cmufieldhockey8
Contributor
I'll give Suprbugman a break from the trip report this week. Our Saturday gulf dive out of Pensacola got blown out and Suprbugman had already planned to cave dive in Marianna on Sunday with Ed Jackson, his wive and Jean, so we both headed out in Bug's VW Saturday morning to get in 2 days of cave diving.
On arrival, a constant fog was rising and swirling around the Mill Pond like gusts of wind blowing snow- it looked pretty cool. There were few people already at Jackson Blue, braving the rain storm and chilly weather just as we were.
After eating bologna and ham sandwiches we geared up and hit the water at 1:57. Bug ran the reel and I dropped an 02 bottle in the cavern for practice. I have some LP 95s I bought a few months ago and this was their maiden voyage on my back. Yay! Once Bug tied into the main line I lead the dive as I can't always keep up with his pace. We swam 1250 ft back to the 2nd 'T' and looped back around on the main line. The cave gets smaller in there and it is soooo pretty. It was a 65 min dive with a max depth of 94 and an average of 62. Visibility was excellent as usual.
We surfaced to some chilly air but at least the rain had stopped. Unfortunately I left the thermos of hot chocolate at home! About an hour later we were back in what felt like bath water, me running the line this time. We checked out a jump a few hundred feet in. This one lasted 47 min averaging 54 feet.
We scurried out of our suits (props to Bugman for diving WET) and dropped our tanks off at Cave Adventurers. We checked in at the hotel, warmed up, and then hit up the local Mexican restaurant. Mmmm cheep tasty Mexican food!
After a good night's sleep with the heater cranked up, we awoke to 28 degree weather (23 with the wind chill.) We met up with Ed, his wife Marianne who is cavern certified, and Jean at Cave Adventurers. After a brief discussion, we changed our original plans from renting a pontoon boat and diving Twin Cave and Jackson Blue in favor of diving Jackson Blue by land. This would make it a little easier to deal with the cold. Packetsniffer was there too with another dive buddy.
All 5 of us got in at 10:50 am, and this was to be the "photoshoot dive" as Ed had his new camera and Bug and I were fresh subjects. Bugman and my tanks which had been sitting in water overnight jumped up to 3900 and 3800 psi when we got into the 68 degree spring water! Marianne hung around the cavern while the rest of us comfortably made our way back about 1000 feet. Ed snapped away and and we turned when I called the dive due to approaching deco. It was a lovely, laid back dive lasting 72 min maxing out at 90 some feet.
After getting out of the water into the frigid air, Jean, Ed and Marianne decided to call it a day. We took a look at Ed's great shots and then Bug and I got back in the water. This time we dove the horseshoe line and then the main line for a little while. We both had plenty of air but I had to get going to get back to Pensacola for work, so after that 64 min dive we got out, packed up and headed out.
It was a fabulous weekend, and I know Bugman's got some nice surface shots of JB and Ed has some nice underwater shots too.
On arrival, a constant fog was rising and swirling around the Mill Pond like gusts of wind blowing snow- it looked pretty cool. There were few people already at Jackson Blue, braving the rain storm and chilly weather just as we were.
After eating bologna and ham sandwiches we geared up and hit the water at 1:57. Bug ran the reel and I dropped an 02 bottle in the cavern for practice. I have some LP 95s I bought a few months ago and this was their maiden voyage on my back. Yay! Once Bug tied into the main line I lead the dive as I can't always keep up with his pace. We swam 1250 ft back to the 2nd 'T' and looped back around on the main line. The cave gets smaller in there and it is soooo pretty. It was a 65 min dive with a max depth of 94 and an average of 62. Visibility was excellent as usual.
We surfaced to some chilly air but at least the rain had stopped. Unfortunately I left the thermos of hot chocolate at home! About an hour later we were back in what felt like bath water, me running the line this time. We checked out a jump a few hundred feet in. This one lasted 47 min averaging 54 feet.
We scurried out of our suits (props to Bugman for diving WET) and dropped our tanks off at Cave Adventurers. We checked in at the hotel, warmed up, and then hit up the local Mexican restaurant. Mmmm cheep tasty Mexican food!
After a good night's sleep with the heater cranked up, we awoke to 28 degree weather (23 with the wind chill.) We met up with Ed, his wife Marianne who is cavern certified, and Jean at Cave Adventurers. After a brief discussion, we changed our original plans from renting a pontoon boat and diving Twin Cave and Jackson Blue in favor of diving Jackson Blue by land. This would make it a little easier to deal with the cold. Packetsniffer was there too with another dive buddy.
All 5 of us got in at 10:50 am, and this was to be the "photoshoot dive" as Ed had his new camera and Bug and I were fresh subjects. Bugman and my tanks which had been sitting in water overnight jumped up to 3900 and 3800 psi when we got into the 68 degree spring water! Marianne hung around the cavern while the rest of us comfortably made our way back about 1000 feet. Ed snapped away and and we turned when I called the dive due to approaching deco. It was a lovely, laid back dive lasting 72 min maxing out at 90 some feet.
After getting out of the water into the frigid air, Jean, Ed and Marianne decided to call it a day. We took a look at Ed's great shots and then Bug and I got back in the water. This time we dove the horseshoe line and then the main line for a little while. We both had plenty of air but I had to get going to get back to Pensacola for work, so after that 64 min dive we got out, packed up and headed out.
It was a fabulous weekend, and I know Bugman's got some nice surface shots of JB and Ed has some nice underwater shots too.
Excellent pic too, definately convey's the "OMG its friggin cold feeling" I'll get mine posted up sometime this afternoon.
