Cave Divers with NO CAVES

[chevv58]

Hello, I completly understand where you're coming from. Just last Feb, I took my cavern/intro class, and last month, went down for the NACD conference. My buddy and I try to get as many cave dives in as possible. Also, we've been able to dive some abandoned mines in the area.
As far as getting down to FL, three day weekends help, but it's pretty intense. Oh, and here's a scary thought. Peacock Springs and Ginnie are only 20 hours away from Cleveland. hehehe.

 

[OWSI176288]

I know what you mean. I try to make it down at least 3-4 times a year. Mostly once every five or six weeks between November to March, when the Great Lakes aren't divable. It takes a day or two each time to shake off the rust and work on skills, from not cave diving between trips. Just can't simulate cave diving in a quarry.

Oh, and here's a scary thought. Peacock Springs and Ginnie are only 20 hours away from Cleveland. hehehe.

By the way, my average time from Cleveland, OH to High Springs, FL is 15 hours - as long as the wife sleep's the whole way and doesn't get to look at the speedometer.

 

[brutus_scuba]

NOTE: The following post is just dialogue of internal debates

Yeah last time I went to Ginnie it took me 18 hours to get home but driving with a women and an outlet mall lead to a large part of the trip. i thinkt he trip down we made in about 13 from Columbus.

I'm a senior at Ohio State but will have a second senior year so this upcoming summer will be my last summer before the real world hits which is why I wanna live in that area for a summer so that I can do the dives I need to do to really be okay.

I also feel like I only have a hundred dives I could probably get to 175 or so by june. Maybe more if I just really dive a lot, and I feel like compared to what most cave divers have 175 just isn't a whole lot.

But on the other hand I'm in a pool 3 nights a week working on everything from prefecting the frog kick and trim to laying line, and mask blackouts, and I'll never have another summer to just go live in FL for the summer, and as comfortable as I am with those drills in the pool it's a lot different then being in a cave. Everyone I know that cave dives tell me I just need to go do it, I realy want to well see if I have the guts to just up and move to fl for a summer and the motivation to find work down there a place to stay and someone to sublease my place in columbus without losing too much money.

 

[Irene]

Brutus,

Chase the dream! Once you graduate, you'll be so busy building your career, you won't have the freedom to devote to diving. Perhaps you'll be able to focus on that career if you've spent the last days of your careless youth diving your heart out!

Forget what the folks think. You are allowed to make different choices than they did. Maybe there are things they have on their wish list that they haven't yet done? They might be disappointed at first, but ultimately they will be proud of your having the courage to chase after a passion.

A friend of mine tells the story of his mom's disappointment that he was staying up late teaching diving and how lazy she thought he was when he wasn't awake by 10:00 AM. A year later, when he opened his own scuba shop, she was quite proud of her son "the businessman." It was just a different perspective for her, HE was the same person.

Do some research though, there's not a lot of pizza delivery places in cave country!

 

[Dive-aholic]

I second Irene. Go for it! What's keeping me in Arizona isn't a job (I'm a nurse and can find work anywhere) or family (wife came to Arizona when family was here, but the moved away and I came with the military and just stayed). It's my house. I need to finish the renovation before I can put it on the market. Unfortunately, I have so much going on right now that I can't devote that much time to the house, so it will be a couple of years or so before we can put it on the market! In the meantime we make the best of it, but we'd rather be living in our house in Florida!

 

[brutus_scuba]

Brutus,

Chase the dream! Once you graduate, you'll be so busy building your career, you won't have the freedom to devote to diving. Perhaps you'll be able to focus on that career if you've spent the last days of your careless youth diving your heart out!

Forget what the folks think. You are allowed to make different choices than they did. Maybe there are things they have on their wish list that they haven't yet done? They might be disappointed at first, but ultimately they will be proud of your having the courage to chase after a passion.

A friend of mine tells the story of his mom's disappointment that he was staying up late teaching diving and how lazy she thought he was when he wasn't awake by 10:00 AM. A year later, when he opened his own scuba shop, she was quite proud of her son "the businessman." It was just a different perspective for her, HE was the same person.

Do some research though, there's not a lot of pizza delivery places in cave country!

Thanks Irene I'll do some research

I was using delevring pizza more as a general statment for i dont' care what type of job I work, but I was actually thinking that Gainesville would have employment jut because of the college students leaving the area after the school year was over, and I thought that I may talk to ginnie springs. I know last time I was down there in the summer they were looking for part time help. If I worked part time at Ginnie and part time somewhere else. I could probably make enough for air fills and a season pass at Ginnie.

 

[GDI]

Practise the skills sets as best you can in what ever environment you have available. Keeping skils sharp will help you when you can get to a cave area get back in the seat

 

[fdog]

Practise the skills sets as best you can in what ever environment you have available. Keeping skils sharp will help you when you can get to a cave area get back in the seat

Yes! This is why I refered to the SCRET line project.

All the best, James

 

[chevv58]

Oh, yes, as far as keeping the skills sharp, you CAN practice your skills almost anywhere. A buddy of mine and I are thinking of setting up a mock line at our local quarry to run drills. It's in a nice deep(er) silty spot too.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I'm definitely not a caver, but I am pretty sure that SCRET has a cave simulation in the Seattle area that is complete with lines, stage drops, scooters etc. The general idea is that the dives are conducted just as they would be in a real cave, from setup dives to end-of-the-line pushes. I had heard that the "penetration" was out to about 3 miles.

A cool way to keep sharp for the real thing.

IIRC, it's called something like the Alkali Plains Project.

All the best, James

Alki Plains Project ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)