cmufieldhockey8
Contributor
What a wonderful weekend of diving! I met up with bugman, shagman, mos11b1p, and diverdeva Saturday morning for a weekend on the Mill Pond. After getting everybody's tanks filled and gear configured our captain bugman escorted us to Hole in the Wall. Deva and I had planned to scooter downstream but a faulty scooter had us changing the dive to a sidemount jump on the right at the very beginning of the main line. I've been wanting to check this one out and it's supposed to come out right by the "E" which, if memory serves me correctly, is 750 ish feet penetration on the main line. I ran the primary reel and the jump, which was so long I was just a few feet from running out of line on my 150 ft spool by the time I made it to the line. What a gorgeous little tunnel! It was a little small to begin with and I know I made a big mess going in, but it opened up to a comfortable size, big enough that I didn't kick up any silt or hit the ceiling with a fin tip all. The bright white walls and ceiling were absolutely covered in black fossils, and there was a sea biscuit the size of a Big Apple bagel. I don't even know if the south has Big Apple bagels but they have monstrous bagels.
At 22 min we got to a restriction waaaay too small and silty for my comfort level, and having never been there and not wishing to have to come back through that restriction in zero viz I called the dive. Little did I know our floating through the cave had been causing the very very fine silt to be billowing up the entire dive even without us making any mistakes. Needless to say we came back out nearly the entire time on the line, but it wasn't bad enough that i couldn't see the glow of my light and an occasional fin tip in front of me so I felt pretty good. I made myself pretty dizzy winding up the entire spool on the way out, and as deva and I were coming out, bugman and mos11b1p were headed upstream for a cave dive on 12ths. Bugman, shagman and mos11b1p had already done a cavern dive.
We all hopped back on the boat and after i wiped off my silt mustache, scooted over to Indian Washtub and successfully found it. Bugman jumped in with a mask and shagman descended down the crack and got some good video. Looking forward to seeing it.
We went back for fills and lunch and headed over to Gator Hole. Bug's ear wasn't clearing so shag and mos buddied up for a cavern dive and deva and i buddied up for a cave dive. We'll have no underwater photos for this one as shag's camera decided to take a dip into the silt next to our boat. Gator hole is a very cool cavern. It's entrance has a small opening above water and there are areas of open water throughout the whole thing, although I wouldn't consider it an open water dive. Not even close. In fact with the silt that was so easily stirred up, I'd say shag and mos did a cave dive. The rock formations were very cool- smooth and swiss-cheezy and reminded me of some 80s cartoon I used to watch as a kid. Deva and I unknowingly passed the cave and spent several minutes searching for it while shag and mos poked around.. there were lines everywhere! On our way out deva found the cave and after a few tries I got myself into the correct shape to get in and deva followed. However I made a biiiiiiiiiig mess once I got in. Even after I got in about 20 feet the cave ahead of me that I hadn't screwed up was pretty low viz. With us having already used up some air looking for it and not knowing if I knew how bad it was silted out behind me, deva called the dive and we left. This one was starting to push my skills but we'll be back next time knowing more about the cave and with full tanks. Deva did find shag's camera in the mud after the dive.
We tried out a new hotel (America's Inn I think, across from the Executive Inn) but given bug and shag's experience I don't think I'll be going back. Dinner was slow but yummy at the Cornerstone with Gordon from the shop telling stories of the days when there was no sex and mail boxes got blown up.
Sunday morning we were up early and at Jackson Blue. Bug and shag did a cavern dive while deva, mos and I did the mainline circuit. Deva's scooter needed to be run and I needed the practice so while they swam I zoomed back forth and around on the scooter. By the end of the dive I had taken huge strides with my scooter skills, culminating in 2 full barrel roles! yess!!! A big contrats to mos for his 100th dive!!
It was time to pack up and go, but not after a stop at the Fortune Cookie for some good Chinese buffet.
Looking forward to seeing bug and shag's pictures added to the thread. I had a blast, guys!
At 22 min we got to a restriction waaaay too small and silty for my comfort level, and having never been there and not wishing to have to come back through that restriction in zero viz I called the dive. Little did I know our floating through the cave had been causing the very very fine silt to be billowing up the entire dive even without us making any mistakes. Needless to say we came back out nearly the entire time on the line, but it wasn't bad enough that i couldn't see the glow of my light and an occasional fin tip in front of me so I felt pretty good. I made myself pretty dizzy winding up the entire spool on the way out, and as deva and I were coming out, bugman and mos11b1p were headed upstream for a cave dive on 12ths. Bugman, shagman and mos11b1p had already done a cavern dive.
We all hopped back on the boat and after i wiped off my silt mustache, scooted over to Indian Washtub and successfully found it. Bugman jumped in with a mask and shagman descended down the crack and got some good video. Looking forward to seeing it.
We went back for fills and lunch and headed over to Gator Hole. Bug's ear wasn't clearing so shag and mos buddied up for a cavern dive and deva and i buddied up for a cave dive. We'll have no underwater photos for this one as shag's camera decided to take a dip into the silt next to our boat. Gator hole is a very cool cavern. It's entrance has a small opening above water and there are areas of open water throughout the whole thing, although I wouldn't consider it an open water dive. Not even close. In fact with the silt that was so easily stirred up, I'd say shag and mos did a cave dive. The rock formations were very cool- smooth and swiss-cheezy and reminded me of some 80s cartoon I used to watch as a kid. Deva and I unknowingly passed the cave and spent several minutes searching for it while shag and mos poked around.. there were lines everywhere! On our way out deva found the cave and after a few tries I got myself into the correct shape to get in and deva followed. However I made a biiiiiiiiiig mess once I got in. Even after I got in about 20 feet the cave ahead of me that I hadn't screwed up was pretty low viz. With us having already used up some air looking for it and not knowing if I knew how bad it was silted out behind me, deva called the dive and we left. This one was starting to push my skills but we'll be back next time knowing more about the cave and with full tanks. Deva did find shag's camera in the mud after the dive.
We tried out a new hotel (America's Inn I think, across from the Executive Inn) but given bug and shag's experience I don't think I'll be going back. Dinner was slow but yummy at the Cornerstone with Gordon from the shop telling stories of the days when there was no sex and mail boxes got blown up.
Sunday morning we were up early and at Jackson Blue. Bug and shag did a cavern dive while deva, mos and I did the mainline circuit. Deva's scooter needed to be run and I needed the practice so while they swam I zoomed back forth and around on the scooter. By the end of the dive I had taken huge strides with my scooter skills, culminating in 2 full barrel roles! yess!!! A big contrats to mos for his 100th dive!!
It was time to pack up and go, but not after a stop at the Fortune Cookie for some good Chinese buffet.
Looking forward to seeing bug and shag's pictures added to the thread. I had a blast, guys!
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LOL
