GINNIE SPRINGS, Florida (30 July 2005) -- When he was 13, native Floridian Wes Skiles discovered the caves of Ginnie Springs and was mesmerized by the clear water and captivated by the force and amount of water he witnessed gushing out of the Earth. He immediately knew he would dedicate his life to underwater exploration. Skiles, 47, a cave-diving expert and a certified divers since age 16, is now a veteran underwater cameraman and director and executive producer for the environment media specialists Karst Productions. He mapped the underwater cave system at Ginnie Springs in 1976 for his good friends and Ginnie land owners' Barbara Wray Suggs and her former husband Bob (the couple is now divorced). That same year, it opened it as a private attraction. Some people are excited about shipwrecks, but his passion has always been underwater caves, says Skiles. "All the mysteries in life you could want to explore were right there in the same place," says Skiles. When he set out as a young man to map the caves at Ginnie, 26 drowning deaths had been recorded, and Skiles wanted to assist the owners in making its caves safe enough for others to enjoy this underwater treasure, says Skiles. Skiles, who has served as a consultant to the park since 1983, implemented the "no lights rule" at the Devil Springs system at Ginnie Springs more than 20 years ago, one of many precautionary measures he initiated to reduce the amount of cave-diving fatalities, changes that included the inception of scuba and cave-diving instruction at the facility. The "no light rule," which allows only certified professional divers to carry lights into the caves, prevents untrained divers from attempting to navigate the confusing multiple passageways of Little Devil, Devil's Eye and Devil's Ear, which are too dark to investigate without proper lighting equipment, says Skiles. Skiles' mapping of the cave system directly aided in the effort to install the welded grate in the back of Ginnie Cavern's Ballroom that denies entrance into the silty, perilous labyrinth of confounding 5-way intersections beyond it. | | Wes Skiles The grate does not restrict water flow however, so divers wishing to gain a sense of the intense force of the 35 million gallons of water a day that pump through the opening can press their faces up to the grate. No deaths at Ginnie Springs have been attributed to lost divers since 1976, the year the park banned non-certified divers bringing lights down in the Devil Springs system and added the grate, says Skiles. Skiles has also studied scientific aspects of the springs and his Karst Productions team (formerly Karst Environmental Services), has developed flow management techniques and dye tracing to help track the course of the water and identify potential threats and hazards to the source of this fragile ecosystem. Among his work with Karst Productions, Skiles has led underwater cave-diving expeditions and served as a producer and/or cameraman for the National Geographic Explorer specials "Mysteries Underground," "Into the Labyrinth," and "Endangered Mermaids," and shot and produced original programming for PBS entitled a "Waters Journey: The Hidden Rivers of Florida," which examines Florida's river system above and below ground. Skiles just finished filming on "The Cave," major motion picture release from Sony, due out August 26. As an expert underwater filmmaker and modern-day explorer with Karst, he has traveled to six continents. Yet, with an office just across the street from the Ginnie Springs' park entrance, he feels like part of the family at Ginnie Springs. It remains his "sentimental favorite." |
