SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
I use SB as my backup dive log, if something were to ever happen to my paper logs, I'd just search threads started by my name and pick out all my dives... otherwise, I'd just post this to Josh and Glens' reports on the thread located here
Anywho.
4-4-9 Mill Pond
Dale Wilson was at my house, on time for once, and we loaded up his truck with the Miss Jellyfish. He had a new prop to try out on his motor, so we'd put it through the motions on this trip rather than splitting costs on a pontoon boat with Shagman, GlenFWB, and cmufieldhockey. The trip out was uneventfull, we hit Crestview up for some gas and a quick breakfast at Burger King and were on the road again. Once in Marianna, we swung by the Hwy 90/Mill Pond dam to check out the water rushing through. The boardwalks heading to the spring creek side were mostly underwater and there were several people out catching fish. After that, we took Hwy 90 West and checked out the Chipola at that bridge, needless to say, the waters were HIGH! After that bit of shinanigans we road around a few local roads north of the Mill Pond and spotted a few sinkholes, most were dry, but were neat all the same. Then we headed over to Edds, Shagman and GlenFWB were there getting fills and Glen was messing with his new Nomad.
We BS'd at Edds for quite a bit, and in the end, we changed our dive plans to go check out a rarely dived hole in the pond. BigKen and BamaMedic showed up with KennyP. Rotor60Driver showed up and he'd be diving with Kevin Carslile, sharing a boat with KennyP's class. We launched from Fish Camp launch and motored over, quickly finding our destination. A quick dive put us face to face with a hole only really big enough to stick our head through at a sand restriction. After a bit of digging by hand, we weren't really making any headway so surfaced again. We chatted a bit with the adjascent land owners and ended up calling it a day. My dive time lasting 21 minutes with a max depth of 26'. I dropped Dale off at the boat launch and he headed off to Edd's, where I'd meet him and tie off the boat for tomorrows adventures. The two of us zipped over to Wakulla for the WCDC meeting, which went quite well and had a healthy portion of BBQ
We stopped by a few spots and checked on local conditions as well. A few areas along the way had water just on the side of the road, with signs indicating road closures due to water over the road very recently.
After the WCDC meeting, we worked at the little Mill Pond hole a bit more. Still didn't get through, but definately moved a bit of sediment around. Made it back to the hotel a little after midnight, tired.
4-5-9 Mill Pond
Sunday morning came early, but we were here to dive. We met up with Shagman, GlenFWB, and cmufieldhockey at Edds and they boarded a pontoon boat while Dale and I took the wheel of the Miss Jellyfish. The 5 of us zipped out to ShangriLa in hopes of a little dive there, but Shag and Glen warned of milky waters the day before. Sure enough, the spring was issueing milky water with less than 3' of visibility. The idea was to see new cave, no point of diving if we can't see and learn whatever new passage we traverse. So we headed to Gator Hole.
Gator Hole
Gator Hole has been a pain in my ass for quite some time. My first visit out to the pond in 2005, had me looking in vain for Gator Hole. My second time at Gator Hole, I found it, my buddies dove it, but I didn't gear up properly and ended up back on the boat before seeing anything. My third trip to Gator, I had a bad reverse squeeze from earlier in the day that kept me out of the water.
So finally, in good shape, full gear, I'm at Gator Hole, third time onsite(hopefully third time's a charm!). We tie up close to shore and gear up as best as we can in somewhat high water and a muddy bottom. cmufieldhockey would be leading the way with me second and Dale third, into the cave. Shagman and GlenFWB would be doing a cavern dive. After a bit of reeling in and backtracking, cmufieldhockey tied us into the mainline and we were off into the depths of Gator Hole. Gator Hole's cavern is mostly a worn looking white limestone with dry cave extending out of the water line. Once you drop into the cave, the walls are tan in color, with darker sedimentary spots with lots of visible fossils in the walls as welll as on a clay floor. The cave mostly consists of a very nice looking bedding plain with fossils strewn throughout. We penetrated in maybe 500' before turning around(Dale turned around a hundred feet earlier). The reduced visibility on the exit didn't slow us down much, as there was actually enough flow to kick out any particulate fairly quickly. Had a max depth of 36 for a dive lasting 44 minutes. Very much looking forward to seeing more of this cave!
Twin Cave
Nearly an hour later, we'd be back in the water. This time on the other side of the pond with hopes of diving Twin Cave. The cavern and subway tunnel had some tannic intrusion and visibility hovered around 15-20' and was a bit hazy. Dive teams were similar to the first dive at Gator, except this time I'd be leading the cave team. Once we jumped off to a side passage and started a bit deeper, visibility cleared up to the typical 50-60' of blue visibility expected at Twin. I had never been in this particular passage off the mainline and was suprised to see how much it varied within the first 400', going from vertical fissure type passage, to bedding plain, to low, clay filled small passage, then opening back up again! Unfortunately, I had reach turn pressure and as the cave opened back up, looking far more inviting, I turned the dive for me and cmu. Dale had turned further back in the passage. Our exit was uneventfull, but I definately want to get back and see more of this passage, despite hearing that it will eventually get quite nasty towards the back - LOL. I had a max depth of 82' for a dive lasting 45 minutes. We all zipped back to Cave Adventureres. Along the way, with Shagman at the wheel, the pontoon boat tried to run us over, so I curved a Mountain Dew bottle around cmufieldhockey and hit Glen, who was using her as a human shield.
Back at Edds, the masses had arrived and there was quite a wait on fills(which I needed). Dale had a mission with the hole we were at yesterday, so he took the Miss Jellyfish and an H valved AL80 to go finish off entering the hole there. cmufieldhockey was wanting another dive and Shagman and GlenFWB were ready to head home in order to beat the nasty weather heading our way, so Shag and Glen gave up the pontoon boat for me and cmufieldhockey to take advantage of. Before our fills were finished, Dale was back, successfully passing through the restriction... so our plans to dive Hole in the Wall changed to diving this other Hole... in the ground.
Mill Pond Cave
Dale, cmufieldhockey, and I took the pontoon boat over to the lesser dived hole and docked up quickly. Dale made another no-mount pass or two through the hole to open up the sand restriction further while cmu and I geared up our sidemount setups. I led the dive and ran a primary to the existing line. At the restriction, I couldn't get through with boat tanks intact, so I removed my right bottle and pushed it through. Once one tank smaller, I was able to squeeze in. As I was floundering around with getting my gear back on, Stasia slid through without too much trouble with both tanks intact. The cave is plenty big for a swimming sidemount dive and consists of a tan bedding plain with darker sedimentary layers filled with fossils of all sorts. The bedding plain opens up to white dome room after white dome room. There are also some pretty amazing formations including arches and columns to be found. The cave was quite healthy from a biology standpoint, with blind crawfish, blind salamander, cave chiggers, isopods, isopedes, etc. The bottom was clay, covered with sand dollars and other fossilized marine animals. Beautiful cave! We passed through two "T"s, and reached a silt stake, with another in view, where I turned the dive. We had covered about 500'p and I figured that'd be enough cave to process on this trip. The return was uneventfull and both of us passed back out the entry restriction without needing to remove any gear. I had a dive time of 44 minutes with a max depth of 36'. Definately a dive to repeat and I'm very much looking forward to returning to it at some point.
With most of the caves blown out to some point or another, I didn't know if I'd get much diving in this time around, especially didn't think I'd see so much new cave(and at the Mill Pond at that!). Had a great time as always, and definately looking forward to more shinanigans in the underwater overhead.
Anywho.
4-4-9 Mill Pond
Dale Wilson was at my house, on time for once, and we loaded up his truck with the Miss Jellyfish. He had a new prop to try out on his motor, so we'd put it through the motions on this trip rather than splitting costs on a pontoon boat with Shagman, GlenFWB, and cmufieldhockey. The trip out was uneventfull, we hit Crestview up for some gas and a quick breakfast at Burger King and were on the road again. Once in Marianna, we swung by the Hwy 90/Mill Pond dam to check out the water rushing through. The boardwalks heading to the spring creek side were mostly underwater and there were several people out catching fish. After that, we took Hwy 90 West and checked out the Chipola at that bridge, needless to say, the waters were HIGH! After that bit of shinanigans we road around a few local roads north of the Mill Pond and spotted a few sinkholes, most were dry, but were neat all the same. Then we headed over to Edds, Shagman and GlenFWB were there getting fills and Glen was messing with his new Nomad.
We BS'd at Edds for quite a bit, and in the end, we changed our dive plans to go check out a rarely dived hole in the pond. BigKen and BamaMedic showed up with KennyP. Rotor60Driver showed up and he'd be diving with Kevin Carslile, sharing a boat with KennyP's class. We launched from Fish Camp launch and motored over, quickly finding our destination. A quick dive put us face to face with a hole only really big enough to stick our head through at a sand restriction. After a bit of digging by hand, we weren't really making any headway so surfaced again. We chatted a bit with the adjascent land owners and ended up calling it a day. My dive time lasting 21 minutes with a max depth of 26'. I dropped Dale off at the boat launch and he headed off to Edd's, where I'd meet him and tie off the boat for tomorrows adventures. The two of us zipped over to Wakulla for the WCDC meeting, which went quite well and had a healthy portion of BBQ
We stopped by a few spots and checked on local conditions as well. A few areas along the way had water just on the side of the road, with signs indicating road closures due to water over the road very recently. After the WCDC meeting, we worked at the little Mill Pond hole a bit more. Still didn't get through, but definately moved a bit of sediment around. Made it back to the hotel a little after midnight, tired.
4-5-9 Mill Pond
Sunday morning came early, but we were here to dive. We met up with Shagman, GlenFWB, and cmufieldhockey at Edds and they boarded a pontoon boat while Dale and I took the wheel of the Miss Jellyfish. The 5 of us zipped out to ShangriLa in hopes of a little dive there, but Shag and Glen warned of milky waters the day before. Sure enough, the spring was issueing milky water with less than 3' of visibility. The idea was to see new cave, no point of diving if we can't see and learn whatever new passage we traverse. So we headed to Gator Hole.
Gator Hole
Gator Hole has been a pain in my ass for quite some time. My first visit out to the pond in 2005, had me looking in vain for Gator Hole. My second time at Gator Hole, I found it, my buddies dove it, but I didn't gear up properly and ended up back on the boat before seeing anything. My third trip to Gator, I had a bad reverse squeeze from earlier in the day that kept me out of the water.
So finally, in good shape, full gear, I'm at Gator Hole, third time onsite(hopefully third time's a charm!). We tie up close to shore and gear up as best as we can in somewhat high water and a muddy bottom. cmufieldhockey would be leading the way with me second and Dale third, into the cave. Shagman and GlenFWB would be doing a cavern dive. After a bit of reeling in and backtracking, cmufieldhockey tied us into the mainline and we were off into the depths of Gator Hole. Gator Hole's cavern is mostly a worn looking white limestone with dry cave extending out of the water line. Once you drop into the cave, the walls are tan in color, with darker sedimentary spots with lots of visible fossils in the walls as welll as on a clay floor. The cave mostly consists of a very nice looking bedding plain with fossils strewn throughout. We penetrated in maybe 500' before turning around(Dale turned around a hundred feet earlier). The reduced visibility on the exit didn't slow us down much, as there was actually enough flow to kick out any particulate fairly quickly. Had a max depth of 36 for a dive lasting 44 minutes. Very much looking forward to seeing more of this cave!
Twin Cave
Nearly an hour later, we'd be back in the water. This time on the other side of the pond with hopes of diving Twin Cave. The cavern and subway tunnel had some tannic intrusion and visibility hovered around 15-20' and was a bit hazy. Dive teams were similar to the first dive at Gator, except this time I'd be leading the cave team. Once we jumped off to a side passage and started a bit deeper, visibility cleared up to the typical 50-60' of blue visibility expected at Twin. I had never been in this particular passage off the mainline and was suprised to see how much it varied within the first 400', going from vertical fissure type passage, to bedding plain, to low, clay filled small passage, then opening back up again! Unfortunately, I had reach turn pressure and as the cave opened back up, looking far more inviting, I turned the dive for me and cmu. Dale had turned further back in the passage. Our exit was uneventfull, but I definately want to get back and see more of this passage, despite hearing that it will eventually get quite nasty towards the back - LOL. I had a max depth of 82' for a dive lasting 45 minutes. We all zipped back to Cave Adventureres. Along the way, with Shagman at the wheel, the pontoon boat tried to run us over, so I curved a Mountain Dew bottle around cmufieldhockey and hit Glen, who was using her as a human shield.
Back at Edds, the masses had arrived and there was quite a wait on fills(which I needed). Dale had a mission with the hole we were at yesterday, so he took the Miss Jellyfish and an H valved AL80 to go finish off entering the hole there. cmufieldhockey was wanting another dive and Shagman and GlenFWB were ready to head home in order to beat the nasty weather heading our way, so Shag and Glen gave up the pontoon boat for me and cmufieldhockey to take advantage of. Before our fills were finished, Dale was back, successfully passing through the restriction... so our plans to dive Hole in the Wall changed to diving this other Hole... in the ground.
Mill Pond Cave
Dale, cmufieldhockey, and I took the pontoon boat over to the lesser dived hole and docked up quickly. Dale made another no-mount pass or two through the hole to open up the sand restriction further while cmu and I geared up our sidemount setups. I led the dive and ran a primary to the existing line. At the restriction, I couldn't get through with boat tanks intact, so I removed my right bottle and pushed it through. Once one tank smaller, I was able to squeeze in. As I was floundering around with getting my gear back on, Stasia slid through without too much trouble with both tanks intact. The cave is plenty big for a swimming sidemount dive and consists of a tan bedding plain with darker sedimentary layers filled with fossils of all sorts. The bedding plain opens up to white dome room after white dome room. There are also some pretty amazing formations including arches and columns to be found. The cave was quite healthy from a biology standpoint, with blind crawfish, blind salamander, cave chiggers, isopods, isopedes, etc. The bottom was clay, covered with sand dollars and other fossilized marine animals. Beautiful cave! We passed through two "T"s, and reached a silt stake, with another in view, where I turned the dive. We had covered about 500'p and I figured that'd be enough cave to process on this trip. The return was uneventfull and both of us passed back out the entry restriction without needing to remove any gear. I had a dive time of 44 minutes with a max depth of 36'. Definately a dive to repeat and I'm very much looking forward to returning to it at some point.
With most of the caves blown out to some point or another, I didn't know if I'd get much diving in this time around, especially didn't think I'd see so much new cave(and at the Mill Pond at that!). Had a great time as always, and definately looking forward to more shinanigans in the underwater overhead.
