Hetland
Contributor
Saturday morning jhayes75 and MrXRay tracked down a canoe for us to rent so that we could dive Cypress Spring. Shane at Vortex was very helpful, as he only had heavy fiberglass canoes, and he knew it would be a struggle for us logistically. Shane helped us find another vendor, and he is the reason I dont mind paying $20 to dive at vortex. You cant put a price on customer service.
The guy at the canoe rental (Jason and Barry will have to post his details) was helpful as well. He had plenty of canoes and kayaks, and was willing to drop off and pick up our canoe at the launch.
I had the bright idea of tying our tanks and b.c.s to an inner tube, and tow it behind our canoe. This would allow us to have less weight in the canoe, and save us $25 on the rental of a yak or second canoe (tubes were $5). While this idea worked out okay when we were heading down current, it put a stop to our progress once we hit the flow from the spring. We could barely tread water with all three of us paddling. Jason took one for the team and got out of the canoe, losing (temporarily) a croc in the process. Thankfully, they float, so he recovered it. Jason got our gear sorted, and once everything was in the canoe, we could paddle effectively again. Barry and Jason were both very gracious, as I fully expected some justifiable ribbing over my idea, but they let me off the hook on the matter. Short version: Dont tow crap behind your canoe.
We arrived to find decent conditions, and a well-behaved group of divers and locals. The divers were AUCades group, and they were taking an SI while we geared up. My only complaint would be that the sun wasnt out, so Cypress was merely beautiful compared to its usual strikingly beautiful.
We did two 30 miunte-ish dives, and explored every square inch of the basin. It was a nice way to spend a Saturday.
The guy at the canoe rental (Jason and Barry will have to post his details) was helpful as well. He had plenty of canoes and kayaks, and was willing to drop off and pick up our canoe at the launch.
I had the bright idea of tying our tanks and b.c.s to an inner tube, and tow it behind our canoe. This would allow us to have less weight in the canoe, and save us $25 on the rental of a yak or second canoe (tubes were $5). While this idea worked out okay when we were heading down current, it put a stop to our progress once we hit the flow from the spring. We could barely tread water with all three of us paddling. Jason took one for the team and got out of the canoe, losing (temporarily) a croc in the process. Thankfully, they float, so he recovered it. Jason got our gear sorted, and once everything was in the canoe, we could paddle effectively again. Barry and Jason were both very gracious, as I fully expected some justifiable ribbing over my idea, but they let me off the hook on the matter. Short version: Dont tow crap behind your canoe.
We arrived to find decent conditions, and a well-behaved group of divers and locals. The divers were AUCades group, and they were taking an SI while we geared up. My only complaint would be that the sun wasnt out, so Cypress was merely beautiful compared to its usual strikingly beautiful.
We did two 30 miunte-ish dives, and explored every square inch of the basin. It was a nice way to spend a Saturday.
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