"Cave of the Giant Catfish" Dive Reports 5-11-8

[jimdiverman]

Divers know it as one name(with many different spelling possibilities), which you won't hear mentioned here. Locals know it as another name, which you won't hear mentioned here

Searches will come up mostly clean online anyway.



You and me both... Its tough to pick which I want to take on next



I was suprised by the cavern, much bigger than Cypress's cavern(still smaller than Morrison's) and shallow enough to enjoy for a good long time. Made for a very cool looking exit too.



D'Oh! How could I forget that? What a huge flotila... The main vessel of travel was seriously atleast 15x15 with two built in sofas. It dwarfed my dive yacht. Then the barge had several support inflatables piled around it. They looked like they were having a good time atleast.

Sounds like you and Stasia had a good time too. Looks like a great site. My parents have finally sold their house in New Orleans since the aftermath of Katrina. They have decided to give me the 16-foot fiberglass canoe that I had when I was a kid. I am picking it up from the house tomorrow. I may bring it to Marianna this weekend. I am told that it doesn't leak, so we can check it out. I would like to start hitting up some of these "remote" ponds, and also the Mill Pond sites. But there has to be a trick to getting your gear in and out of that canoe without tipping or swamping.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

The best trick is to get somewhere shallow enough for you to stand on the bottom and lift stuff out the canoe from the water!

 

[TSandM]

Sounds like a very fun day! I think there's a lot of enjoyment in organizing and executing an excursion to a fairly unknown site. My buddies in Mexico did that one of the days we were there, and came home with grins from ear to ear. Get off the beaten track, and you get to feel a little like an explorer.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Definately a better sense of accomplishment than a diving off a park bench and entering from neat little steps - LOL Sometimes I don't want to deal with diving off the beaten path, but I always have a great time when I do go on an excursion!

 

[cmufieldhockey8]

Sounds like a very fun day! I think there's a lot of enjoyment in organizing and executing an excursion to a fairly unknown site. My buddies in Mexico did that one of the days we were there, and came home with grins from ear to ear. Get off the beaten track, and you get to feel a little like an explorer.

Absolutely! It's more of a pain for Mat then it is for me since he's the one who has to pack up the boat and deal with that and he also did all the work of finding out info, scoping out the location and good places to get the boat in the water so thanks a bunch to him for that. It is so much more exciting to go to a remote place, find the cave and then dive it not knowing too much about the cave. Cave diving is a unique activity anyway, but going to a new spot that doesn't get much traffic... even more unique.

 

[Dive-aholic]

D'Oh! How could I forget that? What a huge flotila... The main vessel of travel was seriously atleast 15x15 with two built in sofas. It dwarfed my dive yacht. Then the barge had several support inflatables piled around it. They looked like they were having a good time atleast.

How many cases of beer could that thing hold?!?

But there has to be a trick to getting your gear in and out of that canoe without tipping or swamping.

Mat pretty much nailed it. You have to find a shallow area where you can stand. That's how we dove Shangri-La. It's usually easy enough to do at most of the sites around here. You're definitely not going to get your gear on while standing in the canoe!

 

[ShagMan]

It's definitely a treat to go somewhere that you know is isolated and not dived much, and it's really the trip as much as the dive itself, that's the fun part.

It's all about the scenery, and more importantly, the company, that makes the experience to me.

Don't get me wrong, I like diving JB and such, but give me an isolated dive any day over those, and I'll be more than happy to wrangle gear, assemble a boat, etc.

 

[jimdiverman]

How many cases of beer could that thing hold?!?



Mat pretty much nailed it. You have to find a shallow area where you can stand. That's how we dove Shangri-La. It's usually easy enough to do at most of the sites around here. You're definitely not going to get your gear on while standing in the canoe!

Well I'm an old boy scout, so I love it outdoors especially in the country and especially in the water. I can't wait to get in my canoe now and go checkout some of these places.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I've dived sans-shoreline and shallows with as single tank at Cypress when it was flooded several years ago. It was a PITA, but we did it. Clip gear off to the side of the boat and enter while the other diver counterweights the opposite side. Diving doubles, it'd be seriously a PITA. I don't think it'd be any worse than diving singles with sidemount bottles though

For water entry, throw gear off in the water, with wing inflated and clip the sucker off. Jump in the water and struggle the gear on while floating.

For exitting the water, clip gear off, flop inside the boat(counterweight the other side), and pull gear up while counterweighting the canoe and praying intensely.



Best advise is still to get somewhere shallow.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

How many cases of beer could that thing hold?!?

Cases? I think that thing was made to carry kegs