Dive report -Vortex Springs 10 07 2008

[Docc]

Kevua and I made a trip to Vortex Springs today. We mainly went to warn the resident fish about the upcoming Vortoberfest Extravaganza. The water was clear as a bell. About 68 degrees up top and 67 down by the Christmas tree lights. We got two dives in and I got to try out my fancy new Hyperstretch hood. We took a bunch of pictures and I posted some in my gallery. It was my first experience with cave/caverns and now I understand why people want to dive those holes in the ground. The fish did mention that they would be ready for the upcoming festivities. The eels didn't seem quite as excited. It was a great day trip even with the speeding ticket I got on the way home.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Take it easy down there, those christmas tree lights make things far safer appearing than they really are. You'll really want to get the training and proper gear for going into overhead environments. The cavern at Vortex is pretty safe, but once you make that right turn and head down by the christmas lights, you're in cave. Lots of people have died there, don't be fooled

 

[bamamedic]

Nice pics!

Glad you had fun...the speeding ticket sucks though. Was it on that stretch of road right before Vortex? It's so straight that it's easy to go fast...I think I was crusing that stretch of highway at about 100mph in my old yellow Miata when a car in front of me forced me to slow down...thank goodness, because there was a highway patrol car just waiting for speeders, right after the next hill!

I think I'll be at ABWA next Thursday, practicing some skills and such. It'll be really boring for the first dive...I was just planning on hanging out at the 15 foot platform, practicing mask removal and such, but if you wanted to stop by later in the day or something (or if you don't mind hanging around the platform), we could go for a dive. My BF is coming, too...we were going to do some snorkeling and feed the fish as well.

Anyways, glad your trip went well!

 

[Docc]

Take it easy down there, those christmas tree lights make things far safer appearing than they really are. You'll really want to get the training and proper gear for going into overhead environments. The cavern at Vortex is pretty safe, but once you make that right turn and head down by the christmas lights, you're in cave. Lots of people have died there, don't be fooled

Thanks. I got just enough of a taste to know that I want to eventually get a cave certification. Now I just need many more dives and a lot more gear.

Nice pics!

Glad you had fun...the speeding ticket sucks though. Was it on that stretch of road right before Vortex? It's so straight that it's easy to go fast...I think I was crusing that stretch of highway at about 100mph in my old yellow Miata when a car in front of me forced me to slow down...thank goodness, because there was a highway patrol car just waiting for speeders, right after the next hill!

I think I'll be at ABWA next Thursday, practicing some skills and such. It'll be really boring for the first dive...I was just planning on hanging out at the 15 foot platform, practicing mask removal and such, but if you wanted to stop by later in the day or something (or if you don't mind hanging around the platform), we could go for a dive. My BF is coming, too...we were going to do some snorkeling and feed the fish as well.

Anyways, glad your trip went well!

Sounds fun. I don't have a problem just doing platform work. I can always use the chance to work on my bouyancy and I need to test out the new jetfins anyway. Since cave diving looks to be a future pursuit, I need to start observing the doubles setup so I can watch your drills and learn a bit. Let me know what time ya'll plan to be there.

 

[bamamedic]

Sweet! I think I'll be there at opening...if memory serves, that's about 10am on Thursdays. I'll probably be there until 2pm or so. Instead of the usual Miata, I"ll be in my boyfriend's black Versa.

I'm very new when it comes to doubles (and fairly new to diving in general - in November, I'll have been diving for a year ); expect the drills to be pretty sloppy

I'm really just going to be messing around on/near the platform...one thing I'd really like to get down is mid-water mask removal and replacement, and switching to a backup mask while mid water, along with valve drills, and maybe deploying a lift bag.

Have you ever done an air-sharing drill while using your long primary hose?

 

[Docc]

Have you ever done an air-sharing drill while using your long primary hose?

I haven't done an actual share and ascend. When I dove for the first time with that guy visiting from Canada I showed him how I would deploy the long hose and give him the reg as part of our pre-dive brief. Other than that, I've practiced ducking my head, handing off the long hose, and going to the necklaced backup but only with myself. In my open water class I was buddied with a DM who had a 7' so I've been on the receiving end.

 

[bamamedic]

Thanks. I got just enough of a taste to know that I want to eventually get a cave certification. Now I just need many more dives and a lot more gear.

Heh, heh...now you're hooked like the rest of us

On dive #8 or so, I remember peering into the cavern at Vortex, seeing the cave beyond, and having to resist the urge to go exploring!

Shortly thereafter, a certified cave diver/cavern instructor took me on a tour of the Jackson Blue cavern...I was forever hooked.

Hopefully, I'll be able to take Cavern/Intro to Cave next spring, along with bigken462.

On another note, you don't need fantastic gear changes or a doubles setup in order to take the cavern course. It's generally still thought of as a "recreational" course. Some instructors do require a long primary hose, though (but you already have that!). I think the usual minimum requirements are 25 dives, and AOW certification.

 

[GLENFWB]

Shortly thereafter, a certified cave diver took me on a tour of the Jackson Blue cavern.

 

[bamamedic]

Ack! It was a certified cave diver, OW and cavern instructor...I just didn't want to get too wordy in my previous post....

now quit your popcorn munching

Edit: There....I fixed my original post...now it says "cavern instructor"...I was half asleep when I wrote the original post, or else I would have been more specific then....the dangers of posting while stuck at work on the night shift

 

[Flightlead]

Sweet! I think I'll be there at opening...if memory serves, that's about 10am on Thursdays. I'll probably be there until 2pm or so. Instead of the usual Miata, I"ll be in my boyfriend's black Versa.

I'm very new when it comes to doubles (and fairly new to diving in general - in November, I'll have been diving for a year ); expect the drills to be pretty sloppy

I'm really just going to be messing around on/near the platform...one thing I'd really like to get down is mid-water mask removal and replacement, and switching to a backup mask while mid water, along with valve drills, and maybe deploying a lift bag.

Have you ever done an air-sharing drill while using your long primary hose?

If you're new to doubles please be careful doing valve shutdown drills. If you don't have someone who knows what they are doing watching you ready to donate asap then either have a stage laying in front of you on the platform turned on and ready to go or (better) just simulate turning the valves off. you don't want to mess up and end up with both turned off at once and struggling to get one turned back on again.

don't ask me how I know