OP
Today was more about hands on experience and diving than classroom discussions. German told us this morning that what we need now is to do some cave diving. Zinc and I liked that comment! 
With that we headed to Aerolito to finish the complex circuit we started yesterday. Once there we kitted up. Zinc had all his gear this time, so things went quickly. I have to tell ya'll...at least those of you who know Zinc...that he's been getting ready FAST. I know, I know, those of you who dive with him are having a hard time visualizing this, but it's true. All we had to do was get the guy and his gear by a cave entrance and he's all of the sudden Speedy Gonzalez.
My job was to run the lines today and Zinc was line support. We entered the cave, laid the primary line, and headed down the permanent line. The big difference today was that we headed counter clockwise around the circuit rather than clockwise as we did yesterday.
Our objective was to reach the cookie we placed on the line yesterday. Remember...we placed the cookie exactly where we had depleted 1/3 of our gas supply. If we were able to get to this cookie going the opposite direction today before depleting a 1/3 of our back gas then we would know we would be able to complete the entire circuit with plenty of air to get back to the cave entrance...even in the event of a slight emergency.
The dive went smoothly. We passed lots of different rock formations, placed one line jump and passed a couple of line Ts. There were also several unmarked jumps we saw along the way. Interestingly, we spotted a sea star that German later told us was a species endemic to this cave. In other words, you can't find this sea star anywhere else in the world. Pretty cool, huh?
The cave on this leg of the circuit became even narrower at one point than yesterday. In fact, we had the opportunity to pass through our first real minor restriction. For the non-cave divers a minor restriction is one that has to be passed through single file. A major restriction is one that requires a sidemount rig and can't be passed through with regular doubles. Anyway, the restriction was indeed tight. My shoulders barely touched each side of the cave and my stomach and doubles grazed the top and bottom at the same time. Surprisingly, it didn't cause me any apprehension at all. Later, Zinc, said he actually found the tighter caves to be more comfortable as he didn't have to worry about the guideline.
Here's something interesting. While we were in the narrow passages our air bubbles created vibrations somehow in the cave and produced a very loud, very deep humming. It was a little creepy, admittedly, but it was certainly something I had never experienced before. Same old, same old, right?...learning and experiencing something new each and every day. :14:
We made the jump, passed the two line Ts we needed to and finally came to the cookie we placed on the line during yesterday's dive. At that point I was only 50 psi from hitting my 1/3. Close, but plenty of backgas to continue the circuit safely. Zinc unlocked his cookie from the line and as we continued. He picked up the two jump reels he left on the backside of the circuit yesterday. Once we hit the main line we turned away from the cave entrance for 20' or so and picked up the jump reel I placed on this dive.
We turned toward the entrance and proceeded down the main line and back to the cave entrance picking up our primary reel along the way. One complex circuit successfully completed during a dive of 78 minutes at a max depth of 59'.
We all totally enjoyed the dive. Even German said he had fun. That's pretty cool when your instructor is able to have fun too. Not that we wasn't keeping an eagle eye on us...he was.
We did make a second dive to practice a couple of drills: lost diver and air share while the out of gas diver had no mask. Both went well.
We don't know what German has on the menu for us tomorrow, but we'll keep you posted! Safe diving!
With that we headed to Aerolito to finish the complex circuit we started yesterday. Once there we kitted up. Zinc had all his gear this time
, so things went quickly. I have to tell ya'll...at least those of you who know Zinc...that he's been getting ready FAST. I know, I know, those of you who dive with him are having a hard time visualizing this, but it's true. All we had to do was get the guy and his gear by a cave entrance and he's all of the sudden Speedy Gonzalez. My job was to run the lines today and Zinc was line support. We entered the cave, laid the primary line, and headed down the permanent line. The big difference today was that we headed counter clockwise around the circuit rather than clockwise as we did yesterday.
Our objective was to reach the cookie we placed on the line yesterday. Remember...we placed the cookie exactly where we had depleted 1/3 of our gas supply. If we were able to get to this cookie going the opposite direction today before depleting a 1/3 of our back gas then we would know we would be able to complete the entire circuit with plenty of air to get back to the cave entrance...even in the event of a slight emergency.
The dive went smoothly. We passed lots of different rock formations, placed one line jump and passed a couple of line Ts. There were also several unmarked jumps we saw along the way. Interestingly, we spotted a sea star that German later told us was a species endemic to this cave. In other words, you can't find this sea star anywhere else in the world. Pretty cool, huh?
The cave on this leg of the circuit became even narrower at one point than yesterday. In fact, we had the opportunity to pass through our first real minor restriction. For the non-cave divers a minor restriction is one that has to be passed through single file. A major restriction is one that requires a sidemount rig and can't be passed through with regular doubles. Anyway, the restriction was indeed tight. My shoulders barely touched each side of the cave and my stomach and doubles grazed the top and bottom at the same time. Surprisingly, it didn't cause me any apprehension at all. Later, Zinc, said he actually found the tighter caves to be more comfortable as he didn't have to worry about the guideline.
Here's something interesting. While we were in the narrow passages our air bubbles created vibrations somehow in the cave and produced a very loud, very deep humming. It was a little creepy, admittedly, but it was certainly something I had never experienced before. Same old, same old, right?...learning and experiencing something new each and every day. :14:
We made the jump, passed the two line Ts we needed to and finally came to the cookie we placed on the line during yesterday's dive. At that point I was only 50 psi from hitting my 1/3. Close, but plenty of backgas to continue the circuit safely. Zinc unlocked his cookie from the line and as we continued. He picked up the two jump reels he left on the backside of the circuit yesterday. Once we hit the main line we turned away from the cave entrance for 20' or so and picked up the jump reel I placed on this dive.
We turned toward the entrance and proceeded down the main line and back to the cave entrance picking up our primary reel along the way. One complex circuit successfully completed during a dive of 78 minutes at a max depth of 59'.
We all totally enjoyed the dive. Even German said he had fun. That's pretty cool when your instructor is able to have fun too. Not that we wasn't keeping an eagle eye on us...he was.
We did make a second dive to practice a couple of drills: lost diver and air share while the out of gas diver had no mask. Both went well.
We don't know what German has on the menu for us tomorrow, but we'll keep you posted! Safe diving!
However, I can't see all of his shoulders (yeah, he's a big guy)... Oops. I give him a hold (like he had a choice) and head back to him, reeling the line up... And that was the first time I DIDN'T envy these big, strong men with whom I dive... 
