Peacock, Orange Grove, Little River, Devils Ear

[ucfdiver]

Well, I took the weekend and decided to go blow bubbles. Met up with Ryan at 11am at little river, and did 2 dives there. Viz was about 30ft or so. The flow isn't terrible, no where near where it was when I dove it a few years back as a cavern diver, but you still earn every inch of the way it seems like, we made it to the first Y, and turned shortly after that. Well, after that we decided we'd had enough "low" viz, and headed to Ginnie. Stopped at CEE to get our tanks topped off, and hit up devils for a great dive, near 50 minutes on 1/6ths, it's amazing how long 1/6ths lasts when you take it slow! After that, went to Sonnys for a 5 hour surface interval, since we were getting really close to deco, and met up with Gibby (jahjahwarrior) and his friend Jeff who work at Ginnie for an 11:30pm dive.

Saturday I got in 2 dives at Devils again.

Sunday, my dad and I did a cavern dive in Peacock (which the cavern is clear enough to make enjoyable), then I met up with a buddy of mine to do a swim up the pothole tunnel, got a little past pothole before turning it because he was cold......told ya a hood is required for peacock! :no Viz was about 30-40ft, I'd say equal to little river right now, but there is no flow....which you would think would make you get a whole lot further, but I was leading, and found myself often dazing off around the "column" rocks , and going at an even slower pace than in high flow systems earlier in the weekend.

Some photos from Friday that Ryan took...

Safety stop in Devils Eye

Coming through the Keyhole....

First Y heading to the serpentine tunnel

Some photos I shot today.....

Peacock 1-

Peacock 2-

Peacock 3-

Orange Grove-

 

[TSandM]

FIFTY MINUTES IN GINNIE ON SIXTHS? I bow to you. I think my longest Ginnie dive was 27 minutes, and that's with my little tiny SAC rate (multipled hundredfold by pulling and gliding).

I loved our Orange Grove dive. I'd really like to get to do that one again when we get back there. Nothing else of Peacock was diveable when we were there, but that tunnel was delightful.

Thanks for the pictures. I enjoyed them. Nothing like vicarious cave diving, when you are home and far from anything overhead.

 

[ucfdiver]

FIFTY MINUTES IN GINNIE ON SIXTHS? I bow to you. I think my longest Ginnie dive was 27 minutes, and that's with my little tiny SAC rate (multipled hundredfold by pulling and gliding).

We take our time on the way out......no use rushing, we've got 5/6 of our gas in reserve! Coming out usually takes longer (and sometimes more gas) than coming in. There's tons of little things you'll miss, for instance, how many people stop and look at the areas where there's huge cracks between rocks, or start looking where marked jumps are to see what each passageway looks like (not suggesting going down them at basic level, just look)?

Little trick I was taught during class, someone has installed a gold line over the area where you want to avoid if you're trying to take your time on the way out, or if you're trying to get in while saving air We've learned (and are continuing to learn, so this post might not reflect my opinion even 1 or 2 dives from now in devils) to tie the primary off to the left, and run it along the wall into that little indent to the far left right as you enter, and do your secondary tie off there, then go around the big rock, and you're basically at a 90 degree angle to the gold line....immediately hit your inflater button and follow the gold line to the gallery...then get up as high and far left as possible in the gallery, and then when you get to the lips, stay as far left as you'll fit...once you get past that, keep far right (away from the gold line) until you get to the keyhole, as you swim along the wall....once you get through the keyhole, keep high as long as you can before you have to dip down to the cornflakes....once you get past that, stay to the right and use the pull and glide spots where you can (they're there, but not as easy to find as in the gallery), and you'll eventually hit an area where it turns to clay/mud, and a round-ish room, and I have no idea how to manage flow at that point, most of our dives end around there, we've been further, but usually only when we've left the primary reel in from another dive, AND we manage the flow really well in the gallery/lips/keyhole areas. Oh, also go through the catacombs for your last dive of the day when deco is an issue. It's a really cool area of the cave that I've never seen another team in at the same time as us, and it's kind of shallow, so you get more bottom time and avoid hitting deco if you're on dive 3 or 4 for the day.

What was really cool, is that the first few dives, you're frantically trying to avoid the flow and tend to get tunnel vision (at least I did), well around dive 7 or 8 for me on the way out the system just looked 5x as large as it used to, as I'd stop fining, find the lowest flow area in the cave, and just ride that out. To me, devils is a very rewarding system, because how far you get (and 1000x more importantly, how much you SEE) all depends on how much effort you put towards managing the flow.

Our dive times for Basic cave in that system were 35 and 31 minutes, obviously using more air due to having an instructor watching me, and not having any dives in the system at all

 

[TSandM]

Yeah, I remember reading Clare Gleddings essay about her second trip (or maybe it was the third) to Florida, and how easy Ginnie was compared with the beginning. Unfortunately, my second trip there, it wasn't any easier for me. Clearly, I haven't yet found the precise path to minimize resistance. But I still enjoy what I get to see, and I love being blown out through the Lips, or coming in through the Gallery and watching the exiting divers look like something from a science fiction movie.

Ginnie's still a challenge. Orange Grove was much more welcoming, and even Jackson Blue with the flow up was more manageable.

 

[InkDiver]

With practice, Ginnie gets a lot more manageable from a flow perspective. One of my favorite parts of Ginnie is "tarzaning" through the Gallery. Get up high and swing from left to right and back pulling along the way. The good news is that jumping off to other tunnels takes you out of the flow in some places.

Lynne, you need to come back now that all of Peacock is open. P1 one is awesome!

 

[stairman]

Hey sounds like some good information.Your sac rate is better than mine for sure.I plan on hitting Ginnie for a couple days real soon.Good pictures too.

 

[jeandiver]

Uh , you need a HOODIE THINGIE in Peacock???!!!

Er......

The Unknown Diver

P.S. There is SOME flow in/on the Peanut line now. And there is a nice breeze in Orange Grove which is why it has cleaned out so nicely. Looks like the water-source tunnels are starting to push out a little water. (YAY)

And you may not believe it , but the vis is getting better up the Main (Potshole) Line. We could see light on the floor coming down from Pothole around 1 PM in the afternoon. Turned off our lights and we could stack rocks etc ... Very neat.

 

[ucfdiver]

Hey sounds like some good information.Your sac rate is better than mine for sure.I plan on hitting Ginnie for a couple days real soon.Good pictures too.

You should dive with liteheadded, he pwns me in the sac rate department.....but then again he's got about 40-50 dives in devils this summer compared to my 10, so I guess that's to be expected.

Oh, btw Randy, let me know if you need a buddy one of those days at Ginnie, I'd still like to meet up with you and James for a dive....I'm meeting my dad at Peacock Thursday for his graduation dive at Peacock assuming his class goes well, but dont have any dives planned the rest of the week. I've got some non diving friends staying with us at my parents (friends from UCF), so it'd have to be later in the day, since we'll be doing various things.

Uh , you need a HOODIE THINGIE in Peacock???!!!

LOL! Those pics were from Ginnie and little river (at least the underwater ones), but peacock is even colder! BUURRRR!

BTW guys, what does pothole look like on teh surface? Is it that tiny depression off to your right as you're getting on the boardwalk at peacock?

 

[stairman]

Its the last depression on the right before the parking lot.Lots of vines and bushes make it hard to see.I think were diving Ginnie Sunday.

 

[ucfdiver]

Its the last depression on the right before the parking lot.Lots of vines and bushes make it hard to see.I think were diving Ginnie Sunday.

Ah, bummer, I have to leave Saturday night. One of these days we'll meet up!

Thanks for the info on pothole, I'll try to go by Thursday and sneak a peek at it before our dive