Capt Jim Wyatt
Hanging at the 10 Foot Stop
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Madison Blue Springs Report
As most of you know Madison Blue Spring was closed for a few weeks due to the flow reversing. The spring re-opened over the past few days and today (April 2, 2008)I made two dives there.
Many newer cave divers have not been around after one of these flooding events and may not expect the conditions in this cave as I found it today.
Visibility was a maximum of 40 feet up to the half hitch and to the Godzilla Room. Several sections the visibility was significantly lower than this.
Flow is very high; I would guess it is almost the same velocity as Devils Ear at the entrance. Flow remains high even in the Godzilla Room. I made it to the half-hitch (800 feet) on thirds of my 104s. I was making it to 1500 feet on that line without hitting thirds.
The lines have much debris on them, leaves, twigs and where the line is wrapped the line is not visible nor can you easily feel the line in some of these places. There were several places where the line was buried in newly deposited sand. In one place it was buried as deep as 3 feet, maybe 4 for a linear distance of about 20 feet. Following this line with lights out or in zero vis would be more challenging than normal.
There were several sections where the line was buried and we cleared it in the sections we saw. I am not sure how long these lines will stay above the sand.
There were sections in the cave between Martz Sink and the entrance that I did not even recognize due primarily to the volume of sand on the bottom coupled with the lower visibility.
I suspect there are many other places in the cave where the line is buried and I caution divers to not simply swim over those sections to where the next section of visible line is. I also caution divers to use care freeing the line from the sand mounds considering the possibility of breaking the line and the certainty of zero visibility. We zeroed the visibility several times freeing line, however the flow moved it out of our way quickly. Divers downstream of us would have experienced this drastic lowering of visibility without warning.
Other than the lines and the Godzilla doll, there was no evidence of divers being in there. The cave was flushed clean.
If you go there to dive please be aware of these conditions and do not necessarily expect to see the same cave conditions or line placement as you saw earlier this year.
Jim Wyatt
NSS-CDS Safety Officer
As most of you know Madison Blue Spring was closed for a few weeks due to the flow reversing. The spring re-opened over the past few days and today (April 2, 2008)I made two dives there.
Many newer cave divers have not been around after one of these flooding events and may not expect the conditions in this cave as I found it today.
Visibility was a maximum of 40 feet up to the half hitch and to the Godzilla Room. Several sections the visibility was significantly lower than this.
Flow is very high; I would guess it is almost the same velocity as Devils Ear at the entrance. Flow remains high even in the Godzilla Room. I made it to the half-hitch (800 feet) on thirds of my 104s. I was making it to 1500 feet on that line without hitting thirds.
The lines have much debris on them, leaves, twigs and where the line is wrapped the line is not visible nor can you easily feel the line in some of these places. There were several places where the line was buried in newly deposited sand. In one place it was buried as deep as 3 feet, maybe 4 for a linear distance of about 20 feet. Following this line with lights out or in zero vis would be more challenging than normal.
There were several sections where the line was buried and we cleared it in the sections we saw. I am not sure how long these lines will stay above the sand.
There were sections in the cave between Martz Sink and the entrance that I did not even recognize due primarily to the volume of sand on the bottom coupled with the lower visibility.
I suspect there are many other places in the cave where the line is buried and I caution divers to not simply swim over those sections to where the next section of visible line is. I also caution divers to use care freeing the line from the sand mounds considering the possibility of breaking the line and the certainty of zero visibility. We zeroed the visibility several times freeing line, however the flow moved it out of our way quickly. Divers downstream of us would have experienced this drastic lowering of visibility without warning.
Other than the lines and the Godzilla doll, there was no evidence of divers being in there. The cave was flushed clean.
If you go there to dive please be aware of these conditions and do not necessarily expect to see the same cave conditions or line placement as you saw earlier this year.
Jim Wyatt
NSS-CDS Safety Officer
