Congratulations to our newest overhead diver!!!!

[Dive-aholic]

wjefferis just finished his cavern training today and he did a great job! It also looks like the cave bug bit him hard!!!!! During our first dive in JB yesterday, he almost completely lost all awareness of anyone else in the cavern. You should have seen the look on his face and how he was looking around the cavern. I had to thrown an OOA at him just to get his attention!! Fortunately, he did come back to the present and respond quickly enough for me to survive!

Today, we spent some time in Shangri-La, Twin, and back at JB. Walter and his classmate both did a great job. I don't think it will be long before Walter is in a sidemount rig and going beyond the cavern zone... :cool2:

Congratulations!!!!!



Oh, and he was already talking about bringing his camera into the caverns...you may have some competition, Glen!

 

[clofty]

wjefferis just finished his cavern training today and he did a great job! It also looks like the cave bug bit him hard!!!!! During our first dive in JB yesterday, he almost completely lost all awareness of anyone else in the cavern. You should have seen the look on his face and how he was looking around the cavern. I had to thrown an OOA at him just to get his attention!! Fortunately, he did come back to the present and respond quickly enough for me to survive!

Today, we spent some time in Shangri-La, Twin, and back at JB. Walter and his classmate both did a great job. I don't think it will be long before Walter is in a sidemount rig and going beyond the cavern zone... :cool2:

Congratulations!!!!!



Oh, and he was already talking about bringing his camera into the caverns...you may have some competition, Glen!

congrats indeed. Well done

 

[GLENFWB]

That is GREAT to hear. I knew he was hooked when I saw his eyes the first time he stuck his head in Morrison Cavern....I wish I would have gotten a picture of his eyes.

Congratulation Walter....we will get your camera in to Shangri-La...some of my favorite cavern pictures have been in there.

Rob, if I don't get back in a cave soon....I will have to take Intro. again!

wjefferis just finished his cavern training today and he did a great job! It also looks like the cave bug bit him hard!!!!! During our first dive in JB yesterday, he almost completely lost all awareness of anyone else in the cavern. You should have seen the look on his face and how he was looking around the cavern. I had to thrown an OOA at him just to get his attention!! Fortunately, he did come back to the present and respond quickly enough for me to survive!

Today, we spent some time in Shangri-La, Twin, and back at JB. Walter and his classmate both did a great job. I don't think it will be long before Walter is in a sidemount rig and going beyond the cavern zone... :cool2:

Congratulations!!!!!



Oh, and he was already talking about bringing his camera into the caverns...you may have some competition, Glen!

 

[Dive-aholic]

WTH, Glen?!?!? What have you been doing that's been keeping you out of the caves???

 

[TSandM]

Congratulations!

For those of us who are susceptible, there is the moment when we know we are lost . . .

 

[Docc]

Congratulations!

For those of us who are susceptible, there is the moment when we know we are lost . . .

Yeah...the first time you feel those wet rocks............

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

Hey Walter congrats. Welcme to the addiction.

 

[denisegg]

Congratulations Walter!!! I know you waited for a while so that you could get all your gear and practice with it before the class. I am sure that paid off. I am so glad you found the caverns awesome.

 

[wjefferis]

I have to say that I was totally blown away by this cavern class. This is something that I have wanted to do for a while and I have watched about a hundred videos of cavern/cave dives done at the Mill Pond, but absolutely nothing compared to actually seeing it with my own eyes. I have heard many refer to caverns/caves as just a bunch of wet rocks, but it was far from that. The beauty of Jackson Blue it really hard to put into words. Robert was dead-on with his assessment that during my first dive at JB I just forgot about that I was taking a class and was completely fascinated looking at fossils that were millions of years old, as well as being astonished at the grandeur of the scenery. I was quickly snapped back into reality as I saw quick side-to-side light signals and saw Robert giving me the out-of-air signal. We went right to the end of the natural light zone and we turned to see faint glow in the distance. I turned back and shined my light into the cave zone and right then and there felt the desire to see what lies beyond once I received the proper training to do so.

The next day we set out on a pontoon boat and went to Shangri-La to practice running our primary reels in. I didn’t buy a primary reel for the class because Robert told me that I could try out some of his to see which one I liked and I am glad I did. Before class I was thinking about just going ahead and buying a Salvo/Halcyon reel, but once I used Robert’s Halcyon reel I really didn’t like it. I did however, really like his Ralph Hood primary (which looks identical to a Larry Green primary) and used it for the rest of the class. I was pretty happy with my reel work for a total newb. Once I got down putting a tension loop when I did a wrap, things stayed tight and I was able to keep good control of the line. I still need to work with keeping good control of the spool when I am tying off so that the spool doesn’t let more line out, but that will come with time and practice.

Next we went to Twin Cave. The plan was for me to run a primary line all the way back to the gold line at the stop sign at the beginning of the cave zone just for practice (as the gold line runs all the way to open water). The floor was very silty and I kept checking behind me to see if I was jacking things up and it appeared that my fin technique was pretty good and keeping me out of trouble. Although in my drive to keep off the floor I made contact with the ceiling of the cavern a couple of times with my tank and once with my fin while entering. While I was tying off to the gold line I noticed that the slightest motion with my hands or the reel near the muddy bottom sent wisps of silt to come up. I looked down into the cave zone at it looked really cool. There were a total of five people in the cavern and things got stirred up a bit. I signaled to my buddy to head towards the exit a bit. Just as things started to clear up a bit I saw a bunch of silt getting stirred up and we ok’ed the line. At first I thought it was my classmate and I cursed in my reg and quickly got right up to him and looked at his fins and hands to see what he was doing wrong so that I could signal him to stop doing what was causing all of the silt. Once I did a quick look around everything looked good, but the silt was now really getting stirred up. It was then I realized that I was in class and figured out quickly why Robert chose to dive this cavern. The silty conditions were purposely being helped out a bit by Robert and I really got a good experience with low/no visibility touch contact exits. We soon got to the exit and made our way to the surface for five minutes to allow things to settle and then we went back in and I pulled the primary.

For our last dive of the day we went back to JB and did an hour dive. Robert took us back and gave us a little taste of what we would see in an intro class and I was completely blown away. I definitely see an intro class in my future, but I want to do it in sidemount, so it may take a little time to put things together. This was a great class and great experience for me. I would definitely recommend Robert Neto http://www.chipoladivers.com/ to anyone considering getting cavern/cave certified.

Now I just need to get back as soon as possible with my camera!!!!!!

 

[wjefferis]

WTH, Glen?!?!? What have you been doing that's been keeping you out of the caves???

No need to worry I will get him to JB soon enough!!!