Morrison Spring and a little narcosis

[Kevin Carlisle]

Your instructor really should lose his ability to teach for that.

 

[sabbath999]

This isn't directed at all to the OP (since he has been there and already knows what it looks like) I just wanted to give any of you who are reading this who are not familiar with Morrison an idea of why I was so concerned to read this.

Here is a cross section of what that lower cavern looks like... the "restriction" really isn't as small as this makes it appear... i would say you could drive a car through it if it were a tunnel on land... but probably not a pickup truck. That's a guess, but I think it's about right.

As you can see, this is not in any way, shape or form "open water".

This is simply an FYI.

 

[Airleron]

Holy Crap......

 

[Blackwood]

I can't read the scale. About how deep is the restriction? Is that 60?

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

I can't read the scale. About how deep is the restriction? Is that 60?

Its about 60-63 ft. Not really a restriction, the openng is about 3ft tall at its narrowest and pretty wide. You get hit with a lot of flow right there, can easily purge a reg or flood a mask, and I have seen several people panick right there because of the flow.

 

[stakanak]

How could they see the surface through that opening at 85 feet?
Not to be a jerk but that instructor is a danger to others and should be chastised with the utmost expedience. As a novice diver it terrifies me that there are people of authority with such a blase attitude in an activity that has so many inherent dangers.
I think the person should be named!
Get Wet!

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

How could they see the surface through that opening at 85 feet?
Not to be a jerk but that instructor is a danger to others and should be chastised with the utmost expedience. As a novice diver it terrifies me that there are people of authority with such a blase attitude in an activity that has so many inherent dangers.
I think the person should be named!
Get Wet!

You can see blue water and the sun lighting everything up but they COULD NOT see the surface. I have many hours in that cavern, doing an advanced class there like that was STUPID and RECKLESS. While I thnk Morrisons is a great dive and safe compared to most, if something goes wrong or you panic it is a long way to the surface when you arent trained for it. This is the kind of actions that can get a place closed.

 

[mike_s]

I asked the instructor if it was appropriate for us to be making this dive. I was told it's fine, as long as we can see natural sunlight, which we could. I will call the instructors' boss tomorrow. I do respect the dangers of diving, and thought I was doing it all the right way. I appreciate all your comments. I have gone from high to low very quickly. Thanks for your concern.

I agree with the others. that's a Cavern.


Your instructor shouldn't have taken you there as part of an class, unless it was part of a Cavern class.


Regardless, he took you in an overhead environment and if you're a new diver with a single exit point. Open Water diver doesn't cover that either. (neither does AOW).

so it was a pretty stupid thing for an instructor to do.... imagine if one of his students had an issue, and they didn't have direct access to the surface. He put you at danger, and the others in his class at danger. He also might have put others in the cavern at danger if one of his students made a "bolt" for the opening knocking other divers into the walls/ceiling in a panic as they exited.

I mean you even posted you got narc'd, had an issue, and were worried about finding the opening.


I agree with you that Morrison is a surreal place. But be leary of instructor taking you there if he "thinks it's ok"

 

[mike_s]

This isn't directed at all to the OP (since he has been there and already knows what it looks like) I just wanted to give any of you who are reading this who are not familiar with Morrison an idea of why I was so concerned to read this.

Here is a cross section of what that lower cavern looks like... the "restriction" really isn't as small as this makes it appear... i would say you could drive a car through it if it were a tunnel on land... but probably not a pickup truck. That's a guess, but I think it's about right.

As you can see, this is not in any way, shape or form "open water".

This is simply an FYI.

Here's some pictures of that opening...


Note: The pictures don't show the current of something like 26 MILLION gallons of water a day that go through that hole. Add that to the equation and ask if this is a place to take AOW students.



Cavern entrance hole under log.....

Same log view from below. Note: this can't be scene from the entire cavern. Only directly below the entrance.

 

[sabbath999]

Here's looking down into the hole from the top (where there was enough light to video), a short video clip... the entrance is under the ledge where you can see debris coming out of... 25million gallons a day is a pretty ripping flow coming through something that small, for somebody who is a NOOB and taking his AOW with less than 25 dives, that could be a pretty freaking scary hole to pull your way through (There's no swimming through that kind of flow).

Keep in mind the flow that you are seeing here is going through a room about 30 feet or so across, not 3 feet like is down at the "restriction". And it isn't really a restriction, it is just a narrower passage between two bigger rooms.

YouTube - Morrison Spring