So I finally sweet-talked my wife into letting me go on a DIVE TRIP!!! Originally, it was supposed to be a weekend thing, but I was able to explain to her how I was not going to be able to dive the first and last day and blah blah blah... tears, etc, etc... She finally let me go for 6 days.
Next, where to go... Mexico, Dominican Republic, etc... Nope!!! Florida, Cave Country, YES!!! Cavern and Intro to Cave it was. I got some references from Scubaboard and I knew that Patrick DeJardines at the shop did Cavern last year. So, I ended up signing up with TJ from Dayo SCUBA. This guy is a full time instructor and sells some gear through internet so he is easy to schedule. My trip was set from April 26 until May 2.
April 26, I made it to Orlando, where I spent the night with my sister, her husband and my nephew and niece. Monday, got up at 6:00am and drove out to TJ's place. I made it too early so I stopped and had breakfast, filled up the car, etc. I was at TJ's by 8:00am where I met his wife Denise who is also a very avid cave diver and is a certified NAUI instructor. We got our gear together and headed off to cave country. Along the way, we stopped at a rest stop in Okahumpta (middle of nowhere) where I cold not resist the Dunkin' Donuts. While backing out of my parking spot, the Hummer backing up from the spot behind me hits me. I thought the tone was set for the week... but, such was not the case.
After about 2.5 hours of driving, we made it to nowhere (don't know where), where we dropped off TJ's and Denise's dry suits for repairs. A guy named Steve runs the place and is apparently one of the few people who does this kind of work. After Steve's we went to lunch to a local Chinese restaurant.
So off to High Springs. TJ needed to pick up some back up lights so we stopped at Salvo where he got a couple of Rat Jr. back ups. The Salvo shop was very nice and impressive for being in the "middle of nowhere, USA".
The first dive Monday took us to Little River Springs. No entrance fees here and you just park and dive. The water was slightly tannic (brown) so visiblity not perfect, but better than anything we are used to here in TX. Cavern class started with out of water excercises. TJ showed me how to run a guideline into the main line. We discussed primary, secondary tie-offs, placements and ties. Along the way, TJ drilled me on what to do if a buddy is lost, a primary light fails, who enters and exits first and last, who keeps the line tight, etc. Time for diving.... TJ handles the reel to show me what to do on the first dive. He ties off and we go in. The flow coming out of the cave is pretty good so we have to fight a bit to get in. Secondary tie off is done and we continue into the "DEATH SIGN". This is the spot where we tie the reel and stop our penetration. Once done, the reel is picked up and we exit. TJ instruct me to take the lead on the next one and I do my primary tie off, he guides me into where to place my secondary tie off and we finally made it into the "DEATH SIGN" again. I came out with much more respect for cave divers after that maneuver. Fighting flow while tying a reel and trying to maintain buoyancy is pretty tough. Last thing we do is to do an out of cavern lost mask, follow the guideline excersice. TJ set a line all around the place, had me go to the begining and find my way around. No problem with that. Monday was over and it was time to reflect for Tuesday. The first day, I was sucking air like a hog... The task loading was killing me.
Tuesday we went to Madison Blue. There was a $10 fee for this park. No guard at the gate, so much like every other place we went, it was on the honor system. We walked around and TJ, Denise and I talk about the dives. We went into the big cavern entrance at Madison blue where we tied off our reel and went into the Death Sign. I was now Cavern certified. We got out of the cavern and TJ briefed the next dive. We would go in through the small entrance and this would be my first Intro to Cave dive. So off we went, same drill, except much smaller hole. Fight the current while trying to stay off the bottom while trying to tie reel....
Wednesday we went to Ginnie Springs. Cost here is $30 and well worth it. This is a private operation. This is where the who is who of cave diving hang out. I met Larry Green and Tom Mount. Denise takes me aorund and shows me where we are going in and we take some pictures... Larry Green enters the water.... We go gear up and enter thorugh Devil's eye. The current makes you fight your way in. I finally get the reel set up after about 15 minutes of fighting and off we go... Our first full penetration into a cave... AWSOME. We end up going about 500 feet into the cave.... OK, fun time is OVER, the dive is called on rule of thirds and now we get serious on the way out. DRILLS!!! First drill, primary light failure, exit the cave without lights. We all turn off out lights and have to grab on to the main line to exit the cave. All was well, except.... my tanks are banging and I am going nowhere. Crap, I'm stuck... I start getting uneasy, grab TJ's arm, but he is not helping. He wants ME to get myself out of this one. After a couple of minutes, I manage to move left and wiggle myself out of the crack. I will live another day. The darkness of the cave is like no other darkness out there. Totally pitch black, no shadows, nothing. It can play tricks on your mind very easily. So enough about dive one... Along came air fills, lunch, etc. We got back to Ginnie and dive 2 was briefed. We geared up and again set the reel, etc. This dive took us 700 feet into the cave. Ginnie was the best IMHO system we dove. 150' visibility, nice white limestone and big ballrooms. GREAT!!! On the way back, we performed a lost line drill without lights. This drill, I failed miserably after the darkness played its tricks on me. I had no reference on where I was, totally black and started feeling uneasy, so I turned my light on before finding the line. TJ later chewed me out on this one (more on this later). We exit the cave and the dive was over. While on the surface TJ tells me never to quit trying to find the light and that if that would have been real, I would have been dead. No sugar coating here, he told it like it was, and I had to take it like a QUITTER (a dead one at that).... OUCH! Our day was over and on to the cottage to reflect on our diving and some dinner and beers.
Thursday got here and it was on to my graduation dive and a repeat of the lost line drill. We went back to Little River, where the cave is smaller in size and passages are pretty wild. Flow was good coming out so went in fiting the current set the reel... Forgot to tie my secondary tie off, which TJ was quick to point out. I finally get to the "DEATH SIGN" and off we go. I had to drain some air out of my tanks in orer to "fix" a problem with my regs. For some reason both second stages started leaking and after a bit one of them starting snapping at me. Yesterday, I found out that the snapping was the result of a blown high pressure seat. Tom at the shop fixed for me. Anyway, we made it into the cave almost 500 feet this time and, on the way back, you know it.... LOST LINE DRILL.... This time I really relaxed, stopped moving and followed TJ's advice to let the current carry me in toder to orient myself towards the exit. What do you know, this works. As soon as I tied my safety spool, I stopped moving and felt the current take me away. A little searching and the line was in my hands. I had now graduated from Intro to Cave.
Lessons learned:
1. If you are going to take a Cavern/Cave class make sure to go to a place that has a cavern. No concrete pipes....
2. Buoyancy, buoyancy, buoyancy..... Enough said.
3. Gear configration- DIR is NOT the only way to tech dive. Don't let anyone tell you that!!!
4. Florida divers think people who dive aluminum 80 doubles are gay
pu--ies and an accident waiting to happen... HP Steel 120's rule!!! Hey, I'm just telling you what they told me. Suck it up and take it like a man... pu--y..
5. No flutter kicking, no getting on your knees, no touching the clay, no silting... Back to #2.
I am totally hooked on cave diving and can't wait to do it again.
Future endeavors:
1. Side Mounting- Denise, TJ's wife, was diving side mounts. I am now trying to get a SM rig together to ty it out.
2. Advanced nitrox and deco- a must if one is going to go into exteded cave diving. In the caves, you have no depth perception, except when you feel heavy and have to add air to BC to compensate, then you glance at your computer and see 95' is your depth.
3. Apprentice cave and full cave- gotta go all the way!!!
4. GEAR, GEAR, GEAR. I have ordered a Salvo reel from TJ and will also get the mandatory cave light and dry suit soon....
This was a great experience. Not much life down below, but great rock formations. My thanks to TJ and Denise (DAYO SCUBA) for bringing me back alive and in almost one piece. I don't think my finger prints will ever be the same again. The rocks are sharp and you have to hang on...
That's enough for now... Thanks to you guys who recommended TJ.
Next, where to go... Mexico, Dominican Republic, etc... Nope!!! Florida, Cave Country, YES!!! Cavern and Intro to Cave it was. I got some references from Scubaboard and I knew that Patrick DeJardines at the shop did Cavern last year. So, I ended up signing up with TJ from Dayo SCUBA. This guy is a full time instructor and sells some gear through internet so he is easy to schedule. My trip was set from April 26 until May 2.
April 26, I made it to Orlando, where I spent the night with my sister, her husband and my nephew and niece. Monday, got up at 6:00am and drove out to TJ's place. I made it too early so I stopped and had breakfast, filled up the car, etc. I was at TJ's by 8:00am where I met his wife Denise who is also a very avid cave diver and is a certified NAUI instructor. We got our gear together and headed off to cave country. Along the way, we stopped at a rest stop in Okahumpta (middle of nowhere) where I cold not resist the Dunkin' Donuts. While backing out of my parking spot, the Hummer backing up from the spot behind me hits me. I thought the tone was set for the week... but, such was not the case.
After about 2.5 hours of driving, we made it to nowhere (don't know where), where we dropped off TJ's and Denise's dry suits for repairs. A guy named Steve runs the place and is apparently one of the few people who does this kind of work. After Steve's we went to lunch to a local Chinese restaurant.
So off to High Springs. TJ needed to pick up some back up lights so we stopped at Salvo where he got a couple of Rat Jr. back ups. The Salvo shop was very nice and impressive for being in the "middle of nowhere, USA".
The first dive Monday took us to Little River Springs. No entrance fees here and you just park and dive. The water was slightly tannic (brown) so visiblity not perfect, but better than anything we are used to here in TX. Cavern class started with out of water excercises. TJ showed me how to run a guideline into the main line. We discussed primary, secondary tie-offs, placements and ties. Along the way, TJ drilled me on what to do if a buddy is lost, a primary light fails, who enters and exits first and last, who keeps the line tight, etc. Time for diving.... TJ handles the reel to show me what to do on the first dive. He ties off and we go in. The flow coming out of the cave is pretty good so we have to fight a bit to get in. Secondary tie off is done and we continue into the "DEATH SIGN". This is the spot where we tie the reel and stop our penetration. Once done, the reel is picked up and we exit. TJ instruct me to take the lead on the next one and I do my primary tie off, he guides me into where to place my secondary tie off and we finally made it into the "DEATH SIGN" again. I came out with much more respect for cave divers after that maneuver. Fighting flow while tying a reel and trying to maintain buoyancy is pretty tough. Last thing we do is to do an out of cavern lost mask, follow the guideline excersice. TJ set a line all around the place, had me go to the begining and find my way around. No problem with that. Monday was over and it was time to reflect for Tuesday. The first day, I was sucking air like a hog... The task loading was killing me.
Tuesday we went to Madison Blue. There was a $10 fee for this park. No guard at the gate, so much like every other place we went, it was on the honor system. We walked around and TJ, Denise and I talk about the dives. We went into the big cavern entrance at Madison blue where we tied off our reel and went into the Death Sign. I was now Cavern certified. We got out of the cavern and TJ briefed the next dive. We would go in through the small entrance and this would be my first Intro to Cave dive. So off we went, same drill, except much smaller hole. Fight the current while trying to stay off the bottom while trying to tie reel....
Wednesday we went to Ginnie Springs. Cost here is $30 and well worth it. This is a private operation. This is where the who is who of cave diving hang out. I met Larry Green and Tom Mount. Denise takes me aorund and shows me where we are going in and we take some pictures... Larry Green enters the water.... We go gear up and enter thorugh Devil's eye. The current makes you fight your way in. I finally get the reel set up after about 15 minutes of fighting and off we go... Our first full penetration into a cave... AWSOME. We end up going about 500 feet into the cave.... OK, fun time is OVER, the dive is called on rule of thirds and now we get serious on the way out. DRILLS!!! First drill, primary light failure, exit the cave without lights. We all turn off out lights and have to grab on to the main line to exit the cave. All was well, except.... my tanks are banging and I am going nowhere. Crap, I'm stuck... I start getting uneasy, grab TJ's arm, but he is not helping. He wants ME to get myself out of this one. After a couple of minutes, I manage to move left and wiggle myself out of the crack. I will live another day. The darkness of the cave is like no other darkness out there. Totally pitch black, no shadows, nothing. It can play tricks on your mind very easily. So enough about dive one... Along came air fills, lunch, etc. We got back to Ginnie and dive 2 was briefed. We geared up and again set the reel, etc. This dive took us 700 feet into the cave. Ginnie was the best IMHO system we dove. 150' visibility, nice white limestone and big ballrooms. GREAT!!! On the way back, we performed a lost line drill without lights. This drill, I failed miserably after the darkness played its tricks on me. I had no reference on where I was, totally black and started feeling uneasy, so I turned my light on before finding the line. TJ later chewed me out on this one (more on this later). We exit the cave and the dive was over. While on the surface TJ tells me never to quit trying to find the light and that if that would have been real, I would have been dead. No sugar coating here, he told it like it was, and I had to take it like a QUITTER (a dead one at that).... OUCH! Our day was over and on to the cottage to reflect on our diving and some dinner and beers.
Thursday got here and it was on to my graduation dive and a repeat of the lost line drill. We went back to Little River, where the cave is smaller in size and passages are pretty wild. Flow was good coming out so went in fiting the current set the reel... Forgot to tie my secondary tie off, which TJ was quick to point out. I finally get to the "DEATH SIGN" and off we go. I had to drain some air out of my tanks in orer to "fix" a problem with my regs. For some reason both second stages started leaking and after a bit one of them starting snapping at me. Yesterday, I found out that the snapping was the result of a blown high pressure seat. Tom at the shop fixed for me. Anyway, we made it into the cave almost 500 feet this time and, on the way back, you know it.... LOST LINE DRILL.... This time I really relaxed, stopped moving and followed TJ's advice to let the current carry me in toder to orient myself towards the exit. What do you know, this works. As soon as I tied my safety spool, I stopped moving and felt the current take me away. A little searching and the line was in my hands. I had now graduated from Intro to Cave.
Lessons learned:
1. If you are going to take a Cavern/Cave class make sure to go to a place that has a cavern. No concrete pipes....
2. Buoyancy, buoyancy, buoyancy..... Enough said.
3. Gear configration- DIR is NOT the only way to tech dive. Don't let anyone tell you that!!!
4. Florida divers think people who dive aluminum 80 doubles are gay
pu--ies and an accident waiting to happen... HP Steel 120's rule!!! Hey, I'm just telling you what they told me. Suck it up and take it like a man... pu--y..
5. No flutter kicking, no getting on your knees, no touching the clay, no silting... Back to #2.
I am totally hooked on cave diving and can't wait to do it again.
Future endeavors:
1. Side Mounting- Denise, TJ's wife, was diving side mounts. I am now trying to get a SM rig together to ty it out.
2. Advanced nitrox and deco- a must if one is going to go into exteded cave diving. In the caves, you have no depth perception, except when you feel heavy and have to add air to BC to compensate, then you glance at your computer and see 95' is your depth.
3. Apprentice cave and full cave- gotta go all the way!!!
4. GEAR, GEAR, GEAR. I have ordered a Salvo reel from TJ and will also get the mandatory cave light and dry suit soon....
This was a great experience. Not much life down below, but great rock formations. My thanks to TJ and Denise (DAYO SCUBA) for bringing me back alive and in almost one piece. I don't think my finger prints will ever be the same again. The rocks are sharp and you have to hang on...
That's enough for now... Thanks to you guys who recommended TJ.
