Well, at least the one that oversees Jackson Blue... 
I'm sure Lynne will post a much more entertaining dive report when she gets a moment, but in the meantime, I'm going to provide the trailer.
Jenn & I did a couple of dives at JB over the weekend and the visibility was in the 20-30' range (closer to 20). Some were giving it 40'+, but as we all know, visibility depends on your perspective. Personally, if I can't see a hand signal then you're out of my visibility. Granted, we could probably make out light signals at 40', but had Jenn thumbed the dive from 40' away I wouldn't have known what she was trying to communicate. And being that the thumb is the most important signal that can't be communicated with a light only, that is our determining factor for visibility.
So, being that Lynne & Peter are Intro level and limited to a 30' minimum beginning visibility, we were a little concerned about how their time in the panhandle was going to fair. It wasn't so much Peter. Being the renegade he is, he might still dive with 25' visibility. But I could almost picture Lynne pulling out the knotted cave line and having us reel out 30' to make sure we had exactly 30' of visibility!
We had planned on renting a boat from Cave Adventurers to visit Twin Caves or Hole in the Wall sometime during the week. However, I took a peek inside Twin Sunday and visibility was less than 5'. If you don't know that cave you'd never find the gold line. And about 75' beyond the start of the gold line there was no evidence of it clearing up. Edd had some divers go to Hole in the Wall Sunday afternoon and their report was visibility in the mid-20s. Knowing that estimate was probably a little gracious, we decided to put our bets on JB.
Well, we were pleasantly surprised come Monday morning. We got off to a little bit of a late start (I think I'm going to have to get a new router!), but we finally headed out around 9:30. We signed in at the Sheriff's Office, headed over to Cave Adventurers for fills, and then over to Blue Springs Park. There were already several divers in the parking lot and in the cave. Reports from them were visibility in the 50' range. I was a little skeptical about that, but was hoping for the best. We geared up and entered the water. Pre-dive checks were done. A plan was set - Lynne was to reel in with Peter as #2. Jenn would bring up the rear and I would hang to the side and guide them along. We dropped down, Lynne placed her primary tie off and proceeded to do a beautiful job of tucking the line out of the way and reeling us to the start of the gold line. She did a very nice job, even though she had to fight the flow a few times along the way. Once inside the cave I was amazed at how much the visibility had cleared in just 24 hours! The visibility was the best I've seen it since the blow out over a week ago. We truly did have 50-60' and could see both side of the passage. No, it's not back to the pristine clarity of the JB we all know, but it's heading there. We made our way back, dropped down to 80', just before the 300' mark and Lynne turned the dive, not on air, but I'll let her relate her reasons.
We headed back out and as we were exiting the cavern we saw a couple of single tank divers flutter kicking with split fins and using pistol grip lights entering it. We didn't see them set a primary reel so I turned around to see where they were going. I got in far enough to see them in the area of the sign. I turned around. We were planning on doing about a 20 minute surface interval between dives and could find them on our second dive if they had issues.
We surfaced and critiqued the dive, giving Lynne & Peter some advice on how to deal with the flow in JB. It was decided I would lead on the second dive so they could see the path of least flow. We saw the single tank divers exit the system about 19 minutes into our surface interval (with much relief), did our predive checks and began our second dive.
I lead the second dive with Lynne as #2, Peter #3, and Jenn bringing up the rear. I did a nice leisurely swim through the cavern, popped up over the limestone at 200' and then down the chute. Lynne & Peter followed, making the descent through the increased flow a little faster than last time. We continued the dive until the first breakdown where it was turned on air. We turned around and let the flow carry us back to the cavern. I settled myself just below the ceiling and just floated comfortably over everyone else and enjoyed the view of the cave being lit up by several HIDs. I always love to dive JB with 2 or 3 other divers because it really lights things up and allows me to get a better view of the passage.
Lynne grabbed the primary on the way back and did a nice job of reeling us out of the cave while Peter pulled the tucks and wraps. It was great teamwork (yes from these 2!). Once back on the surface, we loaded up gear, headed over to Edd's to top off tanks, then to Firehouse Subs for some great sandwiches.
We made it back to JB around 4:30 and began setting up for our 3rd dive. Lynne & Peter are getting much faster at setting up their gear by this time. Either that or the caffeine hadn't kicked in yet earlier in the day. We were in the water in no time doing our predive checks. The plan on this dive was for me to reel in to the left side of the cavern through the lower section and tie into the gold line at the 200' marker and then continue the dive. This would give Lynne & Peter a chance to see a different part of the cave without having to penetrate any farther and still stay within their limitations. I set my primary tie off and headed in with Lynne as #2, Peter #3 (Jenn was our surface support on this dive). We took the planned route, dropped down the chute with Lynne & Peter doing an even better job of getting down through the flow and headed back to the 1st breakdown where the dive was turned. Had we taken the normal route through the cavern, we probably would have gotten to penetrate another 100-200', but they got to see a different part of the cave. We slowly drifted back, picked up the primary reel and as we got into the lower part of the cavern turned off our primary lights and deployed our back ups. Part of this was a skill exercise, but we also did it to compare back up lights. I deployed an Intova 3W, Peter an upgraded Salvo, and Lynne a Rat (for comparison). The Intova and Salvo were pretty comparable, but the Rat provided just enough illumination to get someone out and not really see the cave. We made our exit to a dark sky. Lynne & Peter did their first night cave dive! Peter did comment that the cave seems darker at night...
We had a great day of diving with decent visibility and even worked on some skills. We packed up gear and headed home to eat some Indian food.
I'm sure Lynne will post a much more entertaining dive report when she gets a moment, but in the meantime, I'm going to provide the trailer.
Jenn & I did a couple of dives at JB over the weekend and the visibility was in the 20-30' range (closer to 20). Some were giving it 40'+, but as we all know, visibility depends on your perspective. Personally, if I can't see a hand signal then you're out of my visibility. Granted, we could probably make out light signals at 40', but had Jenn thumbed the dive from 40' away I wouldn't have known what she was trying to communicate. And being that the thumb is the most important signal that can't be communicated with a light only, that is our determining factor for visibility.
So, being that Lynne & Peter are Intro level and limited to a 30' minimum beginning visibility, we were a little concerned about how their time in the panhandle was going to fair. It wasn't so much Peter. Being the renegade he is, he might still dive with 25' visibility. But I could almost picture Lynne pulling out the knotted cave line and having us reel out 30' to make sure we had exactly 30' of visibility!
We had planned on renting a boat from Cave Adventurers to visit Twin Caves or Hole in the Wall sometime during the week. However, I took a peek inside Twin Sunday and visibility was less than 5'. If you don't know that cave you'd never find the gold line. And about 75' beyond the start of the gold line there was no evidence of it clearing up. Edd had some divers go to Hole in the Wall Sunday afternoon and their report was visibility in the mid-20s. Knowing that estimate was probably a little gracious, we decided to put our bets on JB.
Well, we were pleasantly surprised come Monday morning. We got off to a little bit of a late start (I think I'm going to have to get a new router!), but we finally headed out around 9:30. We signed in at the Sheriff's Office, headed over to Cave Adventurers for fills, and then over to Blue Springs Park. There were already several divers in the parking lot and in the cave. Reports from them were visibility in the 50' range. I was a little skeptical about that, but was hoping for the best. We geared up and entered the water. Pre-dive checks were done. A plan was set - Lynne was to reel in with Peter as #2. Jenn would bring up the rear and I would hang to the side and guide them along. We dropped down, Lynne placed her primary tie off and proceeded to do a beautiful job of tucking the line out of the way and reeling us to the start of the gold line. She did a very nice job, even though she had to fight the flow a few times along the way. Once inside the cave I was amazed at how much the visibility had cleared in just 24 hours! The visibility was the best I've seen it since the blow out over a week ago. We truly did have 50-60' and could see both side of the passage. No, it's not back to the pristine clarity of the JB we all know, but it's heading there. We made our way back, dropped down to 80', just before the 300' mark and Lynne turned the dive, not on air, but I'll let her relate her reasons.
We headed back out and as we were exiting the cavern we saw a couple of single tank divers flutter kicking with split fins and using pistol grip lights entering it. We didn't see them set a primary reel so I turned around to see where they were going. I got in far enough to see them in the area of the sign. I turned around. We were planning on doing about a 20 minute surface interval between dives and could find them on our second dive if they had issues.
We surfaced and critiqued the dive, giving Lynne & Peter some advice on how to deal with the flow in JB. It was decided I would lead on the second dive so they could see the path of least flow. We saw the single tank divers exit the system about 19 minutes into our surface interval (with much relief), did our predive checks and began our second dive.
I lead the second dive with Lynne as #2, Peter #3, and Jenn bringing up the rear. I did a nice leisurely swim through the cavern, popped up over the limestone at 200' and then down the chute. Lynne & Peter followed, making the descent through the increased flow a little faster than last time. We continued the dive until the first breakdown where it was turned on air. We turned around and let the flow carry us back to the cavern. I settled myself just below the ceiling and just floated comfortably over everyone else and enjoyed the view of the cave being lit up by several HIDs. I always love to dive JB with 2 or 3 other divers because it really lights things up and allows me to get a better view of the passage.
Lynne grabbed the primary on the way back and did a nice job of reeling us out of the cave while Peter pulled the tucks and wraps. It was great teamwork (yes from these 2!). Once back on the surface, we loaded up gear, headed over to Edd's to top off tanks, then to Firehouse Subs for some great sandwiches.
We made it back to JB around 4:30 and began setting up for our 3rd dive. Lynne & Peter are getting much faster at setting up their gear by this time. Either that or the caffeine hadn't kicked in yet earlier in the day. We were in the water in no time doing our predive checks. The plan on this dive was for me to reel in to the left side of the cavern through the lower section and tie into the gold line at the 200' marker and then continue the dive. This would give Lynne & Peter a chance to see a different part of the cave without having to penetrate any farther and still stay within their limitations. I set my primary tie off and headed in with Lynne as #2, Peter #3 (Jenn was our surface support on this dive). We took the planned route, dropped down the chute with Lynne & Peter doing an even better job of getting down through the flow and headed back to the 1st breakdown where the dive was turned. Had we taken the normal route through the cavern, we probably would have gotten to penetrate another 100-200', but they got to see a different part of the cave. We slowly drifted back, picked up the primary reel and as we got into the lower part of the cavern turned off our primary lights and deployed our back ups. Part of this was a skill exercise, but we also did it to compare back up lights. I deployed an Intova 3W, Peter an upgraded Salvo, and Lynne a Rat (for comparison). The Intova and Salvo were pretty comparable, but the Rat provided just enough illumination to get someone out and not really see the cave. We made our exit to a dark sky. Lynne & Peter did their first night cave dive! Peter did comment that the cave seems darker at night...
We had a great day of diving with decent visibility and even worked on some skills. We packed up gear and headed home to eat some Indian food.
Glad you met so many more SB'ers.
