Not being familiar with the area or local practices, from reading the father's account I almost got the sense that the "cavern" where the incident took place is open to OW divers. Maybe I misread, but it almost seemed like the original plan was to poke around and in the cavern as the actual dive site. I assume that's not the case?
A very cautionary tale
- Thread starter TSandM
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Gosh thats sobering reading. The message I get loud and clear is never go into a situation you cant get yourself out of.
JamesK
Contributor
Thank you for putting this here. This is why I am such a prick when it comes to OW divers in caverns and caves. It is not reality for someone until it happens to them. It is reality for them now.
DazedAndConfuzed
Contributor
why is googel's cache able to read it when a logged in user is not?
The cave(rn) is located in the Merritt's Mill Pond,... pretty much in the middle of it. It is not policed at all (except for what should be one's common sense). In front of the main entrance is a depression, maybe 8-10' in diameter. When I was last there, last year, it was full of grasses, so I'm not sure how deep it was, the grasses almost obscured the entire entrance. On top of the grass blades was a layer of bottom sediment, that stirred up easily. I followed my buddy (using a primary reel) into the entrance. Just his movement through the silt covered grass made the vis go to 0 in no time. I followed, using his line for guidance. The bottom silt is so thick & light & the entrance is so low, that just your movement through the water will stir it up. Once you are in a good way, you can get up away from the silt & not stir it up any more. It was pretty nasty going in. On the way back, the view, looking through the cavern entrance is beautiful with daylight, blues & greens.
ianr33
Contributor
I've posted this video before but I think it's relevant here.
Video is a dive we did a while ago in Twin Cave. Most of it's not relevant to this discussion but the cavern shots at the beginning (around 1.20)and near the end(15.23) are. Is that ANYWHERE an OW diver should even be considering going??
[vimeo]15924598[/vimeo]
Video is a dive we did a while ago in Twin Cave. Most of it's not relevant to this discussion but the cavern shots at the beginning (around 1.20)and near the end(15.23) are. Is that ANYWHERE an OW diver should even be considering going??
[vimeo]15924598[/vimeo]
OP
I have not heard back from anyone on copying the post.
Gombessa, there are two caverns involved in the story. The cavern at Jackson Blue is a very large opening with very high flow coming out of it (at least under normal conditions). There is a very little silt, and it would be extremely difficult to silt out at least the front of the cavern, to the point where you couldn't figure out where the exit was. This is the type of cavern that is seductive to untrained people, because the risks probably ARE fairly low, if you don't go in very far and if you stay in the very open part of the space. Where people get into trouble is that they keep pushing how far they go in, or they swim into corners that turn out to be passages, or otherwise set themselves up to fail.
But you could do a fair amount of swimming around in there and convince yourself that caverns were pretty benign.
Then you go to Twin, which, as you can see from the video, is the polar opposite of JB. The entrance is smaller than the space behind it, and that space is small, too. There is very little flow, and the bottom is silt and mung which is easy to disturb and which doesn't settle quickly. This is precisely the kind of place that really NEEDS cave skills to be handled. No open water diver has any business in Twin; I might even go so far as to say that most recently trained cavern divers would be well advised to stay clear of it.
Gombessa, there are two caverns involved in the story. The cavern at Jackson Blue is a very large opening with very high flow coming out of it (at least under normal conditions). There is a very little silt, and it would be extremely difficult to silt out at least the front of the cavern, to the point where you couldn't figure out where the exit was. This is the type of cavern that is seductive to untrained people, because the risks probably ARE fairly low, if you don't go in very far and if you stay in the very open part of the space. Where people get into trouble is that they keep pushing how far they go in, or they swim into corners that turn out to be passages, or otherwise set themselves up to fail.
But you could do a fair amount of swimming around in there and convince yourself that caverns were pretty benign.
Then you go to Twin, which, as you can see from the video, is the polar opposite of JB. The entrance is smaller than the space behind it, and that space is small, too. There is very little flow, and the bottom is silt and mung which is easy to disturb and which doesn't settle quickly. This is precisely the kind of place that really NEEDS cave skills to be handled. No open water diver has any business in Twin; I might even go so far as to say that most recently trained cavern divers would be well advised to stay clear of it.
eelnoraa
Contributor
OP
That cavern actually opens up into a beautiful solution tube, with sculpted walls that are full of fossils, and with a cache of small bones on the floor at one point. Then the cave offers a couple of chimneys that are great fun, and some bedding plane in the deep section. For trained cave divers, it's really a fun dive. But it's not a place for novices or people without training, not at all.
Even after my first cave class, the rule was that we could not pass restricted entries like that. You really have to have good skills AND be calm in the face of reduced viz, to be safe in such places. With a wide open entry, like JB or some of the caverns in MX, at least you can look around and see how much trouble you are getting into. Places like Twin, or say Chan Hol in MX, don't offer you the chance to see what's further on at all. Whatever it is, you're kind of committed to coping with it.
Even after my first cave class, the rule was that we could not pass restricted entries like that. You really have to have good skills AND be calm in the face of reduced viz, to be safe in such places. With a wide open entry, like JB or some of the caverns in MX, at least you can look around and see how much trouble you are getting into. Places like Twin, or say Chan Hol in MX, don't offer you the chance to see what's further on at all. Whatever it is, you're kind of committed to coping with it.
Similar threads
