I get it. The one (two?) times I went in there, the line went nearly straight down from the log. I assumed that was the most common way to do it.
Hopping my way to full cave...
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I get it. The one (two?) times I went in there, the line went nearly straight down from the log. I assumed that was the most common way to do it.
OP
Training Day 8 Dive 1:
Back to the basics today, the primary purpose of this dive was to show the skills required for the Apprentice level. We did two short dives, my buddy would be Chris with Dave, another of Chris's instructor interns, acting as instructor. We pushed down the ear based on the advice for Renee, once I hit the sand I turned around to check that my buddy wasn't having issues before I pushed into the cave. No issues running the reel to the gold line. Ok the reel, and move up the wall to the ceiling, referencing the line often, and watching for my buddy's light. Making it to my rest point before the lips. Ok the lips, and move through the lips, and now my buddy's light disappears. I do the lost buddy drill this time not deploying my safety reel until after I see the most obvious point that my buddy had disappeared into. Next we do the lost line drill, but I failed that due to fins in the mud. Turn the dive and head to the exit. Due to the drill I forgot about my position on exit and went first through the lips after getting the Ok. I stop once through the lips and turn around to watch my buddy exit the lips, but when I saw him exit instead of turning into the line, I turned away from it, so I lost the line for a moment. The rest of the exit was uneventful. We get to the surface and debrief.
Apparently I was starting to look like a cave diver, only issue with my reel running was that I was doing too many wraps on my tie off, and I could short the reel a little less on the mainline. The gallery run was quite a bit better. And my lost buddy drill went perfectly. Lost line drill I needed to get off the ground a bit more. Along with the noted issues of going first on the exit, and losing the line when I turned around to check on my buddy.
Dive 2:
Uneventful entry, checked on the line, through the gallery, through the lips, mask on, and to the rock. Pull my classic safety reel out, and start to attempt to wrap it around, but somehow I jam the reel. Dave comes over stops me, and unjams the reel. Hands it back, and restarts the drill. But now I can't fit the reel through the loop. I drop the reel, and reach down for my safety spool, but I couldn't get the loop back through the spool hole. After he gives me a couple of minutes, Dave stops the drill. After I take the mask off I see what was wrong with my reel, somehow while cleaning up my reel from jamming it a knot got in the middle of the loop. During the lost line drill my prosthetic fin slipped off, I spend a minute looking around, but we needed to exit. This time I remembered to ensure that my buddy exited first. Once through the lips, Dave came up and gave me the signal that my main light broke. I deploy my back up light, but it took a bit, so we got quite a bit of buddy separation. I catch up, reel up, and exited.
Chris was very happy with my buddy awareness and line awareness through the gallery and into the lips, even better than the first dive and a night and day different from two weeks before. During the debrief the issues with the lost line drill was understandable, reels jam, but I should reconsider how the safety spool is stored or get about safety reel that is less jammable like the sidewinder reels. Dave suggested that during a lost light drill and you are the trailing buddy, stay up with your buddy, and they might not notice the loss of your light. After the debrief Dave went back in and found my prosthetic fin, after I mentioned that it was buoyant he looked on the ceiling and found it on the arch before the lips. So if you ever find a prosthetic fin stuck to the ceiling in a cave, please return it to CCDS for me.
Dive Profile for Day 8:
Dive Time: 1 hour 47 minutes
Bottom Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Average Depth: 56ffw
Max Depth: 74ffw
Back to the basics today, the primary purpose of this dive was to show the skills required for the Apprentice level. We did two short dives, my buddy would be Chris with Dave, another of Chris's instructor interns, acting as instructor. We pushed down the ear based on the advice for Renee, once I hit the sand I turned around to check that my buddy wasn't having issues before I pushed into the cave. No issues running the reel to the gold line. Ok the reel, and move up the wall to the ceiling, referencing the line often, and watching for my buddy's light. Making it to my rest point before the lips. Ok the lips, and move through the lips, and now my buddy's light disappears. I do the lost buddy drill this time not deploying my safety reel until after I see the most obvious point that my buddy had disappeared into. Next we do the lost line drill, but I failed that due to fins in the mud. Turn the dive and head to the exit. Due to the drill I forgot about my position on exit and went first through the lips after getting the Ok. I stop once through the lips and turn around to watch my buddy exit the lips, but when I saw him exit instead of turning into the line, I turned away from it, so I lost the line for a moment. The rest of the exit was uneventful. We get to the surface and debrief.
Apparently I was starting to look like a cave diver, only issue with my reel running was that I was doing too many wraps on my tie off, and I could short the reel a little less on the mainline. The gallery run was quite a bit better. And my lost buddy drill went perfectly. Lost line drill I needed to get off the ground a bit more. Along with the noted issues of going first on the exit, and losing the line when I turned around to check on my buddy.
Dive 2:
Uneventful entry, checked on the line, through the gallery, through the lips, mask on, and to the rock. Pull my classic safety reel out, and start to attempt to wrap it around, but somehow I jam the reel. Dave comes over stops me, and unjams the reel. Hands it back, and restarts the drill. But now I can't fit the reel through the loop. I drop the reel, and reach down for my safety spool, but I couldn't get the loop back through the spool hole. After he gives me a couple of minutes, Dave stops the drill. After I take the mask off I see what was wrong with my reel, somehow while cleaning up my reel from jamming it a knot got in the middle of the loop. During the lost line drill my prosthetic fin slipped off, I spend a minute looking around, but we needed to exit. This time I remembered to ensure that my buddy exited first. Once through the lips, Dave came up and gave me the signal that my main light broke. I deploy my back up light, but it took a bit, so we got quite a bit of buddy separation. I catch up, reel up, and exited.
Chris was very happy with my buddy awareness and line awareness through the gallery and into the lips, even better than the first dive and a night and day different from two weeks before. During the debrief the issues with the lost line drill was understandable, reels jam, but I should reconsider how the safety spool is stored or get about safety reel that is less jammable like the sidewinder reels. Dave suggested that during a lost light drill and you are the trailing buddy, stay up with your buddy, and they might not notice the loss of your light. After the debrief Dave went back in and found my prosthetic fin, after I mentioned that it was buoyant he looked on the ceiling and found it on the arch before the lips. So if you ever find a prosthetic fin stuck to the ceiling in a cave, please return it to CCDS for me.
Dive Profile for Day 8:
Dive Time: 1 hour 47 minutes
Bottom Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Average Depth: 56ffw
Max Depth: 74ffw
Now you know why some of us harp on safety spools not reels
OP
That diver that got "that far" away from the line in MX (yes there are some huge rooms) totally trashed the cave by doing that. It is pretty important not just for your own safety, but also for cave conservation that you stay on the line in MX. Yes you can see it from 50+ft away. No you should never be that far from the line because that area of the cave hasn't been brutalized by bubbles, fingers, and fin wash. Bringing 250ft safety reels is not needed and actually can encourage some really bad habits. 150ft safety spools are more than sufficient.
Not to mention if you wander 50ft from "the line" you could very easily end up on an alternative line which isn't your exit.
OP
Went on my first post-certification cave dive with @tmassey visiting a new to me line in the upper Orange Grove, followed by a run down the Peanut line to wash the duck weed off the gear.
I brought my Paralenz with me and actually got the auto-start feature to work, but unfortunately Wes Skiles I am not (yet). I probably need to bring some video fill lights, perhaps on a helmet but I'm not even remotely ready to add that complication. So my hopes of getting workable video with no major changes are dashed for now.
Raw video minor editing to remove the surface sections, so lots of darkness, and mostly 49 minutes of boredom.
I brought my Paralenz with me and actually got the auto-start feature to work, but unfortunately Wes Skiles I am not (yet). I probably need to bring some video fill lights, perhaps on a helmet but I'm not even remotely ready to add that complication. So my hopes of getting workable video with no major changes are dashed for now.
Raw video minor editing to remove the surface sections, so lots of darkness, and mostly 49 minutes of boredom.
tmassey
Contributor
Thanks for the video! Of course, now everyone can see how terrible I am at running a line… Not that I ever say anything else, but it’s never fun to see it on video.
It was a fun dive. I’m glad we got to do it.
ETA: if I’m going to suffer the embarrassment, I want the advantage, too. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. I’d love to hear them.
It was a fun dive. I’m glad we got to do it.
ETA: if I’m going to suffer the embarrassment, I want the advantage, too. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. I’d love to hear them.
OP
Videos are always a slap in the face. I wish the NSS allowed them for instructors, I felt that having video reviews really shows you in much greater detail what you can improve and even how you can improve.
Hopefully next time you are down here we can dive again, and I should have full cave by then.
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@Manatee Diver I can't stand sidewinder reels. There, I said it. They are AMAZING for deploying line, but they SUCK to reel in. While they are less prone to jamming than the old-style reels, when they jam, they are basically perma-jammed until you get out of the water. For something like a safety, I'll take a spool every day of the week. I use a proper primary reel, but everything else is done with spools.
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