Weird Experience at a Spring

[Jakestg]

My brother and I dive quite alot, pretty much every weekend if we get the chance and we have dove all different spots where I live. Yesterday we went to Morrison Springs and we have been there a couple times and enjoy it. The visibility at first was alright maybe 20ft or so because of all the divers there that day. We went and sat on a log at 20ft that crosses over
the huge crater and next thing you know a dive instructor brings in like 6 students and 2 other divers show up too.

Here is where it gets bad.. the cavern that goes straight down is a good hallway size and it opens up a little where you can sit on a ledge. Well my brother and I went inside and just chilled out for a bit and next thing you know all of the divers decide to cram into the cavern. Not to mention that the visibility became extremely bad because of everyone kicking things up. Then, a older man who I guess was a student was floating slowly on the cavern floor with his face like a inch above the ground and he was moving in all different directions.It was the wierdest thing in the world.. i almost went up to him to see if he was alright. As that is going on it was a ****storm of sediment and people were losing eachother so my brother and I quickly decided to get the hell out of there. The entrance was blocked by all these people and you couldn't see a thing so we I found a hole big enough though the crowd and got through.

I just wanted to share that Lol.

 

[soltari675]

Were these OW students going into the cavern? This sounds kinda dangerous. Blocking the exit like that could kill someone needing to get to the surface quickly. All that sediment kicked up could cause some divers to get lost, not being able to tell which way the surface is, lose buddies, etc. I can't see why an instructor would take students in there. Glad you and your brother got out ok. I hope everyone else did too.

 

[irishsquid]

Did all these folks go into the lower/bigger cavern or the smaller upper cavern,
and which entrance were they blocking? Last time I was there, a class was being conducted in the bowl and all the students were standing on the slope. Looked like a bunch of snowskiers getting ready to launch.:shocked2:

 

[Jakestg]

There was like 5 at the main entrance to the point where there was barely sunlight and then the rest were all inside lol.

 

[Jax]

Then, a older man who I guess was a student was floating slowly on the cavern floor with his face like a inch above the ground and he was moving in all different directions.It was the wierdest thing in the world.. i almost went up to him to see if he was alright.

Maybe not a student, but a diver searching for something lost?

 

[ktomlinson]

I was there Sunday and did a couple of dives in the lower cavern. Open water students are taken into this cavern even though it is a violation of standards. I saw the same cluster***k bottleneck at the entrance that you saw two days previous. I think that if an instructor is going to allow students to dive the cavern the least they can do is explain that exiting divers have the right of way.

 

[ClayJar]

Here is where it gets bad.. the cavern that goes straight down is a good hallway size and it opens up a little where you can sit on a ledge. Well my brother and I went inside and just chilled out for a bit and next thing you know all of the divers decide to cram into the cavern. Not to mention that the visibility became extremely bad because of everyone kicking things up.

Your description reminded me a lot of the upper cavern -- horizontally off to the side of the main "funnel". The lower cavern opens through the side of the very bottom of the funnel at about 60 feet and opens into a large room.

Frankly, although the lower cavern has that significant restriction at the entrance and is much deeper (bottoming out around 100 feet), the upper cavern scares me more when I hear about people just casually roaming in it. People seem to treat the lower cavern with far more of the respect caverns deserve (as there is that whole rock ceiling). The upper cavern, on the other hand, has a silty floor instead of the coarse sand and tiny shells of the lower cavern, which means it *vastly* more prone to being silted out. Additionally, while it's fairly stubby and seems open enough when the viz is good, if you were to get turned slightly to the side in blackout conditions, you could easily end up somewhere you really wouldn't want to be (perhaps even wedged, if you fit just right -- or just wrong -- over or under the shelf).

It's generally not the big scary things where only a fool would rush in that get people in trouble. It's the seemingly "safe", inviting places that are dangerous. You don't want to be one of those people who were perfectly comfortable going 120mph on a motorcycle until they hit that tree.

 

[Jakestg]

Maybe not a student, but a diver searching for something lost?

I would agree but his face was grinding up the wall as he exited the cavern lol.