ianr33
Contributor
Did he have a light? (A no no for OW divers at Ginnie)
Ginnie 3-18-2012
- Thread starter Cave Diver
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PfcAJ
Contributor
When I did my first classes at Ginnie, all the area caves were blown out and that cave was the only game in town, and the ear was not usable, either. Consequently, they laid a temporary "permanent" line from the eye so that the entrance would not become a tangled mess with everyone using it. Since I could not learn to lay line in the normal area, I spent a lot of time laying line in the catacombs. It is easy to get lost in there. It is easy to silt it up. Someone entering from the ear can go right into it easily.
KY_BOB
Contributor
It is very hard for people to understand how easily that happens. You get into a system and without clear guidance it is very easy to get disoriented and not find the way out, even if you haven't silted it out. Everything looks the same to you.
In one of my training dives, my instructor started down the wrong path while leading me out after I had picked up a jump reel. He was, of course, testing me. I thought he might be doing that so I paused and looked at the options for a long time before deciding he was going the wrong way. It was very hard to tell the difference. If it had been a real situation and I had not been alert, we would have been lost in no time.
Sad, the Cats are an amazing dive. Shallow (60 feet?), easily backmounted, lots of twists and turns, easy to leave it fairly silt free if you are careful. Some rooms have beautiful domes. There are several dead ends or places where you can see through, but not fit through. If you run a line, and have training, its not difficult to survive. Lots of side openings to the Gallery, too. Plenty of opportunities to get to the mainline, in other words, if you can keep your bearings in a cave.
We discuss running a permanent line every so often it seems. Not necessary, would remove a training ground for intro divers, and would require lots of Ts, or to choose one main path and have side tunnels. It also might not save a life if the person didnt know how to use the line.
Once again, we have to ask, what do you do when you see open water divers in over their head (no pun intended)? Ive convinced plenty to leave lights in the car, yelled at others for heading into the cave with lights after they surfaced, and stuck around incase one got lost when Ive observed divers doing dumb things. Ive seen it at Manatee, Peacock 1, Orange Grove and Ginnie plenty of times.
Lots of open water divers peek into the Ear and Eye. Its not difficult to get in. Ive even had freedivers show up inside the cavern zone. I decided to get cave certified after I went into the Ear and watched as two divers exited the Gallery on scooters. I was awestruck and signed up for a class almost literally that afternoon. First thing I did when signing up was ask my instructor if he could show me line running fundamentals so I could practice in the Ballroom and on land. He explained it to me, and I spent a ton of evenings diving with my buddy, each of us running lines all around and running our own lights out air share drills. We wanted to dive in the Gallery, but we didnt want to end up a statistic.
Not sure why this guy tried going into the cave, but Id love for us to find out more so we can help prevent other open water divers from meeting the same fate.
We discuss running a permanent line every so often it seems. Not necessary, would remove a training ground for intro divers, and would require lots of Ts, or to choose one main path and have side tunnels. It also might not save a life if the person didnt know how to use the line.
Once again, we have to ask, what do you do when you see open water divers in over their head (no pun intended)? Ive convinced plenty to leave lights in the car, yelled at others for heading into the cave with lights after they surfaced, and stuck around incase one got lost when Ive observed divers doing dumb things. Ive seen it at Manatee, Peacock 1, Orange Grove and Ginnie plenty of times.
Lots of open water divers peek into the Ear and Eye. Its not difficult to get in. Ive even had freedivers show up inside the cavern zone. I decided to get cave certified after I went into the Ear and watched as two divers exited the Gallery on scooters. I was awestruck and signed up for a class almost literally that afternoon. First thing I did when signing up was ask my instructor if he could show me line running fundamentals so I could practice in the Ballroom and on land. He explained it to me, and I spent a ton of evenings diving with my buddy, each of us running lines all around and running our own lights out air share drills. We wanted to dive in the Gallery, but we didnt want to end up a statistic.
Not sure why this guy tried going into the cave, but Id love for us to find out more so we can help prevent other open water divers from meeting the same fate.
Here is a larger version if it helps anyone understand...
CaveAtlas.com » Cave Diving » United States » Ginnie Springs - Devil's Ear / Eye
EDIT: once you follow that link, go to resources, and select "system map"
robbiedew101
Registered
I just recently dove Ginnie for the first time with a friend of mine, and as an OW diver I can see how tempting it could be to take a peek around the corner. I happened to actually record a lot of our dives with my GoPro HD Hero camera and did record my buddy and I checking out the opening at Devil's Eye (I believe). I'm uploading the video to youtube now and it will be available once it finishes.
Diving Ginnie Springs - Devil Cave System Mouth & Santa Fe River Drift Dive - YouTube
We come across the cave opening at about 5:00. I did not go into the opening with the camera because of the lack of light, but you can see how it just gets pitch black very quickly. My buddy and I even surfaced and had a discussion about how easy it would be to screw yourself there.You'll have to excuse my annoying breathing and our occasional off topic discussion
Diving Ginnie Springs - Devil Cave System Mouth & Santa Fe River Drift Dive - YouTube
We come across the cave opening at about 5:00. I did not go into the opening with the camera because of the lack of light, but you can see how it just gets pitch black very quickly. My buddy and I even surfaced and had a discussion about how easy it would be to screw yourself there.You'll have to excuse my annoying breathing and our occasional off topic discussion
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RAD Diver
Contributor
I don't know about all these instructors taking OW students for a peek inside a cave, just doesn't make any sense to me.
I was down there to actually do Full Trimix at 40 Fathom, but we hit Ginnie to work on some skills in the shallow, & I guess what is referred to as the ballroom, where we went to the grate to feel the flow, but our instructor who is a Cave instructor had us all do a Cavern course to be able to go in there.
The 3 students all of us had a ton of deep, dark , low vis & deco experience in the Mid Atlantic area (Va. Beach) were all in Doubles with bottles & lights, & he still would NOT bring us anywhere near a Cave entrance.
I was down there to actually do Full Trimix at 40 Fathom, but we hit Ginnie to work on some skills in the shallow, & I guess what is referred to as the ballroom, where we went to the grate to feel the flow, but our instructor who is a Cave instructor had us all do a Cavern course to be able to go in there.
The 3 students all of us had a ton of deep, dark , low vis & deco experience in the Mid Atlantic area (Va. Beach) were all in Doubles with bottles & lights, & he still would NOT bring us anywhere near a Cave entrance.
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