Back at it, final two days of full cave.
Day 1 - Circuits not just for electronics
Back at Peacock, first we talked about circuits, how much that they can suck particularly if not planned properly, and how to plan them properly to make them suck less. Goal was a Cisteen line to Nicholson circuit. We plan to swim up to the cisteen line, jump to the line, swim to the T take it to the Nicholson line, and run down that until thirds, swimming back when we reach thirds. We talk about the arrows, namely that the arrows at where the cisteen is would disagree with our exit direction, which leads into a conversation of the benefits and how to use REMs. No planned drills, but if I "earn" one it would likely be after we get to the mainline as they avoid drills on those lines. We talk about silting and how he wants to see me do a proper techniques appropriate for each hill and valley we will see on the lines, as these will be crucial when we go to Madison Blue tomorrow.
Dive 1 - Round and round we go
After the usual gear up, I lead us through the dive brief, and gear matching. Training dive which means we run a primary, that goes ok. I didn't like my first choice of secondary tie off, and had to redo it. Circle the reel "ok", then circle the restriction and start the descent. Since I knew I typically get down there faster than my dive buddies I spend a moment to fix the sign so it properly points forward followed by switching to my necklaced reg to ensure that it is still free. I started doing this after I started to dive with CCR divers, as I noticed that they go a lot slower due to having to manage loop volume.
The swim down was uneventful, the water was clear, and lights were bright. After the double arrows the jump quickly approaches. Chris circles the cisteen passage way. I pull out my jump reel, but he signals no, and pushes me a little further down the line. Once I am in the right spot, REM deployed, jump reel on the rem, and run it to the line. The swim to the T was nothing spectacular I tried to concentrate on each hill. We get to the T, I circle it and got a response back, cookie it, and proceed down the line to Nicholson a little. It seems like forever, so I turn around, big mistake that was a horrible plan to turn around. After I see he is right there I somehow manage to turn back around without any significant silt nor contact the wall with my fins, but that was a poor place to do it.
Now we proceed down Nicholson, thinking back on the cisteen I decide to slow down, as it seemed like I was always waiting after each hill, so might as well go slower. Proceed down Nicholson, as we get closer to my thirds I pull a cookie out looking for a good place to place it and turn around before I actually hit thirds but suddenly we are at the end of the line just as I hit thirds. Chris signals reel, so I pull out a jump reel and we jump back to the mainline. On exit we explored a little which included him showing me a couple of passages that are lined but really on the map. I didn't earn any drills, but I did earn some deco 4 minutes to be exact. We both clear our deco and ascend to the surface.
Debrief:
Most things went well, he mentioned that I needed to slow down in cisteen, but was happy when I slowed down in Nicholson. My turn around at the T was mentioned. He also mentioned that I need to stay a little higher in the passages as I was puffing a little. Beyond that it was a pretty clean dive.
We get out of the water to prepare to dive two.
Dive Profile:
Dive Time: 77 minutes
Bottom Time: 73 minutes
Average Depth: 51ffw
Max Depth: 69ffw
And I *have* had my much more experienced buddies come up short (three times I think) and in every case they've taken choice 1. What would you do?
