Bahamas Week At The FKA!

[ricki]

Originally Posted by Beachbum1236

No whirlpools that i have ever seen. Not much current in this one either because of its location on the ocean. Its pretty merky thought, hard to see. the whirlpool factor may be greater the farther you get away from the sea yes, but i am not sure. I know that there are 2 right near where I live and people dive them all the time.

The blue hole in the picture is really interesting though because it goes straight down and all you can see is black. I'd love to take a depth sounder over it and see how deep it is..

Thanks for the input. I think current issues are more prevalent with inland sinks connected to the ocean as you say. I have yet to make it to a marine sink strangely enough. Although there is a small, little known one in the Bimini's with an intact roof that I may get to checkout in a couple of weeks.

I did do some dives in Warm Mineral Springs in SW Florida for the Florida Division of Archives. It is a sulfur spring and a pretty bizarre dive too with skulls with brain matter, saber-cat fossils, spear throwers, stalactites and this funky fuzzy purple and green matted algae chunks that rain down.



Just got my copy of Palmer's "Deeper Into Blue Holes" this morning. Bet he has some stories from the Bahamas. Did a quick google search and found that you can have whirlpools in some blueholes during the "siphon" part of the tidal cycle.



Ocean blue holes alternately blow water out (spring) and suck water in (siphon) as the tides fluctuate. In some cases, the spring cycle is strong enough to form a noticeable slick or boil on the surface, giving rise to the often-used term of "boiling holes". During the siphon cycle, water is sucked back into the cave and can be dramatic enough to form a whirlpool on the surface. As the hole transitions or "turns" between springing and siphoning, or vice-versa, there is a brief slack period where there is no flow at all.

More at:
http://cavesurvey.com/white_ring_blue_hole.htm