Completed an IANTD Cavern course over Thanksgiving Day Holiday in FL. I think the name of the spring we went to first was Royal(?). I have to look in my logbook. Extremely silty. Touch the bottom and you have jacked it up for a long time.
PS - thank you OW students.
We did not enter the cavern there. We stayed in the basin practicing skills. We are told there are two types of people who enter this cave system:
Those about to be a corpse, and those recovering the soon to be corpse.
This place is perfect for line drills and stuff in the basin though.
Sunday we hit Orange Grove Sink. I knew it would be spectacular and breathtaking entering a cavern for the first time, and you know what? I was right. Man o man. What a sight. What an experience. I was totally stoked.
The gold line is just beyond our reach so we stayed back a bit and just stared at the start of the cave area. Yea, it looks pretty easy to get to, but... not yet. I'm happy to explore caverns for a while and do it the correct way. :05:
My team performed fairly well. We need LOTS more practice and LOTS more easy dives, but I know we can do this, and do it safely. Man! No mask-OOA drills are fun! I want to do it AGAIN! And AGAIN!
Our instructor was demanding and extremely meticulous in his critiques and what he expected of us. We had no doubt he'd fail any and all of us if we were lacking the skills. What a great guy, and I will pursue my Tech and Intro/Full Cave with this guy when it I'm ready. No doubt about it.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting into some more caverns soon!
One thing I find particularly distasteful are snotty cavers gearing up and muttering about out of state divers. I don't give a crap who you are, what level of training you may possess, or where you call home. I'll dive wherever I'm allowed. I paid my fee just like everyone else. PS - nice snorkel.
PS - thank you OW students.
We did not enter the cavern there. We stayed in the basin practicing skills. We are told there are two types of people who enter this cave system:
Those about to be a corpse, and those recovering the soon to be corpse.
This place is perfect for line drills and stuff in the basin though.
Sunday we hit Orange Grove Sink. I knew it would be spectacular and breathtaking entering a cavern for the first time, and you know what? I was right. Man o man. What a sight. What an experience. I was totally stoked.
The gold line is just beyond our reach so we stayed back a bit and just stared at the start of the cave area. Yea, it looks pretty easy to get to, but... not yet. I'm happy to explore caverns for a while and do it the correct way. :05:
My team performed fairly well. We need LOTS more practice and LOTS more easy dives, but I know we can do this, and do it safely. Man! No mask-OOA drills are fun! I want to do it AGAIN! And AGAIN!
Our instructor was demanding and extremely meticulous in his critiques and what he expected of us. We had no doubt he'd fail any and all of us if we were lacking the skills. What a great guy, and I will pursue my Tech and Intro/Full Cave with this guy when it I'm ready. No doubt about it.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting into some more caverns soon!
One thing I find particularly distasteful are snotty cavers gearing up and muttering about out of state divers. I don't give a crap who you are, what level of training you may possess, or where you call home. I'll dive wherever I'm allowed. I paid my fee just like everyone else. PS - nice snorkel.
