Cave warning sign

[ucfdiver]

Is this what you looking for? I took this picture while at Ginnie Springs awhile back..


Click on picture for a larger picture....

This is a classic photo now...the cave won't ever look that way again...that column behind the sign has been completely ripped out or somehow broken and is now on the floor in the eye.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

This is a classic photo now...the cave won't ever look that way again...that column behind the sign has been completely ripped out or somehow broken and is now on the floor in the eye.

:shocked2::shocked2:

I guess its been a long time since I've been to Ginnie, but its that kinda reason why it hasn't been long enough.

Here's a pic from the first time I was there, in '04 for the Halloween Megadive. I took this of a buddy of mine.

 

[ucfdiver]

:shocked2::shocked2:

I guess its been a long time since I've been to Ginnie, but its that kinda reason why it hasn't been long enough.

Yeah, the most popular tourist and training areas of that cave take a beating, and for most people, it's too much effort to get to anything that's relatively undamaged.

 

[Black Red]

Sign de-rusted

 

[karstdvr]

Yeah, the most popular tourist and training areas of that cave take a beating, and for most people, it's too much effort to get to anything that's relatively undamaged.

That is why some of the best cave diving sites are kept quiet to never appear on the internet.

 

[rjack321]

This is a classic photo now...the cave won't ever look that way again...that column behind the sign has been completely ripped out or somehow broken and is now on the floor in the eye.

That column is as big as my leg, how do you break something like that? scooter crash???

 

[karstdvr]

That column is as big as my leg, how do you break something like that? scooter crash???

Ginnie used to be one of my favorite cave dives. I held an annual pass there for years,and probably have 400+ cave dives in that system. The damage in that system due to poor cave diving technique is about replusive,and I am lucky if I make 2-3 dives a year there now.

 

[ucfdiver]

That column is as big as my leg, how do you break something like that? scooter crash???

rjack, you have to remember that this is what some FL cave classes are like-
Two Tanked Productions HD & SD Underwater Productions and video services

That should explain a LOT of the damage right there.

On top of that, you've got a lot of cave instructors who encourage goal oriented dives such as swimming to the heinkle restriction in Ginnie before they take a DPV course. How on earth strapping on 2 stages and pulling yourself 3100ft through high flow and then doing 30 minutes of deco makes you any more qualified of a cave diver, I have no idea, but it appears like it's done a number on the cave. The "heinkle dive" is so talked up on forums and around Ginnie......I hate to ruin it for everyone, but it's an area that at one time was a restriction, and it looks pretty similar to the lips. You've now got a dive slate with "No DPV Beyond This Point" written on it that everyone stops to write profane (and when I was there, quite funny) things back and forth before scootering past it that realistically entertains divers more than the heinkle it's self.

You've also got the areas that people love to talk about online such as the Ice Room......as a general rule, if you can search CDF and find more than a few threads on a certain area in Ginnie, consider it already trashed, and considering there's threads about a large portion of that cave, you can figure out what this means. If you post about it online, it will get trashed. There's a room very similar to the ice room that's not labeled on any map, and doesn't have a line running to it, and it's almost completely pristine. I'm not sure if maps or posting online do the most damage, but combine the two and it gets real bad...

Anyways, most all of the damage I've seen in Ginnie is due to hands, fins, and stage bottles. I'm sure scooters cause their damage (you can see it in areas), but they don't even come close to the 3 I've mentioned.

 

[SparticleBrane]

My cave buddies and I consider both Ginnie and Orange Grove to be the "ghetto of cave diving".

rjack, you have to remember that this is what some FL cave classes are like-
Two Tanked Productions HD & SD Underwater Productions and video services

That should explain a LOT of the damage right there.

That video made me sick. Holy crap. Of course when I saw the link I already knew what to expect.

 

[dallasmarlow]

hahhaha, that video cracked me up. funny stuff right there. ^_^