OCDA News

11-26-2011 Roubidoux Spring conditions are now worse and project dives have been cancelled until further notice. The 2.5" of rain in the immediate area and the 3' stream rise in the recharge area has really hammered the spring.

11-16-2011 Roubidoux conditions have deteriorated over the last couple days resulting in the next project date being moved to December 3.

11-13-2011 The spring is pumping but diveable after some 1.5" of rain in the recharge area. We are still scheduling exploration on the 19th providing the weather holds.

10-30-2011  Existing line has been repaired and new line added to the system during an 8 hour dive. A major exploration dive is tentatively scheduled for November 19th if the weather holds and visibility doesn't go south. After a nine year hiatus in dive operations here due to poor visibility we're excited to see the spring clear up and experience what it has to offer. Some photos can be seen here.

10-19-2011  Roubidoux Spring exploration dive scheduled for October 29th, conditions permitting.

9-01-2011  The 2011 NSS-CDS Workshop will be held in the St Louis area September 17. For more info and location click the link here.

12-13-10  More heavy rains have prevented a push dive in Roubidoux Spring. The spring had reportedly cleared up previous to the toad strangler. Line repairs have been completed at Blue Spring and new exploration has shown large passageway beyond the Briar patch.

12-30-09  Recent flooding in Arkansas and heavy rains in Missouri have blown out planned dives. We're hoping conditions in 2010 will be more productive. All projects are currently on hold due to poor conditions.

09-16-09  The NSS-CDS Mini Workshop will be held in Perkins Restaurant located in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

09-05-09  Roubidoux Spring will have line replaced out to the First Big Room. Vis may be affected.

08-22-09  The latest sump explorations in Devils Icebox cave were successful. Assisting in the August 15 effort were Wild Cave Tour guides and other caving volunteers; without their help the 14 hour trip would not have been possible.

05-01-09  Concerns about White Nose Syndrome affecting local bat populations are resulting in cave closures over a wide area of the Ozarks.

07-05-08  The NSS-CDS Missouri mini-workshop is being held September 19-21 in Poplar Bluff, Mo. For more up to date info on this event click here.

07-02-08  A recent visual survey of 4 major springs in the area has shown either muddy or milky conditions present. This started off early as a really wet year which which hasn't improved.

03-25-08  Our website will be down for a day as our server is moved to a larger and faster network. This will happen on or about the 29th of March. Update - the site is performing much better.

03-23-08  Heavy rains and record flooding in Arkansas and Missouri have really put a damper on spring diving. Currently all projects are on hold due to poor conditions That's 3 months in a row the Ozarks have been hit hard.

02-16-08  More precipitation has hit the area again resulting in high spring flows for this time of year. We're hoping for better weather for the upcoming Nesbitt and Devil's Icebox dives.

01-09-08  Heavy rains have once again moved though Missouri and hammered the springs. As a result 3 projects are currently on hold.

01-02-08   After 10 years of hard work and major accomplishments, Jason Weisacosky has decided to resign as Director of the team. Steve Gridley has assumed the position of team director for the OCDA. Dirk Bennett has taken over the position of equipment and safety.

12-29-07  Habitat construction is complete. The Gridley designed structure is in place and the old habitat has been removed from the spring. Due to Steve's building expertise the new structure is level within .5" and looking good. Installation of this new habitat is the first step towards exploring and mapping the farther reaches of the system.

11-03-07  A new habitat installation has begun in Roubidoux Spring for extended exploration. The newly designed habitat will be much more stable than the older habitat currently in position there.

10-10-07  An exploration trip in Devil's Icebox Cave found 1300'+ of new cave passage beyond a sump in the far reaches of the system.  Assisting in the September effort were WCT guides and other cave volunteers; without their help the 15 hour trip would not have been possible.

9-04-07   Waiting for conditions to improve at 3 sites. Roubidoux Spring setup is again on hold after recent flooding there. Updated habitat design and construction continues. The team will assist in sump exploration in a popular cave system in the next week, more details at a later date.

6-04-07  Safety Day scheduled for Beaver Lake bluffs area 6-16-07. This annual event allows the team to practice all necessary skills such as cpr, unconscious diver extraction, towing out of air diver, etc.

4-29-07  The OCDA welcomes several sponsored divers to the ranks. Good to have you guys on board.

4-18-07   Still waiting for conditions to improve in our area where there's been a lot of precipitation. The Roubidoux gauge is high again as is the Current River.

2-03-07  Added Hell Creek to the Sump Diving page and Alexander Cave to the Photo Gallery page.

2-02-07   Aside from assisting in biodiversity surveys things have been quiet in the area. Local conditions have been grim with high stream gauges and heavy amounts of rain and snow.