redhatmama:
Then perhaps you can define it as a cavern, but it is very short. I used to dive in a quarry that had a submerged pvc pipe about 20 feet long one could swimthrough. Is that an overhead?
The opening of pandoras' box, Ok Redhatmama I'm not against you here. I see people defeat death everyday every dive they make. The statistics are that you will most likely get away with it, MOST TIMES NOT ALWAYS
Shortness: The length of the cavernous zone is not the issue. The overhead is. It does not take much of a overhead and a panic diver to create a problem. Your 20 Ft PVC pipe is still overhead and could technically cause some diver a problem. It also man made
redhatmama:
In Devil's Throat, I think the most dangerous aspect would be narcosis and becomming paranoid.
Since depth, diving deep is the major cause of death to
"experienced" cave/tech divers narcosis is a concern. Glad you see this is a problem?
Also when divers have a situation that causes their perception to narrow and they are paraniod then panic can set in. Yes this is a problem also
redhatmama:
You're going one way in and straight through so if you keep going forward, you are going to emerge rather quickly into open water.
In your discription of the dive Devil's Throat there was a comment to it being dark at one point but that was part of the thrill...(?) Yeah I have seen the results of just kept going straight and you will quickly come to open water again We call it going from the Devils Ear to the Eye.
In a single file of varied or inexperienced divers it would not take much for a panicky diver to want to turn and exit the way they came, the way they know. This could cause a mass amount of confusion and difficulty leading to a bad result, lets call this fright and flight.
redhatmama:
There is also a danger of getting trapped on the ceiling if you cannot control your buoyancy.
Hummmm. Underwater and not able to move I just read another thread about this very sort of thing:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=121605
To me it seams that people don't like becoming hung up underwater. And what about the silt out aspect Hey I guess there goes that light you had at the other end if they just keep going straight
redhatmama:
As I said, it is a huge reef with many swimthroughs and can be dived numerous ways. I stole the following description from Aldora's site (and this is the way they dive it)
.
In the discription again it sounded like there were many swimthroughs that divers could take off of the planned route from following the guide. By the way no one ever died from entering a cave. They died from not getting out
redhatmama:
They're calling it a cave:
To be a cave it would not have any light this maybe a poorly defined passage. Also Cave divers do not run their line from the surface. The guideline starts in the open water zone just outside of the cavern zone. And now my impression of the discription of the dive all because of the attitude
The entrance to the Devil’s Throat cave is at 90 feet(average new diver narcosis setting in) and out of the current the dive guide will check for air supply and gear of each diverNo gas matching turn pressure calculations, no lights x2-3, no safety reels). When all are ready the cave can be entered. A nice sandy bottom is inside and there is a reasonable amount of light. To the left and down is a very dark spot. That is the Devil’s Throat which is about 3 feet in diameter that leads down at a 45 degree angle. Dark at first, light is soon encountered and it is most fun to go through without a flashlightdivers in the dark? cheating death. Don’t worry about contacting the wall—it is smooth and finely polished by the impact of tanks! Make sure that you are following the diver in front of you, and stay up with him or her.lacking buoyancy is ok and you will be doing a trust me dive
You well first see an exit to the right which is at 120 feet.narcosis If the group has adequate air and no deco time the dive guide will exit further down 130 feet.more narcosis Don’t dwell there, but rise to the right and enter a very large cavern that some also call the Cathedral. There the group should dump the air from the BCs and kneel in the sand at 80 feet,I can't see as the place just became silted out check air supply and the dive guide will illuminate the very famous yellow sponge that has grown in the shape of a crossThank GOD we are cheating death again!. This author did that one Easter Morning and could actually hear the squeals of delight from the ladies in the group!
From the Cathedral you will exit another swimthrough to the wall once again and do a vertical headfirst descent through a small crack in a coral head, down what we call the PlungeAre there side passages and no jump reels and line arrows in place?. Again at 130 feet you will need to rise again, through a huge arch to a sandy location at 70 feet. Another gear and air checkActually this is just another way of saying we will do a head count before we continue to risk your life and then the dive guide will again enter the coral head, going back toward the Plunge but through some completely new swimthroughs. You trusted me once now trust me again -- but with less airNot down the Plunge again though as no deco time is pretty well gone, but back up through the huge arch to the sandy area at 70 feet. If there is adequate air supply for all, the dive guide will swim back south hugging the sand and coral head to stay out of the current, getting near the Devil’s Throat Cave one more time.
Now the exercise is over, rise to the coral head tops and cruise the wall watching your air bubbles percolating up from the caves down below. Glide along the wall and when the coral head ends you will ascend to the safety stop. The normal dive time for this dive with high capacity tanks is 50 minutes overall.Ah heck lets push the limits of your air and give you all a goal to die from
redhatmama:
The cathedral with the cross didn't inspire any squeals from me.
The Cathedral without the throat is considered an "intermediate" dive in the guide books.
So there is more than one way to get into there.
This is My opinion as a cave instructor
