SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
4-16-10 @ Jackson Blue
Headed out straight after work on Friday, easterly, which is becoming an almost weekly tradition. I'd be stopping a bit early this time around in Marianna for a dive. Hit up McNasty for a couple $1 chicken sammiches and scarfed them down on the way to Blue Springs Park. Ben M had already made arrangements for us to be able to dive that afternoon and he was already onsite as I arrived. I scarfed down my last chicken sandwich then changed out of my work clothes into a bathing suit and started sorting gear. It was a clear night out and the temperatures were very comfortable. I got there at nearly 8PM and it was dark already, so no pics.
None of my tanks were filled, so I bummed a set of LP108s with cave fills. They were setup a little bit different than how I set mine up, so my hoses weren't going to configure ideally. I'd also be using Ben's extra scooter for the dive, just slowly getting accustomed to them for reaching passage farther back than I'd be swimming anytime soon. Flow being back to normal(sporty) and all... Once geared up and in the water, I made a few laps around the basin and we started our dive, dropping O2 in the cavern before continuing into the cave. We zipped up the cavern and down the chimney where I dumped gas into my wing to compensate for depth(not quickly enough though). Then started heading up the mainline, which I felt pretty comfortable with although I let off the trigger for the breakdowns. We stayed on the motors a bit past the first 't', hanging left and dropping about midway to Court's. Ben tied off a jump to a bypass and I led from that point. After a set of low restrictions, where I kicked through rather than pulled through, leaving Ben with a healthy view of suspended mud; I nearly missed a 't' which had me backtracking to get back on the correct line. After that little wakeup, my situational awareness was back on track and I knew where I was for the rest of the dive although my fins made contact with the ceiling a few more times than I'd like. Our bypass led us around and dumped us off somewhere around 1700' on the mainline and we continued up the gold to the third gold 't' and took the high road to the traffic light where I called our dive on gas(I was totally hoovering it) some 2200' from the entrance. We took the rabbit hole out, which was fun with the flow shooting us back out and we continued downstream.
Back at the bypass line we dropped off of around 1600', we hopped back on and finished up a short circuit which dumped us back on the mainline a couple hundred feet further downstream on the gold(1400'ish) and we took the goldline back to the 2nd 't', headed through Court's, and got back to our staged gear. Ben wanted to fix up some line at the beginning of the bypass that was screwed up before we go their, and I headed up a fissure crack in the same area that led up to a neat little room, with a little window that led up to another, larger dome room in the next limestone layer up. It was very cool, but I didn't spend too much time there before descending back to the motors - got a bit of a squeeze on the way down, but cleared without too much trouble. Back on the scoots, with the flow at our back, we made the quickest pace I've done out of the cave. I'm not gonna lie, I'm not the biggest scooter lover, but I was grinning on the way out at that speed.
I was still on a schedule for a leaner mix, so I had a deco obligation that was longer than necessary, but it wasn't too bad. It was a great dive, and I got to see several hundred feet of new-to-me cave and even a bit of new gold line that I hadn't visited yet. While I truly enjoyed the dive, I didn't feel like I dove to my ability, which kinda sucked. Still, with lots of new cave under me, it was a great start to a busy weekend. I had a max depth of 97' for a 90 minute dive and the temp was the typical 68F.
4-17-10 Sidemount Caves
Ben M and I hit up Cave Adventurers at 8AM Saturday morning to get an early start on fills. We both had two sets to top off and we wanted to beat the crowds, which we did, as the first people at the shop. I also picked up a new O2 sensor for my analyzer which finally bit the dust a few trips ago. BGillespie met up with us shortly afterwards and picked up a battery for his LED primary and we were back on the road, heading southwest, a little after 9AM. We crisscrossed several dirtroads and checked out one of the springs we'd be diving later in the day before picking up a tail, which just so happened to be our remaining diver Jim Clark. A little more dirt road and we were at our first divesite. We couldn't park as close as normal as there were campers in the prime spots, but we were still within 500' of the sinkhole we'd be diving. The sinkhole was as clear as I've ever seen it, blue from the surface, with submerged trees and the ledge visible. There was a film of pollen and leaves over it, but otherwise it looked downright inviting - not what I've seen in the past!
After a couple trips, we had four sets of tanks on the bank and we were geared up. BGillespie and I would dive first, then Ben M and Jim Clark would dive as we exitted the cave, staggering the teams a bit. We dropped below the surface and found 40'ish of visibility(maybe improving a bit at the bottom) and I found a tree to tie off the primary. There's an entrance restriction that requires a bottle off. This had me ditching all the gas out of my wing, dropping a LP95 off my side and shoving it in front of me while shimmying my fat but into a small hole in the ground... while my face gets sand blasted. It was fun! I tied off the primary to the mainline and started hooking my tank back up. BGillespie had never done a bottle off restriction and is still fairly new to SM so he had a few issues which kept us from getting any further, so after pushing a tank back through the exit, we checked out the downstream debri pile and a few no mount holes. I also pointed out some really awesome, a large, section of fossilized coral sitting out in the open. Gillespie found some fossilized tube worms and we still had a great little dive.
Back at the surface, I asked Ben and Jim if they minded if I tagged along and they were cool. The three of us headed back down and Ben, followed by Jim, followed by myself; headed through the bottle off restriction. Once inside I headed in no more than 30' before my right tank decided to freeflow uncontrollably. I tried shutting it down and waving it about hoping to dislodge whatever was unleashing all these bubbles, but had no luck. This cave has some massive flow, and I wasn't about to try to break the regulator open so I called my dive, told the two of them to continue on, and I made the quick trip out and surfaced with a total bottom time of 45 minutes(both 'dives') and a max depth of 60'.
On a sidenote. Dive_Aholic replaced all the tattered line in this cave last fall and its already been trashed by the flow, sharp limestone, and gravel. Ben and Jim did a few fixes further in on their dive, but this is probably a great canidate for some thicker line - just due to the abbrassion.
We followed Jim Clark to our next destination. He and Kenny P had visited it a few weeks back which led to a few back and forth messages between the two of them and I as well as one of the guys who ran some of the original line there. I believe this to be the spring side belched up the water from the downstream section of the sinkhole we had just dived. This was strengthened by reports of massive flow from Jim and Kenny as well as cans and bottles reported IN the cave(good sign of an upstream window into the system) by one of the original explorers. The spring sits on the bank of a creek, with a strong contrasting blue boil in an otherwise orange/brown tannic waterway. A strong boil also gives this spring a tell tale sign that we'd be once again, busting ass against flow.
Jim sat out of this one and just cheered us on, as he knew exactly what we were about to stick our heads into. We geared up and hit the creek(which, by the way, was friggin COLD) and waded a bit upstream and over to the spring boil(which felt much better temp wise). The spring was issueing a milky blue water that cut visibility down to about 5' and I headed into the left side of the low ledge, fighting the flow for every inch. I actually managed to get into the cavern area, past the first restriction inside of about 2 minutes. Since it was a low, but wide, ledge I got to keep all my gear on. Ben M was right behind me and BGillespie just behind him. I signalled for Ben to check out the major restriction leading into the cave and after a few tries he signalled me to give it a go. After some modifications, I was able to slip on through and fight against the flow and a crazy nasty sandpile to get into the cave. Ben M gave it a couple tries and nearly had it but kept getting caught up so we all exitted the cave to regroup. After a few fat jokes were thrown around, it was decided that Ben M and myself would do it again. This time we had no issues at either restriction. Once in cave proper, Ben found the mainline, which was cave line twisted around(I **** you not) weed eater cord - LOL. There was a third, minor in comparison, restriction and then we were in bore hole tunnel. Visibility sucked and only allowed me a view of the occassional wall and a rippled sand bottom. Ben led the dive and was pulling the line(s) out of the sand the entire time. After a few hundred feet of not seeing anything, I decided that I'd rather come back to experience something other than a view of lawn care product and called the dive. We just drifted out with the flow, probably no more than 200-250'p. I wouldn't be suprised if the water was milky due to our dive earlier in whats rumored to be the upstream sinkhole? I'm very much looking forward to exploring there again. Had a max depth of 38' with a total dive time, from both attempts, of 35 minutes.
We got out exhausted as all hell, with a hunger already pulling at us. I wanted one more site though. I had visited the last spring 3-4 times previously without enough time to drop into the water and really wanted to just check it out. We drove over and I loaded my tanks, as well as Ben M's tanks onto a dolly and rolled them out to the spring. Jim and BGillespie both provided 'moral' support for this dive.
We geared up for the last time, hit the water with Ben M in the lead again. The flow here was stronger than either of the other sites and visibility was also 100'ish. There was a borehole that'd allow access without gear removal, but there wasn't much in terms of handholds and swimming against it simply wasn't an option. There was a low, silty area off to the left that might be worth checking out as well. After a few looks, I gave the main borehole a try and got a body length in before a free flow needed my attention. Once I took a hand off my hold, the rest of me got spit out the cavern. I reeled back into OW quick and struggled to grab something. By this time, I had seen what I wanted and knew I'd have to come back fresh in order to make any progress here. Atleast I'll know what I'm in for so it was a successfull dive as far as scouting the site went
Hit 19' for a dive lasting about 10 minutes.
A maze of dirt roads later, one named after a dead mule(you can't make this stuff up!) and we hit some main highway. Jim took us just a bit south to a few trailers stacked next to each other with smoke pouring out the back. Its not open on Sundays so time your trips on Saturdays. PapaJacks has some awesome BBQ! Don't miss out on this stuff, especially after some high flow, butt kicking dives! After some excellent grub, Jim headed out and the rest of us hit up CA just before closing. I killed the zipper in one of my decrepidly ancient dive booties, so bought a new pair. We all parted ways and I headed to Tallahassee.
- More on next post - SB sucks as limiting post size...
Headed out straight after work on Friday, easterly, which is becoming an almost weekly tradition. I'd be stopping a bit early this time around in Marianna for a dive. Hit up McNasty for a couple $1 chicken sammiches and scarfed them down on the way to Blue Springs Park. Ben M had already made arrangements for us to be able to dive that afternoon and he was already onsite as I arrived. I scarfed down my last chicken sandwich then changed out of my work clothes into a bathing suit and started sorting gear. It was a clear night out and the temperatures were very comfortable. I got there at nearly 8PM and it was dark already, so no pics.
None of my tanks were filled, so I bummed a set of LP108s with cave fills. They were setup a little bit different than how I set mine up, so my hoses weren't going to configure ideally. I'd also be using Ben's extra scooter for the dive, just slowly getting accustomed to them for reaching passage farther back than I'd be swimming anytime soon. Flow being back to normal(sporty) and all... Once geared up and in the water, I made a few laps around the basin and we started our dive, dropping O2 in the cavern before continuing into the cave. We zipped up the cavern and down the chimney where I dumped gas into my wing to compensate for depth(not quickly enough though). Then started heading up the mainline, which I felt pretty comfortable with although I let off the trigger for the breakdowns. We stayed on the motors a bit past the first 't', hanging left and dropping about midway to Court's. Ben tied off a jump to a bypass and I led from that point. After a set of low restrictions, where I kicked through rather than pulled through, leaving Ben with a healthy view of suspended mud; I nearly missed a 't' which had me backtracking to get back on the correct line. After that little wakeup, my situational awareness was back on track and I knew where I was for the rest of the dive although my fins made contact with the ceiling a few more times than I'd like. Our bypass led us around and dumped us off somewhere around 1700' on the mainline and we continued up the gold to the third gold 't' and took the high road to the traffic light where I called our dive on gas(I was totally hoovering it) some 2200' from the entrance. We took the rabbit hole out, which was fun with the flow shooting us back out and we continued downstream.
Back at the bypass line we dropped off of around 1600', we hopped back on and finished up a short circuit which dumped us back on the mainline a couple hundred feet further downstream on the gold(1400'ish) and we took the goldline back to the 2nd 't', headed through Court's, and got back to our staged gear. Ben wanted to fix up some line at the beginning of the bypass that was screwed up before we go their, and I headed up a fissure crack in the same area that led up to a neat little room, with a little window that led up to another, larger dome room in the next limestone layer up. It was very cool, but I didn't spend too much time there before descending back to the motors - got a bit of a squeeze on the way down, but cleared without too much trouble. Back on the scoots, with the flow at our back, we made the quickest pace I've done out of the cave. I'm not gonna lie, I'm not the biggest scooter lover, but I was grinning on the way out at that speed.
I was still on a schedule for a leaner mix, so I had a deco obligation that was longer than necessary, but it wasn't too bad. It was a great dive, and I got to see several hundred feet of new-to-me cave and even a bit of new gold line that I hadn't visited yet. While I truly enjoyed the dive, I didn't feel like I dove to my ability, which kinda sucked. Still, with lots of new cave under me, it was a great start to a busy weekend. I had a max depth of 97' for a 90 minute dive and the temp was the typical 68F.
4-17-10 Sidemount Caves
Ben M and I hit up Cave Adventurers at 8AM Saturday morning to get an early start on fills. We both had two sets to top off and we wanted to beat the crowds, which we did, as the first people at the shop. I also picked up a new O2 sensor for my analyzer which finally bit the dust a few trips ago. BGillespie met up with us shortly afterwards and picked up a battery for his LED primary and we were back on the road, heading southwest, a little after 9AM. We crisscrossed several dirtroads and checked out one of the springs we'd be diving later in the day before picking up a tail, which just so happened to be our remaining diver Jim Clark. A little more dirt road and we were at our first divesite. We couldn't park as close as normal as there were campers in the prime spots, but we were still within 500' of the sinkhole we'd be diving. The sinkhole was as clear as I've ever seen it, blue from the surface, with submerged trees and the ledge visible. There was a film of pollen and leaves over it, but otherwise it looked downright inviting - not what I've seen in the past!
After a couple trips, we had four sets of tanks on the bank and we were geared up. BGillespie and I would dive first, then Ben M and Jim Clark would dive as we exitted the cave, staggering the teams a bit. We dropped below the surface and found 40'ish of visibility(maybe improving a bit at the bottom) and I found a tree to tie off the primary. There's an entrance restriction that requires a bottle off. This had me ditching all the gas out of my wing, dropping a LP95 off my side and shoving it in front of me while shimmying my fat but into a small hole in the ground... while my face gets sand blasted. It was fun! I tied off the primary to the mainline and started hooking my tank back up. BGillespie had never done a bottle off restriction and is still fairly new to SM so he had a few issues which kept us from getting any further, so after pushing a tank back through the exit, we checked out the downstream debri pile and a few no mount holes. I also pointed out some really awesome, a large, section of fossilized coral sitting out in the open. Gillespie found some fossilized tube worms and we still had a great little dive.
Back at the surface, I asked Ben and Jim if they minded if I tagged along and they were cool. The three of us headed back down and Ben, followed by Jim, followed by myself; headed through the bottle off restriction. Once inside I headed in no more than 30' before my right tank decided to freeflow uncontrollably. I tried shutting it down and waving it about hoping to dislodge whatever was unleashing all these bubbles, but had no luck. This cave has some massive flow, and I wasn't about to try to break the regulator open so I called my dive, told the two of them to continue on, and I made the quick trip out and surfaced with a total bottom time of 45 minutes(both 'dives') and a max depth of 60'.
On a sidenote. Dive_Aholic replaced all the tattered line in this cave last fall and its already been trashed by the flow, sharp limestone, and gravel. Ben and Jim did a few fixes further in on their dive, but this is probably a great canidate for some thicker line - just due to the abbrassion.
We followed Jim Clark to our next destination. He and Kenny P had visited it a few weeks back which led to a few back and forth messages between the two of them and I as well as one of the guys who ran some of the original line there. I believe this to be the spring side belched up the water from the downstream section of the sinkhole we had just dived. This was strengthened by reports of massive flow from Jim and Kenny as well as cans and bottles reported IN the cave(good sign of an upstream window into the system) by one of the original explorers. The spring sits on the bank of a creek, with a strong contrasting blue boil in an otherwise orange/brown tannic waterway. A strong boil also gives this spring a tell tale sign that we'd be once again, busting ass against flow.
Jim sat out of this one and just cheered us on, as he knew exactly what we were about to stick our heads into. We geared up and hit the creek(which, by the way, was friggin COLD) and waded a bit upstream and over to the spring boil(which felt much better temp wise). The spring was issueing a milky blue water that cut visibility down to about 5' and I headed into the left side of the low ledge, fighting the flow for every inch. I actually managed to get into the cavern area, past the first restriction inside of about 2 minutes. Since it was a low, but wide, ledge I got to keep all my gear on. Ben M was right behind me and BGillespie just behind him. I signalled for Ben to check out the major restriction leading into the cave and after a few tries he signalled me to give it a go. After some modifications, I was able to slip on through and fight against the flow and a crazy nasty sandpile to get into the cave. Ben M gave it a couple tries and nearly had it but kept getting caught up so we all exitted the cave to regroup. After a few fat jokes were thrown around, it was decided that Ben M and myself would do it again. This time we had no issues at either restriction. Once in cave proper, Ben found the mainline, which was cave line twisted around(I **** you not) weed eater cord - LOL. There was a third, minor in comparison, restriction and then we were in bore hole tunnel. Visibility sucked and only allowed me a view of the occassional wall and a rippled sand bottom. Ben led the dive and was pulling the line(s) out of the sand the entire time. After a few hundred feet of not seeing anything, I decided that I'd rather come back to experience something other than a view of lawn care product and called the dive. We just drifted out with the flow, probably no more than 200-250'p. I wouldn't be suprised if the water was milky due to our dive earlier in whats rumored to be the upstream sinkhole? I'm very much looking forward to exploring there again. Had a max depth of 38' with a total dive time, from both attempts, of 35 minutes.
We got out exhausted as all hell, with a hunger already pulling at us. I wanted one more site though. I had visited the last spring 3-4 times previously without enough time to drop into the water and really wanted to just check it out. We drove over and I loaded my tanks, as well as Ben M's tanks onto a dolly and rolled them out to the spring. Jim and BGillespie both provided 'moral' support for this dive.
We geared up for the last time, hit the water with Ben M in the lead again. The flow here was stronger than either of the other sites and visibility was also 100'ish. There was a borehole that'd allow access without gear removal, but there wasn't much in terms of handholds and swimming against it simply wasn't an option. There was a low, silty area off to the left that might be worth checking out as well. After a few looks, I gave the main borehole a try and got a body length in before a free flow needed my attention. Once I took a hand off my hold, the rest of me got spit out the cavern. I reeled back into OW quick and struggled to grab something. By this time, I had seen what I wanted and knew I'd have to come back fresh in order to make any progress here. Atleast I'll know what I'm in for so it was a successfull dive as far as scouting the site went
Hit 19' for a dive lasting about 10 minutes. A maze of dirt roads later, one named after a dead mule(you can't make this stuff up!) and we hit some main highway. Jim took us just a bit south to a few trailers stacked next to each other with smoke pouring out the back. Its not open on Sundays so time your trips on Saturdays. PapaJacks has some awesome BBQ! Don't miss out on this stuff, especially after some high flow, butt kicking dives! After some excellent grub, Jim headed out and the rest of us hit up CA just before closing. I killed the zipper in one of my decrepidly ancient dive booties, so bought a new pair. We all parted ways and I headed to Tallahassee.
- More on next post - SB sucks as limiting post size...
