pdoege
Contributor
Hey guys -
I had planned to go to the 35th NACD conference. After a series of gaffes I got to the area very late and decided to go diving instead.
Yay!
Went over to Ginnie. My cavern card has not come in yet, and I don't have a temp card. So my gate entry technique was based on chutzpah. Worked well.
Armed with a cavern arm band I sallied forth to the ballroom and did line drills, lights out drills, and etc. Got "paddled" by tuber while doing a lights out line drill. If I ever get whacked by an inland cave shark I'll be ready for it
Went into the ballroom and practiced bouyancy. A little harder to negotiate the tighter areas with the 104s.
Exited on 1/6ths.
Chatted up a few other cavers during my SI. Mark from Cocoa/Melbourne and an instructor by the name of Sid (Cid?). Nice guys.
Next up was Little Devil, Eye, and Ear. Little devil is a bit too tiny for back mount. I didn't get far.
After a quick SS I was off to the eye. Some of the OW divers in the passage had really long fins. They laid down a silt trail that was a thing to behold. Force fins also put down a big vortex.
I calculated 1/6ths again, and into the eye. Very pretty. I managed pick the narrow part of the entrance, again. One of these days I'll pick the easy side.
My HID died as I neared the main line. Fricking EO connectors! Deployed a backup and made my exit. The eye was stuffed full of an OW class, so I spent some time hanging out just inside the entrance. Just chilling. Quite nice actually.
I still had 3 lights, so I could have done the ear. It was late and I had to be back in O-town for a party at 8pm, so I turned the dive and headed back upstream.
No reel jams! A good day when that happens.
I had tried to secure a new E/O-less cord for the HID that morning at EE. No dice. I think I'll pick up a stealth canister and cord.
Sunday morning brought the Wayne's World cleanup. Wayne's World is a little sink in Hudson FL just off of the West coast. An hour or so North of Tampa.
The sink was pretty yucky. Mattresses, condoms, a floating refridgerator (!), tons of beer cans and bottles. We cleaned and picked up and raked. One of us hopped in with a side mount rig to check out the bottom. He came up with a complete bed, chair, logs, and (after a large amount of bubbles) a lift bag came up with a rather nice bicycle attached.
Wow!
We congradulated ourselves on our success and retired to eat lunch at a local BBQ spot.
Yum!
Lots of good fun and companionship.
Peter
I had planned to go to the 35th NACD conference. After a series of gaffes I got to the area very late and decided to go diving instead.
Yay!
Went over to Ginnie. My cavern card has not come in yet, and I don't have a temp card. So my gate entry technique was based on chutzpah. Worked well.
Armed with a cavern arm band I sallied forth to the ballroom and did line drills, lights out drills, and etc. Got "paddled" by tuber while doing a lights out line drill. If I ever get whacked by an inland cave shark I'll be ready for it
Went into the ballroom and practiced bouyancy. A little harder to negotiate the tighter areas with the 104s.
Exited on 1/6ths.
Chatted up a few other cavers during my SI. Mark from Cocoa/Melbourne and an instructor by the name of Sid (Cid?). Nice guys.
Next up was Little Devil, Eye, and Ear. Little devil is a bit too tiny for back mount. I didn't get far.
After a quick SS I was off to the eye. Some of the OW divers in the passage had really long fins. They laid down a silt trail that was a thing to behold. Force fins also put down a big vortex.
I calculated 1/6ths again, and into the eye. Very pretty. I managed pick the narrow part of the entrance, again. One of these days I'll pick the easy side.
My HID died as I neared the main line. Fricking EO connectors! Deployed a backup and made my exit. The eye was stuffed full of an OW class, so I spent some time hanging out just inside the entrance. Just chilling. Quite nice actually.
I still had 3 lights, so I could have done the ear. It was late and I had to be back in O-town for a party at 8pm, so I turned the dive and headed back upstream.
No reel jams! A good day when that happens.
I had tried to secure a new E/O-less cord for the HID that morning at EE. No dice. I think I'll pick up a stealth canister and cord.
Sunday morning brought the Wayne's World cleanup. Wayne's World is a little sink in Hudson FL just off of the West coast. An hour or so North of Tampa.
The sink was pretty yucky. Mattresses, condoms, a floating refridgerator (!), tons of beer cans and bottles. We cleaned and picked up and raked. One of us hopped in with a side mount rig to check out the bottom. He came up with a complete bed, chair, logs, and (after a large amount of bubbles) a lift bag came up with a rather nice bicycle attached.
Wow!
We congradulated ourselves on our success and retired to eat lunch at a local BBQ spot.
Yum!
Lots of good fun and companionship.
Peter
