helodriver87
Contributor
Every time I go to the stratosphere in JB, I end up coming out looking like a chipmunk with every cookie I have stashed in my hood. There are an absurd number of Ts back there for a publicly accessible FL cave.
Eagles Nest Ballroom Questions
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Every time I go to the stratosphere in JB, I end up coming out looking like a chipmunk with every cookie I have stashed in my hood. There are an absurd number of Ts back there for a publicly accessible FL cave.
Once I get my drysuit I need to hit those caves up. I did part of my sidemount training in JB, I was shivering in my 5mm wetsuit.
Dominick Gheesling
Contributor
No one asked...
Here's my two cents and a question.
Certs: NSS-CDS Full Cave, TDI Normoxic
Why I haven't been to Eagle's Nest even though I started looking at the maps in Cavern.
1. The DRIVE. I live in Tallahassee. Eagle's Nest is about a 4 hour drive. I have reached the point in life where that is not a day trip. If I'm driving 4 hours I want to do it the night before and wake up where I will be diving. I especially want to wake up refreshed, near the site if about to perform a dive pushing the limits of Normoxic in a NEW to me system.
2. The PANDEMIC. No way am I staying in a motel or hotel. CAMPING ONLY!!! There's a few campsites nearby. The weather is finally getting cool enough that I could camp down there.
3. The DIVE PROFILE: It is going to essentially be a bounce dive with a good deal of decompression obligation.
So far I've had two opportunities to dive it and thus far the balance between the amount of work going into the dive versus the dive itself simply haven't swayed me to make the trip,
Not saying I don't want to dive it. I just need the three variables above to align in a pattern that makes it seem worth it.
My question.
Would it be possible to see a strobe or an extra primary hanging on the vertical line leading to the surface while swimming around the BIG room below the vertical shaft ? We've done this at the Black Abyss and it is pretty cool to see how far away the light is while swimming the circuit.
Here's my two cents and a question.
Certs: NSS-CDS Full Cave, TDI Normoxic
Why I haven't been to Eagle's Nest even though I started looking at the maps in Cavern.
1. The DRIVE. I live in Tallahassee. Eagle's Nest is about a 4 hour drive. I have reached the point in life where that is not a day trip. If I'm driving 4 hours I want to do it the night before and wake up where I will be diving. I especially want to wake up refreshed, near the site if about to perform a dive pushing the limits of Normoxic in a NEW to me system.
2. The PANDEMIC. No way am I staying in a motel or hotel. CAMPING ONLY!!! There's a few campsites nearby. The weather is finally getting cool enough that I could camp down there.
3. The DIVE PROFILE: It is going to essentially be a bounce dive with a good deal of decompression obligation.
So far I've had two opportunities to dive it and thus far the balance between the amount of work going into the dive versus the dive itself simply haven't swayed me to make the trip,
Not saying I don't want to dive it. I just need the three variables above to align in a pattern that makes it seem worth it.
My question.
Would it be possible to see a strobe or an extra primary hanging on the vertical line leading to the surface while swimming around the BIG room below the vertical shaft ? We've done this at the Black Abyss and it is pretty cool to see how far away the light is while swimming the circuit.
You could, but probably overkill. If the vis is real bad, you may not see your strobe from the other side of the room. But if the vis is that bad and you're new to EN, you probably shouldn't be diving it in that vis anyway.
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My answer(s)
1) If the strobe dies where's your continuous line? (AKA its a big fat no way for me on strobes in caves)
2) Swimming a giant circle in a cave is a big pain in the butt line-wise.
If I were the OP I would hit up one of the local instructors for a legit guided EN dive. Tell Draker or Oesterrech you want to see EN but limit your exposure to 90 or 120 mins or whatever as a first look. Then take your 1200psi of leftover 15/55, top it off, and then go to Burford on 21/35ish. You could do the reverse if as well, it just leaves more helium in your reserve gas that you don't want to dump.
helodriver87
Contributor
IMO, the abyss is more impressive than the ballroom. It's like the ****ing epcot ball underwater. Going up to the ceiling at the far end and seeing your tiny little light on the line is humbling.
But with regards to the nest, if you could see a backup light on the vertical line, you could probably make out at least faint daylight from the tubes. It's pretty hard to get lost in the ballroom if you stay in normoxic range, so I've always just stuck to the walls when conditions are good enough to treat it as a "cavern" dive.
Capt Jim Wyatt
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I have well over 100 dives at Eagles' Nest. It can be very deceptive in terms of its' ease/difficulty to safely dive there. Your best option IMO is to go with someone who has dived there at least a few times.
I suggest not going there unless Full Cave certified and at least normoxic trimix certified. Keep your END 100 feet or less.
Following this suggestion will give you a much better chance of having a cool and SAFE dive.
I suggest not going there unless Full Cave certified and at least normoxic trimix certified. Keep your END 100 feet or less.
Following this suggestion will give you a much better chance of having a cool and SAFE dive.
Deleted
OP
I've made the decision to dive Buford first as a deep cavern and then come back later and dive Eagle's Nest as a trimix dive. I already have full cave and normoxic certs but haven't combined them yet for a cave dive at these depths. I've done deep cavern dives but the restriction adds an additional element. When I do it, I'll go with someone already familiar with the ballroom. I'm grateful to have had several people experienced with Eagles Nest offer privately to dive there with me and I'll take them up on the offer.
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You aren't getting back there without a scooter, there are a ton of T's back there, but it's because it also starts a good way back and is off of the gold line. The craziness starts around 2500ft back which is a LONG way back when kicking in high flow at depth. Call it 3.5ata's, and probably 30fpm average with the flow, 80mins kicking, you're bringing at least 500cf of gas with you just to get to the start. That's double 104's and 3x stages just to get to the start of that stuff.
The other nice thing about that back section is the T's are almost all done with arrows like the big T's in Little River *though using normal arrows*, so it makes it a lot less sketchy.
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