Pushing out a little further beyond the Hill 400 Line

[rjack321]

Describing that area as spooky and wanting to take a safety suggests to me that you’re extending beyond where you need to be right now. You’re compounding this by apparently diving solo and automatically dividing your resources in half from what you’d get with a proper buddy.

Bad juju all around homie.

Yeah I realize now this is also solo.

First step is to bring a competent buddy who might actually know where you are going and where you are on the map. Not only is that a safety bottle worth of gas (carried by someone else) but its a redundant brain

 

[berndo]

First step is to bring a competent buddy who might actually know where you are going and where you are on the map. Not only is that a safety bottle worth of gas (carried by someone else) but its a redundant brain

Having a competent buddy would be the best option.
If somebody still wants or has to dive solo for whatever reason, (not going into specific gas planning, cough cough) it's a much better option IMHO to use a stage and either don't touch SM gas or just plan to use very little of it. I'd much rather do that than using a safety, for a bunch of reasons.

These are pretty easy dives towards the front of the cave and don’t need to be that complicated.

I'm sure it's easy for you. In another thread (the 'co2 hit' in Norway) the diver got super hammered at 100' in open water and thought he was going to die... I'm pretty sure the guy didn't think the dive was easy. The traverse to cat fish hotel should have been easy too. I think it's a bit of a slippery slope to say you don't need extra gas and the dive is easy, especially when it's in a cave.

 

[tomfcrist]

The first time I jumped to the hill 400 line I will admit I got a creepy feeling back near double lines. The vis was murky compared to the main line and it was noticeably colder. I think it’s a natural feeling if you are in “new to you” cave passages, especially if conditions are significantly different than the rest of the system that you have already experienced. Kinda like the big room the last few times I went through it. 30’vis instead of 80+ that was out on the mainline. Doesn’t raise hairs on my neck anymore, but it used to for sure. Good on @Manatee Diver for being venerable enough to openly admit it is happening to him…especially in front of this (generally rough) crowd.

 

[LiteHedded]

Having a competent buddy would be the best option.
If somebody still wants or has to dive solo for whatever reason, (not going into specific gas planning, cough cough) it's a much better option IMHO to use a stage and either don't touch SM gas or just plan to use very little of it. I'd much rather do that than using a safety, for a bunch of reasons.

you're not going to get where he wants to go with a single stage bottle and no backgas

 

[berndo]

you're not going to get where he wants to go with a single stage bottle and no backgas

No, but you can use half, use some back gas and than the 2nd half like you would on a stage dive. IMHO, it's better than hauling a full stage in and out or doing this dive just on back gas by himself.

 

[tomfcrist]

No, but you can use half, use some back gas and than the 2nd half like you would on a stage dive. IMHO, it's better than hauling a full stage in and out or doing this dive just on back gas by himself.

Sounds like a **** plan. Have more backgas, or bring a living stage (buddy).
A stage for what he’s talking about is unnecessary, and just adds drag in the highest flow section of the cave. You don’t get 75cuft of “extra” gas…you get about 45…due to extra drag and excess gas consumption by dragging it around. Taking a buddy along seems a hell of a lot safer…and less complex.

 

[LiteHedded]

No, but you can use half, use some back gas and than the 2nd half like you would on a stage dive. IMHO, it's better than hauling a full stage in and out or doing this dive just on back gas by himself.

sure. you can do all kinds of things.

 

[berndo]

Sounds like a **** plan. Have more backgas, or bring a living stage (buddy).
A stage for what he’s talking about is unnecessary, and just adds drag in the highest flow section of the cave. You don’t get 75cuft of “extra” gas…you get about 45…due to extra drag and excess gas consumption by dragging it around. Taking a buddy along seems a hell of a lot safer…and less complex.

I was talking about a solo dive. Are you really trying to say that more gas is a worse plan because it creates more drag? More drag will also cause you to hit return pressure faster... that's not less safe.
You guys talk about a competent buddy as if it was a piece of gear. I dove Ginnie, JB and other tourist caves in FL solo too on some dives because there was nobody else diving on a tuesday morning. OP might have a good reason to dive solo. Who knows.

I'm not going to tell any diver to take less gas if he thinks he might need it. If you think you'll feel better or safer with more gas, bring more gas.
In SM with one top mounted stage it doesn't create nearly as much drag as a dangling DIR style stage with a twin set does. It's not that much of a big.

As I said, if you can dive with a buddy, it's the better option, I'm not disputing that. If it's just a random buddy, it's not necessarily better than more gas though.

 

[PfcAJ]

Throwing gas at the problem doesn’t solve the problem. Lack of gas isn’t the issue here.

 

[berndo]

Throwing gas at the problem doesn’t solve the problem. Lack of gas isn’t the issue here.

yeah yeah, I get it. The problem is that he is not doing it right.

Feeling a little spooked sometimes is keeping your ego and optimism in check. That's not a bad thing. What he is trying to do isn't exactly crazy.
The notion that a random buddy always adds safety or is competent is not accurate. And yes, I get that you and litehedded have been diving in Flordia for 20 years and have your little group of buddies you've known for x years. That's not true for everybody though. People end up with random divers alot.