Hopping my way to full cave...

[Manatee Diver]

Well I did it, I got a pretty decent leak in my drysuit.

Anyways I met up with a friend that has been busy for a while. We were debating Harry's Crack vs Wormhole. I decided Harry's Crack as we would guaranteed to have the gas to complete it. I lead in to the Keyhole to set the pace through the Gallery. Dropped stages at the Bone line, and jumped to Express Way, and finally to Harry's Crack. Pretty section of the cave, and the exit was pretty surprising in that I never knew it was there until we popped out right by Hill 400. A little silt followed us, well me mostly, but not too bad. The plan was if we silted pretty bad we would act as surprised as anyone else.

We continued down the mainline until hitting turn pressure, since I hadn't seen that section of the mainline yet. We made it to the Maple Leaf before I turned for gas. After the turn I realized that my neck seal was leaking, and it was pretty bad. Of course I already had a couple of minutes of deco. Except for the cold water in my suit and the realization that it was only going to get longer; the exit was uneventful. By the time we got to the Eye to do deco it was up to 14 minutes, which was right on what I figured of 15 minutes. On exit I got my tanks out of the water and immediately changed out of my wet undergarments. Thankfully it was 80 degrees, instead of the 50 degrees of last week.

Except for not getting my neck seal right it was a pretty fun dive. And I managed to snag a Madison Blue map at CCDS. I want to get over to Madison more, as it is a pretty cave. But next time we dive together it will probably be wormhole.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Well I found Fluffy Bunny. I was told "If you can find Fluffy Bunny, you are probably ready to dive it." Well I was poking around and found it, and I am definitely not ready to dive it, not that I would ever be.

For those that don't know, Fluffy Bunny is a no mount passage in Ginnie. I had some extra gas and started just poking my head into some random holes around the area. I noticed some evidence traffic in one of the holes and ran a spool, leading a short distance to a no mount tunnel that has a lot of evidence of traffic.

Video of the tunnel from some crazy dude

 

[OrcasC205]

Video of the tunnel from some crazy dude

That's a "No" for me, dawg.

 

[Jack Hammer]

Well I found Fluffy Bunny. I was told "If you can find Fluffy Bunny, you are probably ready to dive it." Well I was poking around and found it, and I am definitely not ready to dive it, not that I would ever be.

For those that don't know, Fluffy Bunny is a no mount passage in Ginnie. I had some extra gas and started just poking my head into some random holes around the area. I noticed some evidence traffic in one of the holes and ran a spool, leading a short distance to a no mount tunnel that has a lot of evidence of traffic.

Video of the tunnel from some crazy dude

Yeah, as you now know, finding the entrance really isn't that difficult. Getting into it is a completely different story. There is some other cool stuff to see in that general area if you take your time and poke around. A lot of people miss cool things because they are in a big rush to get further.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Yeah, as you now know, finding the entrance really isn't that difficult. Getting into it is a completely different story. There is some other cool stuff to see in that general area if you take your time and poke around. A lot of people miss cool things because they are in a big rush to get further.

I've been doing that a lot more. I've seen most of the major things to see within my range. So I find myself on my loner dives just poking around and finding stuff. Like a found a neat little cut through that exits in the middle of the Keyhole.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Hopefully the Santa Fe crests soon, Ginnie up near the top of her banks. I was standing where I normally gear up in chest deep water, it was two feet above my head. This was my first time in Ginnie as it is going up instead of coming down, so it is the first time that I've seen her in low flow mode. You could practically swim through all the restrictions.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Had what I consider to be one of the best cave divers I've had in Florida.

A dive buddy from out of town came in, so I stayed overnight to dive with him for two days. First day we hit Ginnie, another attempt to hit the Wonder Tunnel, but I couldn't see it. My dive buddy could but I missed his signal. Today the plan was going to be Madison Blue, but apparently it went under on the 21st, Kristi and Jon suggested Little River, and let me tell you it was freaking awesome.

The river was up almost to the second platform, just a couple of steps short. We were the first team in the cave that morning. He lead in running a reel from the stairs to the cave. It was pretty much a couple of feet of vis until just before the log. But once in the cave the vis was great, and the flow was minimal. We went down the gold line, down Merry Go Round, and finally to the Florida Room. It was the first time I got to see Reggie's rock, turning just beyond 1,300 feet arrow.

And I will admit I was wrong. I thought most people dove LR because it was free, and there were no real rules. But Little River is AMAZING, without the flow there was less struggle so I could spend more time looking around without the narcosis creeping in. And the Florida Room is one of the prettiest sections of cave that I've seen in Florida. And during deco I could watch the tannic storm above me.

Now I am going to have to watch the weather and reports much more closely so I can get back into LR when it is amazing.

 

[tmassey]

I have to say, I thought it was a great dive as well. Thanks for driving up to dive with me. The lack of flow certainly made for a nicely relaxed dive – easily the most relaxed Little River dive I’ve ever had.

It’s always nice to dive with someone where you can just relax and enjoy the dive as well. I look forward to diving with you again.

I was pleased I could find the cavern. Yeah, I know it’s not that hard: there’s a big groove coming right out of the cavern. But there was zero viz (well, maybe a foot or so), so I’m going to take a small amount of credit.

 

[J-Vo]

For the Wonder tunnel, set your jump spool just past the 90 to the left on the bone line (White Room) where the line touches the first rock outcrop. You will see several rocks have been placed to keep jump lines down. If you set it at the jump arrow you are at the "second" entrance and have to run the jump quite a bit further.

It took me a lot of looking around to find it the first time.

 

[kensuf]

Some of the prettiest clay banks you can ever find are in little river if you know where to look. One of them is just off the main line about 70' from the first T and it's a stunner.