several weeks of penetrating a half-mile beyond the cave's mouth, divers have found a vast limestone labyrinth that forks off in at least three directions. Each prong of the fork has offshoots heading into even more uncharted territory.
