first sidemount dives today ...

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Bozell is definately a great cave I'm kinda jealous, I just worked today and the rest of the week... although I snuck in afternoon cave dives Tues and Thurs.

 

[TSandM]

Oh, you got to see Bozell! One of Ben Martinez's photographs of that cave is my desktop -- it's a place I'd really like to see.

Rob took us through a deliberate zero viz silt experience when we were there in December. I was really glad to have the opportunity to do it, and find out how I felt about it. Florida silt is VERY different from Mexican calcite sediment, and FAR less forgiving.

 

[Dive-aholic]

The next 300 feet or so were beautiful and fairly open passage until we hit another place where you really need sidemount to make it through. I was in the middle and mostly I was worried that wriggling through these tight passages I was stirring things up too much for Carl, who was behind me. But I just don't have the finesse to make it through these passages with the grace I was seeing Rob doing it. Oh well, that's what happens when you try to turn a bull into a mole ... I think I widened the passage a bit.

LOL! I'm not sure what area you are talking about, but if you're talking about where we had to go through the next vertical fissure, that was about 1000' back.

This cave is freak'n spectacular ... beautiful formations, obviously not much traffic, and some places that, a week ago, I'd have told you with all sincerity I'd never fit through ... or even be interested in trying to.

Oh my goodness ... this is addictive.

Yes it is!!!

We made it back about 1500 feet, and just as I hit turn pressure and was about to signal Rob, he turned and signaled me ... we were in a very tight, silty passage and he said he knew we were close to turn pressure and it'd be a while before we had a better turn spot than where we were at. Good thought.

Turning around proved a bit ... interesting, and it got silty in a big way. I zeroed the line about a second or two before I zeroed the visibility ... and spent the next 30 feet or so doing a basic blackout drill. As I came out of the tight stuff it cleared right up, and Carl was just outside the passage, waiting for us. He OK'd me and I returned the signal ... actually, I thought experiencing a real siltout was kinda cool. I had the line and there really wasn't anyplace else to go but out anyway ... and it was yet another new experience for me on this trip. So I enjoyed it. Rob came out a few seconds behind me and we proceeded to exit the cave.

LOL! Actually, it was more like 100' or so, not just 30'!! Do I need to buy you a tape measure??

Coming back always seems easier. I know there's flow in there, but it's so minimal that you need to be completely still just to notice it. Vis was awesome ... when we weren't making it not-so-awesome. But the cave is fairly deep ... we were diving EAN27 ... and so we'd racked up quite a bit of deco by the time we got back to the cavern zone. Did about 15 minutes on the O2 ... for once I managed to find a completely comfortable niche to velcro myself to the ceiling, and deco was very relaxing. I used the time to replay the dive in my head, and found myself grinning at how much fun it was. Total dive time was 82 minutes ... and then it was time to pull the boat back to the river and make our way through the snags back to the boat ramp.

There's usually pretty good flow in Bozell. It was down today.

Great week, and if anyone's interested in learning sidemount, I can heartily recommend Rob as an excellent person to learn it from. Besides being an awesome instructor, he's a great host and dive buddy ...

... and he has a boat that can take you to some really interesting places ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Thanks!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

LOL! I'm not sure what area you are talking about, but if you're talking about where we had to go through the next vertical fissure, that was about 1000' back.

LOL! Actually, it was more like 100' or so, not just 30'!! Do I need to buy you a tape measure??

Well ... they say time flies when you're having fun ... apparently distances do too ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Jax]

LOL! Actually, it was more like 100' or so, not just 30'!! Do I need to buy you a tape measure??

:spit:

What a great set of trip reports!!!! Thank you, both of you.

 

[Phreatic Fanatic]

Great dive report on Bozel, Bob! I am glad that we got the chance to cave dive together, as it had been far too long since our last cave dives. Thanks to Rob for being an excellent host and taking us on this way cool cave diving adventure!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Wrapped up my week with two dives off a charter out of Panama City today. We did two wrecks ... hovercraft and Black Bart. Kitting up on the boat was surprisingly easy. I was using LP77's with nice, fat fills. Giant striding off the boat was easy-peasy ... probably more so than it will be next month in the Channel Islands, but it was good practice.

First dive got off to a bit of an interesting start as I forgot to plug in my drysuit hose till I was on the descent, but it was easy enough to locate it (stuffed in the bungees alongside the right tank) and get it squared away. Descending down the line was a trip as I just pointed my head down and did a "dive" to the bottom ... I'm loving how easy it is to orient myself in whatever position pleases me at the moment. On the second dive I found myself lazing, supine, looking up a a pair of goliath groupers. It was so dang easy.

I did some experimenting to see how "logistically" I'm gonna prefer diving off a boat in this rig. One dive I didn't cliip in my bungees until I was descending, and for boat diving I think that's easier ... at least it is down here in warm water and without gloves on. One dive I removed a tank and handed it up before going up the ladder, and the second dive I climbed up with both tanks. I wanted to see how it was in these nice, calm conditions before I have to "experiment" in less calm ones. With those little LP77's it was pretty easy getting up the ladder with both tanks on.

Today's dives were with another SB'er I'd never met before ... Wayward Son and his wife Joyce. Afterward they took me out to lunch and showed me around the beach park ... and I finally got to see an alligator!

It was a great trip. Met a ton of SB folks, including ScubaSam and Dry Diver ... and really had a great time. Now I'm looking forward to introducing this rig to Puget Sound in the coming days ... my flight home leaves in about 12 hours.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Dive-aholic]

Excellent! I was going to e-mail you to see how your dives went. I'm glad they went well! That's just fabulous! I want to keep reading these reports once you get back home and start diving sidemount there. Oh, and bring a camera so you can take pics of the strange looks you get from the divers out there who have probably never seen a sidemount diver!

 

[TSandM]

Bob, I just can't WAIT to dive with you, and see how you like the rig in cold water!

 

[Wayward Son]

things seen:

a frogfish, some nudibranch, toadfish, greater amberjack (too small to shoot), a large octopus, 2 or possibly 3 jewfish, about 400 lbs each.

and a giant Bobfish

We had a blast. I've been working like a moonshiner, been dry 5 months. I really needed today.

I have a new mask I bought last new years, today I got to dive it. It idn't leak, finally a mask that doesn't leak. Well, mostly...

I did get a little water grinning at Bob's reaction to those jewfish. They looked to be about 400 lbs each.