ucfdiver
Contributor
I must say, this weekend was one of my best in a looong time.
Friday I got off work early and drove over to a friend and previous professors house, where we loaded up our dive gear and headed north. We had lunch meat to make sandwiches so we didn't have to stop to eat, and got to the Quality Inn in Mariana at a reasonable hour to get a good nights rest before a weekend of fun! Only minor detour was to get my drysuit (with new seals!) form Steve Gamble, who did an awesome job with quick turnaround time.
Saturday morning we got to Ed's right at 8am to get my doubles filled and then headed to Fl Caverns State Park to rent a canoe and then meet Matt and Kevin. After arriving, we found out Matt was making us paddle over a mile up a ferocious river (sounds good when I say it like that...) to a spring that he had visited before. The main entrance is backmountable until you get to a vertical crack. Right before the crack, there's an opening that you can exit, and then swim across the surface pool to a backmount entry, a much better option than beating the piss out of the vertical part of the cave to fit doubles through. He took some pics and will hopefully post them, but here's the same site that' he posted once before-
After an awesome dive there, we went to Ed's and checked into JB. I had heard JB flow was really up, but it seemed much less than Ginnie even, which was a nice change from the raging flow I received last time I was here. While at Ed's, Heather and Brian Armstrong were nice enough to suggest a dive path and give us a very detailed briefing on which path to take that would be easy on the cave for BM scootering. Since we were new to this cave, we breathed a stage in, and turned at p3200ft after using only about 300psi of backgas. JB had great viz, and I was blown away with the gigantic boulder in the middle of the cave, as well as the large rooms with huge cracks in the ceiling. From photos I've seen, it appears like trash has been removed from the trash room? I was somewhat disappointed in that. Also I was floored at two scooter marks, one in a perfect circle and several inches deep, a shame for a cave that has tons of room to keep off the floor.
We turned and arrived back at the cavern zone with almost no deco and >3000psi in back gas.
Sunday we once again arrived early to Ed's so that we could get on the boat we rented, this time with our buddy Allen meeting us. Our first trip was Hole in the Wall. This one was a learning experience, low flow caves on the Mill Pond really don't like scooter propwash, as the powdery silt just goes everywhere in there with even small mistakes. While I won't call this dive a success, it was a learning experience, and Hole in the Wall is just an amazing cave in which I still had an absolute blast. We have some skills to work on for no flow cave, but I'll attempt this dive again after some more practice. The huge domes and ceiling formations are amazing and I can't wait to get back in there.
After that, since we hadn't even touched back gas due to that being a low flow cave, we parked the DPV's and went over to Twin Caves for a swim dive. I think some guys were mapping or exploring something in there, because viz was <10ft through most of the system, but fortunately a group of divers were really friendly and pointed us into the direction where they found better viz. We were able to drop down into the deep section like they suggested and found something that was clear.
Me in Twin-
We turned the boat and then headed back to Ed's for some tank fills. The new assistant (Jim?) that Ed has hired busts his rear to ensure everyone has a good time while at the Mill Pond, helping with scooters, tanks, etc...hopefully everyone tips him well for his efforts.
After leaving Ed's, we headed over to JB, where Allen was blown away, as this was his first time on the pond. Knowing that our route yesterday was a scenic one and this was his first time, we went with what was proven and had that look on his face after exiting, the one we all know, where you can just look at someone and tell they had a blast!
This morning we packed up and headed home, but there's a neat little site by the road which we figured we might as well go checkout. Typically guarded by a big momma gator, we weren't all that hopeful, but at least wanted to try. We threw our drysuits on and walked up the slough to avoid trespassing and pissing off landowners. We were met by awesome viz and even more important, the gator took memorial day off! Here's a surface photo-
After gearing up and doing the walk again, we learned that the basin viz gets to be zero very fast, and had to feel around for the cave. When I say zero, I mean that when I turned my hand to the side, I couldn't see any light at all. I'm not sure how, but somehow we managed to feel our way in and were relieved to see the mainline tied off to a rock and clear viz shortly ahead. The walk was well rewarded as this was a beautiful system, so pristine that you want to bring your "A game" just so others can enjoy it just as much, and start to wonder what other systems looked like to the first who were there.
Around 7pm we got back into Orlando (home) and it's time to start planning our next adventure. 5 systems in 3 days will be tough to beat. I love tourist diving, having a hotel 10 minutes from the dive shop makes things so much easier! Huge thanks to Matt for his help, as well as Litehedded for answering my site related questions today. Fortunately the next 2 sites I want to dive are closer to home, if the rain plays nicely.
Friday I got off work early and drove over to a friend and previous professors house, where we loaded up our dive gear and headed north. We had lunch meat to make sandwiches so we didn't have to stop to eat, and got to the Quality Inn in Mariana at a reasonable hour to get a good nights rest before a weekend of fun! Only minor detour was to get my drysuit (with new seals!) form Steve Gamble, who did an awesome job with quick turnaround time.
Saturday morning we got to Ed's right at 8am to get my doubles filled and then headed to Fl Caverns State Park to rent a canoe and then meet Matt and Kevin. After arriving, we found out Matt was making us paddle over a mile up a ferocious river (sounds good when I say it like that...) to a spring that he had visited before. The main entrance is backmountable until you get to a vertical crack. Right before the crack, there's an opening that you can exit, and then swim across the surface pool to a backmount entry, a much better option than beating the piss out of the vertical part of the cave to fit doubles through. He took some pics and will hopefully post them, but here's the same site that' he posted once before-
After an awesome dive there, we went to Ed's and checked into JB. I had heard JB flow was really up, but it seemed much less than Ginnie even, which was a nice change from the raging flow I received last time I was here. While at Ed's, Heather and Brian Armstrong were nice enough to suggest a dive path and give us a very detailed briefing on which path to take that would be easy on the cave for BM scootering. Since we were new to this cave, we breathed a stage in, and turned at p3200ft after using only about 300psi of backgas. JB had great viz, and I was blown away with the gigantic boulder in the middle of the cave, as well as the large rooms with huge cracks in the ceiling. From photos I've seen, it appears like trash has been removed from the trash room? I was somewhat disappointed in that. Also I was floored at two scooter marks, one in a perfect circle and several inches deep, a shame for a cave that has tons of room to keep off the floor.
We turned and arrived back at the cavern zone with almost no deco and >3000psi in back gas.
Sunday we once again arrived early to Ed's so that we could get on the boat we rented, this time with our buddy Allen meeting us. Our first trip was Hole in the Wall. This one was a learning experience, low flow caves on the Mill Pond really don't like scooter propwash, as the powdery silt just goes everywhere in there with even small mistakes. While I won't call this dive a success, it was a learning experience, and Hole in the Wall is just an amazing cave in which I still had an absolute blast. We have some skills to work on for no flow cave, but I'll attempt this dive again after some more practice. The huge domes and ceiling formations are amazing and I can't wait to get back in there.
After that, since we hadn't even touched back gas due to that being a low flow cave, we parked the DPV's and went over to Twin Caves for a swim dive. I think some guys were mapping or exploring something in there, because viz was <10ft through most of the system, but fortunately a group of divers were really friendly and pointed us into the direction where they found better viz. We were able to drop down into the deep section like they suggested and found something that was clear.
Me in Twin-
We turned the boat and then headed back to Ed's for some tank fills. The new assistant (Jim?) that Ed has hired busts his rear to ensure everyone has a good time while at the Mill Pond, helping with scooters, tanks, etc...hopefully everyone tips him well for his efforts.
After leaving Ed's, we headed over to JB, where Allen was blown away, as this was his first time on the pond. Knowing that our route yesterday was a scenic one and this was his first time, we went with what was proven and had that look on his face after exiting, the one we all know, where you can just look at someone and tell they had a blast!
This morning we packed up and headed home, but there's a neat little site by the road which we figured we might as well go checkout. Typically guarded by a big momma gator, we weren't all that hopeful, but at least wanted to try. We threw our drysuits on and walked up the slough to avoid trespassing and pissing off landowners. We were met by awesome viz and even more important, the gator took memorial day off! Here's a surface photo-
After gearing up and doing the walk again, we learned that the basin viz gets to be zero very fast, and had to feel around for the cave. When I say zero, I mean that when I turned my hand to the side, I couldn't see any light at all. I'm not sure how, but somehow we managed to feel our way in and were relieved to see the mainline tied off to a rock and clear viz shortly ahead. The walk was well rewarded as this was a beautiful system, so pristine that you want to bring your "A game" just so others can enjoy it just as much, and start to wonder what other systems looked like to the first who were there.
Around 7pm we got back into Orlando (home) and it's time to start planning our next adventure. 5 systems in 3 days will be tough to beat. I love tourist diving, having a hotel 10 minutes from the dive shop makes things so much easier! Huge thanks to Matt for his help, as well as Litehedded for answering my site related questions today. Fortunately the next 2 sites I want to dive are closer to home, if the rain plays nicely.
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