Trip Report from Trip taken October 29 and 30, 2006
Attending:
Kevin Runkle
Chuck Peterson
We left Wichita at about 2:30PM headed for the 9 hour drive to San Marcos Texas. The drive was pretty uneventful and it was not as bad as it would seem. Time went pretty fast and we were thereat about 11:00PM checked into the motel and we were ready for the excitement to begin tomorrow.
We were up at 6:30am and on our way to MacDonalds for a breakfast burrito and a cup of coffee. It is amazing how smooth a burrito will push through a regulator at about 20 feet deep.
When we arrived at the Aquarena we were met by several divers and I was surprised at the number there would be in this class. I think we ended up with about 17 divers running from Master like Kevin to people that had just recently been certified open water.
We were son met by the instructors and point the direction of the class room. This was found to be a very nice facility and we were very comfortable in the class. I was a bit surprised at how professional everything appeared and with the knowledge that the instructors had about the springs.
We were instructed on the water shed in the hill country all the way to the aquifer and the springs forming the head waters of the San Marcos River.
We went into the little museum that they had set up there and it was very interesting. There was arrow heads that were found in the springs before it was damned up that were carbon dated back to 7000 BC. At that point it all began to sink in as to just how important this area was and how interesting this diving would be. Kevin also seen a giant picture that was showing the cave back in the head waters of the spring and he really got excited about that. He said that is where I want to go but the instructor said that there have been more men on the moon than there has been inside that cavern. Well hell that was the wrong thing to tell a cave diver.
We set through about 3 hours of class room where we were explained the rules of the spring and the fines and imprisonment if we broke those rules.
After we all signed our lives away on the forms and affidavits saying we understood the rules and that we would go by them we were sent to the boats. These were large glass bottom boats used to give tours of this beautiful facility. We were taken all over the springs. We saw what they call Cream-of-wheat. It is a place where the springs are bubbling up and the sand is white and looks like cream-of-wheat. We seen several other places that were very interesting and made us really anxious to enter the water and see for ourselves.
We were sent top lunch and advised to be back at 2:00PM ready to get into the water for the obstacle course.
This obstacle course is to test the level of diver skills so that when in the springs divers that have poor buoyancy control will not tear up the very precious and delicate bottom.
This course was not too bad but it did show those at just what level their buoyancy control was. First of all there were 3 rings about 3 feet in diameter tied at different depths ranging from 10 to 18 feet. The simple task was to use your breathing and set your buoyancy so that you could swim through the rings without tearing them out of the ground. They would score you on how hard you hit the ring or best if you did not touch it at all as you traversed through them.
The next was a small pedestal on the bottom. The idea was too get in a head up position with your knees down. At that point you were too breath out and allow yourself to settle down SOFTLY onto your knees on top of that pedestal. When you got there the instructor would signal you to hold that position until he motioned okay. At that point you were to breathe in and make a control assent to the surface. Once at the surface he would ask you to make a controlled descent and when he signaled to you to hold you were to use your breath and stop the descent and hold at that depth until he motioned you to continue. When you did continue you were to settle to the bottom on your knees again SOFTLY and hold for a few seconds. When he motioned to you, you were to breathe in and rise up from the bottom holding your position until your feet were well off the bottom. Then you would lie over and start fining to go to the next exercise.
The next exercise was a grid of PVC pipe about three feet off of the bottom and about 8 feet long. You were to traverse under this without touching the bottom or tearing the grid from its moorings. After that one you would go to the weights that were lying on the bottom. They weighed about 4 pounds each. You were to take one of them and pick it up adjust your buoyancy and moving it about 15 feet and lay it back down again adjusting your buoyancy.
This course is made up of 10 exercises and you must pass 7 in order to pass this part of the course. I went through the second in line and scored 10. Kevin went through last in line 68 minutes after the start and he scored 10 also. This was a very good skill test and we should implement some of this in some of our training here at home.
Okay now we have passed all the tests and reviews and we are cleared to dive with an Aquarena instructor. We were given a tour of the park underwater and it was breath taking. No where did we ever reach a depth greater than 20 feet but the vegetation and animal life was fantastic. I feel that the instructor was going a little too fast for the tour but he was cold. He was wearing a 3 mil suit and I was in a 7 mil and of course Kevin was in his dry suit. Neither Kevin nor I ever got cold so we were ready for a dive of at a minimum of 1 hour in length but the other people could not stay that long.
We made another dive on Sunday and were assigned the task of fining the cream-of-wheat area. This was rather neat. We were to hold the position of feet up as to not disturb the bottom and then we would use our hand to just kind of brush away the top layer of sediment and algae so that the sands were clean and white and the springs could bubble up so much better. We did not actually touch the sand we just let the wish of our hand and the current from that wash the algae aside to the outer edges of Cream-of-Wheat.
One of the primary reasons that Texas State University is so careful and controlling of this place is the fact that there are 6 species of animals that are here that are found NOWHERE lese in the world. We seen some of them and it was awesome. Out of all of the people in the world WE are some of the very few that have or ever will see these endangered animals, that in itself is enough to make this trip.
All in all this was a very good Adventure, one that I would recommend to anyone with even the slightest bit of interest in history or with just a plain love of diving and a wish to experience it all. This was a new experience for me and one that I will not soon forget. In fact get with Kevin or Rob Adventure Sports there might be another trip to this place someday. I know that I will be returning when time a schedule permits it.
Kevin and I both purchased a book from this place that tells all about it and Kevin bought a CD that also shows a lot of things about it. I am sure these are all available if someone wants to see them.
Thanks to Kevin Runkel for being the best Dive Buddy anyone could ever find and also for teaching me new things every time we enter the water.
Chuck
Attending:
Kevin Runkle
Chuck Peterson
We left Wichita at about 2:30PM headed for the 9 hour drive to San Marcos Texas. The drive was pretty uneventful and it was not as bad as it would seem. Time went pretty fast and we were thereat about 11:00PM checked into the motel and we were ready for the excitement to begin tomorrow.
We were up at 6:30am and on our way to MacDonalds for a breakfast burrito and a cup of coffee. It is amazing how smooth a burrito will push through a regulator at about 20 feet deep.
When we arrived at the Aquarena we were met by several divers and I was surprised at the number there would be in this class. I think we ended up with about 17 divers running from Master like Kevin to people that had just recently been certified open water.
We were son met by the instructors and point the direction of the class room. This was found to be a very nice facility and we were very comfortable in the class. I was a bit surprised at how professional everything appeared and with the knowledge that the instructors had about the springs.
We were instructed on the water shed in the hill country all the way to the aquifer and the springs forming the head waters of the San Marcos River.
We went into the little museum that they had set up there and it was very interesting. There was arrow heads that were found in the springs before it was damned up that were carbon dated back to 7000 BC. At that point it all began to sink in as to just how important this area was and how interesting this diving would be. Kevin also seen a giant picture that was showing the cave back in the head waters of the spring and he really got excited about that. He said that is where I want to go but the instructor said that there have been more men on the moon than there has been inside that cavern. Well hell that was the wrong thing to tell a cave diver.
We set through about 3 hours of class room where we were explained the rules of the spring and the fines and imprisonment if we broke those rules.
After we all signed our lives away on the forms and affidavits saying we understood the rules and that we would go by them we were sent to the boats. These were large glass bottom boats used to give tours of this beautiful facility. We were taken all over the springs. We saw what they call Cream-of-wheat. It is a place where the springs are bubbling up and the sand is white and looks like cream-of-wheat. We seen several other places that were very interesting and made us really anxious to enter the water and see for ourselves.
We were sent top lunch and advised to be back at 2:00PM ready to get into the water for the obstacle course.
This obstacle course is to test the level of diver skills so that when in the springs divers that have poor buoyancy control will not tear up the very precious and delicate bottom.
This course was not too bad but it did show those at just what level their buoyancy control was. First of all there were 3 rings about 3 feet in diameter tied at different depths ranging from 10 to 18 feet. The simple task was to use your breathing and set your buoyancy so that you could swim through the rings without tearing them out of the ground. They would score you on how hard you hit the ring or best if you did not touch it at all as you traversed through them.
The next was a small pedestal on the bottom. The idea was too get in a head up position with your knees down. At that point you were too breath out and allow yourself to settle down SOFTLY onto your knees on top of that pedestal. When you got there the instructor would signal you to hold that position until he motioned okay. At that point you were to breathe in and make a control assent to the surface. Once at the surface he would ask you to make a controlled descent and when he signaled to you to hold you were to use your breath and stop the descent and hold at that depth until he motioned you to continue. When you did continue you were to settle to the bottom on your knees again SOFTLY and hold for a few seconds. When he motioned to you, you were to breathe in and rise up from the bottom holding your position until your feet were well off the bottom. Then you would lie over and start fining to go to the next exercise.
The next exercise was a grid of PVC pipe about three feet off of the bottom and about 8 feet long. You were to traverse under this without touching the bottom or tearing the grid from its moorings. After that one you would go to the weights that were lying on the bottom. They weighed about 4 pounds each. You were to take one of them and pick it up adjust your buoyancy and moving it about 15 feet and lay it back down again adjusting your buoyancy.
This course is made up of 10 exercises and you must pass 7 in order to pass this part of the course. I went through the second in line and scored 10. Kevin went through last in line 68 minutes after the start and he scored 10 also. This was a very good skill test and we should implement some of this in some of our training here at home.
Okay now we have passed all the tests and reviews and we are cleared to dive with an Aquarena instructor. We were given a tour of the park underwater and it was breath taking. No where did we ever reach a depth greater than 20 feet but the vegetation and animal life was fantastic. I feel that the instructor was going a little too fast for the tour but he was cold. He was wearing a 3 mil suit and I was in a 7 mil and of course Kevin was in his dry suit. Neither Kevin nor I ever got cold so we were ready for a dive of at a minimum of 1 hour in length but the other people could not stay that long.
We made another dive on Sunday and were assigned the task of fining the cream-of-wheat area. This was rather neat. We were to hold the position of feet up as to not disturb the bottom and then we would use our hand to just kind of brush away the top layer of sediment and algae so that the sands were clean and white and the springs could bubble up so much better. We did not actually touch the sand we just let the wish of our hand and the current from that wash the algae aside to the outer edges of Cream-of-Wheat.
One of the primary reasons that Texas State University is so careful and controlling of this place is the fact that there are 6 species of animals that are here that are found NOWHERE lese in the world. We seen some of them and it was awesome. Out of all of the people in the world WE are some of the very few that have or ever will see these endangered animals, that in itself is enough to make this trip.
All in all this was a very good Adventure, one that I would recommend to anyone with even the slightest bit of interest in history or with just a plain love of diving and a wish to experience it all. This was a new experience for me and one that I will not soon forget. In fact get with Kevin or Rob Adventure Sports there might be another trip to this place someday. I know that I will be returning when time a schedule permits it.
Kevin and I both purchased a book from this place that tells all about it and Kevin bought a CD that also shows a lot of things about it. I am sure these are all available if someone wants to see them.
Thanks to Kevin Runkel for being the best Dive Buddy anyone could ever find and also for teaching me new things every time we enter the water.
Chuck
