scubafool
Contributor
I would reccomend that everyone get there as early as possible, as it will probably get crowded rather quickly. If the parking lots get full, they won't take anyone else in until a certain time. This allows time for some vehicles to clear out of the lots so that when they reopen the gates, they actually let a good amount of people in, as opposed to having a 2 mile long line waiting at the gate. They will have a sign indicating the time that they will reopen posted at the gate. Turn around, & if you want to wait, drive back to Valentine Park, where you can park & wait. Do NOT park on the side of the road. I have seen the local police & the DEP rangers attached to the park giving folks grief when parked on the roadside.
Bought two tanks, and M and i went in, M was having trouble getting down (as is always a trouble at this site if you havent put loads of weight in), so we quit that one after 19 mins, back up, and i walk back to the car to pick up a few more weight and when i got back we had dive 1B - extension of 1A's tank (2000 psi left). It wasnt bad, although without lights and early in the day there is a lot of shade and you cant see all that far, that improves through the day as the sun comes overhead and illuminates things. So we got in 3 dives, all around 80-85 max, plenty of floating in the breeze, exploring a few dead end tunnels or shelves, drop throughs, flow concentration/jets and avoid the other dives dropping in after us and leaving before us (dont know its like people get scared in there). So we had a first re-orientation dive (first time back for either of us in a little while), then after dives 1B and 2 it was off for the run down the river. The level looks a little low and the flow wasnt quite as fast down the river as i recalled back in feb/march. All in all a great and enjoyable time playing in the flow. Will either wait to take someone who hasnt gone there before or until cavern cert'd to then explore what else is down there. Beyond 55ft or so it starts to darken and at around 85 you pretty much lose all illumination, still pretty to stare up the water column towards the entrance (before it gets silted out). So we had essentially 3 dives, with 1A and 1B being about 19 and 29 mins ave ~ 41ft and dive 2 being ave ~45 for about 45 mins, my ears were playing fairly and my SAC is still down after saturday's great drop into the 0.4's for the first time - kind of close to that and continuing on these dives) - so the future looks bright.
