LOCATION: (lat. 28°26'44.9" N., long. 82°35'02.4" W.)
Waterfall Sink is located in Hernando County, FL, approx. one mile North of County Line Rd behind a row of houses on the West side of Waterfall Dr. Access can also be gained from Apple Orchard Rd. which borders the sink approx 200yds to the North.
DESCRIPTION:
Most of the time this sink is hidden from view under the guise of a large, uninviting retention pond. In times of drought however, the beautiful white limestone and sand rim of the sink basin emerges and the rest of the dried up retention pond becomes overgrown with weeds. Once in the water, the shore of the North end of the basin angles down steeply, turning into a rock ledge about 10 ft high. The ledge forms the circular rim of the sink and is about 80' across. The bottom is heavy silt, covering rocky breakdown in some areas and piles of logs on the NE side where the ledge seems to be undercut a bit. There are a couple of free standing rock spires rising from the bottom, similar to those found in nearby Arch sink
Max depth ranges from 40' in the summer, to almost 60 ft after the rains swell the retention pond to it's maximum level. Rumors had put the sink depth at over 200', so I was a little disappointed when my computer only showed 37' at the deepest spot during a summertime dive. However, these rumors may have been based on dives made prior to the land around the sink being developed back in the early 70's. Like many sinks, this one has been clogged with debris over the years and appears to have suffered at the hands of developers and/or landowners (the chain sawed ends of several logs don't exactly lean towards nature taking it course). However, the water in the sink is still a unique shade of blue-green, a trait shared by several other sinks in the area. This gives some hope of finding cave passage if the debris was cleared, since the other sinks have been dived to depth nearing 200'.
