What surprised you?

[Cacia]

Claudette...great post.

whew..I am almost sweaty.

 

[Peter Guy]

Chica -- You're scaring the h*ll out of me!!!! What have I done????????

 

[Meng_Tze]

...,but rocks falling out of the ceiling,.....

Yeah, thats when I called a dive not too long ago. A rock the size of my torso fell right next to me.. no reason.... I looked at my buddy, he looked at me......silt started to come up (very low flow cave).....I thought to myself: 'I am done here' and thumbed the dive. F'ing Mr Hyde. So yes karstdvr, he is always lurking and watching cavers

:menani:

 

[Dive-aholic]

I took a cavern course, like a few others, just for the experience. I had no intention of going beyond that. Then the 4th dive of our cavern course came and we dove Devil's Ear. We went to the sign and looked into the Gallery. This is where I was surprised. It was beckoning me, calling for me to come in a little more. Our instructor then took us, one at a time, around the bend to look at the passages to the Eye and the Catacombs. The beckoning continued. I was definitely hooked. In fact, Intro was scheduled that afternoon. Full cave is completed and we've been diving the caves on our own and it just continues. I want to check out every little passage I find. And I want to find them all! Already diving stages and planning for scooters and side mount in the future.

Oh, another thing that surprised me is how much we're spending on all the gear...and the list just keeps getting longer, not shorter!

Kelly also makes an excellent point - cave diving is a Jekyll/Hyde activity. As much as I want to explore, I also have the what if thoughts at least once during every N. Florida trip, usually several hundred feet inside a cave. It's very humbling and keeps me in line. When I stop having those thoughts, I'll stop diving caves. Lose the respect and they will swallow you up!

 

[HBDiveGirl]

Chica -- You're scaring the h*ll out of me!!!! What have I done????????

hee hee... Come on in, Peter! The Dark is fine.... hee hee.....

My surprise was rooted in my lack of knowledge and pre-class research. Your teammate won't let you be uninformed. This was just my personal moment of tension and reconciliation. The Arelita cavern in Cozumel was a great experience. It's a wonderful counterpoint to the colorful, life-filled Cozumel reefs. German is a jewel.

Claudette

 

[karstdvr]

Yeah, thats when I called a dive not too long ago. A rock the size of my torso fell right next to me.. no reason.... I looked at my buddy, he looked at me......silt started to come up (very low flow cave).....I thought to myself: 'I am done here' and thumbed the dive. F'ing Mr Hyde. So yes karstdvr, he is always lurking and watching cavers

:menani:

Not a great feeling. I was in Jackson Blue once when there was a "geological event",the cave looked like there was a fire with so much billowing silt,not a pleasant exit. Even after 2 hours the area near the sign only had 10ft of visibility. I also remember exiting a river cave in south Georgia and the entrance had back filled with sand,we had to spend 20 minutes digging out a hole big enough to exit.

 

[karstdvr]

. Lose the respect and they will swallow you up!

I give the P1 to pothole swim as much respect as I give end of the line Devils.

 

[do it easy]

Another thing that surprised me was how scared I was for the few days before the dive, especially that morning. I was wondering if this was going to be my last dive. I couldn't tell if this was "the voice" I should be listening to or just being nervous. I wondered if it would all end in there. Then, as soon as I started setting up my gear, all the fear disappeared and I was ready to go. The rest of the dive was uneventful except for the feeling of being completely alive, mindlessly focused, and witness to the slow beauty of time.

 

[TSandM]

witness to the slow beauty of time.

We spent 12 days going down the Grand Canyon on a raft. I spent hours rapt in the contemplation of rock strata that were 2 billion years old, eroded and beautifully fluted by the river's passage. It was a life-changing experience. Sounds like you know what I mean.

 

[jeandiver]

As a someone new to cave diving, I'm constantly suprised.

Because of my friends' enthusiam for caves and everyone's pictures and video, I was eager to do a cavern dive. So the first time I was at a cenote entrance, looking at a small dark crack in the ground, I was surprised how nervous I was.

After reading Claudette's post, I'm glad that the little dark hole opened up into a huge cavern zone.

In the cenote, I was awed by the brilliance of the lights that come through the cenote entrance. At the end of every dive, I become instantly happy when I see the lights. I always take a little moment to admire the glow.

Like Meng-Tze, I was caught off-guard by the darkness of a cave. First lights out drill, I was amazed by the absoluteness. Second lights out, I got a little vertigo. By the 5th lights out, the drills were getting to be fun.

After each trip, I'm surprised how strong a hold the caves have on us.

Caves? HOLD OF US???!!!
Er , you got that right
I can go down the same passageway dozen of times and STILL see something new OR something that I have missed...
That's the wonderment of it.

I have never gone to the Cenotes of Mexico , but I will some day. Right now , I am having too much darn fun in Florida with the caves here.

And YES , doesn't it get so DARN DARK down there. I thought I knew what dark was , until my 1st lights out drill on Intro.
Gadzooks!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL !!!

Jean
AKA Jeano Beano
Fort White , Florida