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| May 2008 - Post-Memorial Day Weekend Cave Diving |
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| Written by Mer | |
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We waited for the holiday rush to subside to invade North Florida for some cave diving. In addition to Dima, Ron S and Mer, who were in for some pleasure diving, Chris M and Ed P were taking Cave 1 and a gaggle of Brits and Kentuckians were in town as well! Dives were a mix of Cave 1 and 2, including Peacock 1, Mill Pond: Jackson Blue and Hole in the Wall, Devil's at Ginnie Spring and Madison Blue. Thursday, May 29, 2008I ending up not having firm plans, but fortunately ran into Ed Gabe (GUE Instructor from Kentucky) and Joe H (from Britian) at Extreme Exposure first thing... they graciously accepted me into their plans and off we went to Peacock.
Friday, May 30, 2008Paul and I, still recovering from the consequences of Sonny's BBQ, rolled into Cave Adventures (AKA Edd Sorrenson's backyard) to rent a pontoon boat for today's fun on Mill Pond.Merritt's Mill Pond is entirely clear right now. You can see the bottom nearly everywhere. We started at Jackson Blue, where the flow is up, but totally swimmable... much less than the entrance to Ginnie and more like the flow in the Ginnie mud flats. Vis is typical JB - crystal clear and blue blue blue! Paul and I had the place to ourselves, no other divers, no swimmers, just us and the aggressive cavern fish. Jackson Blue: King’s Bypass Paul put in the reel and we cruised the mainline, dropped our stages not too far before the first T, which we look left through the Court's squeeze. This returns you to the mainline. We then jumped to the King's Bypass and took the T into King's Caynon, which also leads back to the mainline, then at the next T took the Lower Route until thirds, plus we had also run out of cookies! Hungry cave, it likes cookies! Had a nice, flow assisted exit. Spotted a tons of other jumps and nooks to check out on future dives. One of the most enjoyable cave dives I've done to date. In: 52 minutes. Out: 40 minutes. Bottom average 77'. 14 mins O2 deco. Jackson cavern is absolutely beautiful to linger in during deco. Tons of fun playing with the territorially aggressive cavern fish, one of which was trying to bite my fingers and eat my hair. Hole in the Wall: Downstream then Upstream After motoring back to Cave Adventures for fills and some nosh, we zipped over to Hole in the Wall. Hole was much clearer that the last time I visited back in Dec. Both lines are springing, although flow is really only noticable in the cavern. We decided to just go for backgas and O2 this dive and I lead us down the "Downstream" (left) line, which was about 2 degrees colder than Jackson Blue with 80' of vis. Fluffy silt stuck to most everything meant a little particulate in the water on exit. We had some company this time from a team of sidemount, scootering, rebreather divers also diving the Downstream line. Absolutely beautiful cave and in the running as my favorite. Big rooms of bright white limestone separated by duck unders and contrasting formations on the ceilings make this cave very distinctive and dramatic. At around 1200', we took a jump into a tunnel that started large, but got rather small within 200'. After realizing that the floor, which looked rather solidified was actually "eat you alive" silt, we turned it and heading back through about 25' of zero, but pretty and red, vis. Back at the bottom of the main shaft at the bottom of the cavern, we recalculated and moved the reel over to the right (called the "Upstream" line. Vis was milky here and in the 50' range and another 2 degrees colder than the Downstream line with a thermocline as well near the floor. The Upstream line is much more rolly that the Downstream line and does also feature bright white limestone and some massive, awe-inspiring rooms. Popped up the mainline until my HID decided it wanted dinner. Total bottom time: 95 minutes averaging 70'. 19 minutes O2 deco. Nice weather and a great chill day. 4+ quality hours of cave diving. Paul and I drove back to High Springs after a quick meal and I write this report sitting in the massage chair in the RV I'm renting in Ft White for the weekend. Tommorrow is Ginnie, bright and early! Congratulations are in order - Chris Malinowski and Ed Parris have completed their Cave 1 with Mark Messersmith and promptly went for a celebration night dive in Ginnie. A Note: There is no longer an analyzer available for use at Cave Adventures, Edd has great prices on analyzers, BUT if you already own one, you might want to make sure it makes the trip. (Googily, we could have used you today!) Saturday, May 31, 2008I met up with Claudia Milz (NFL local), Ron Scharf and his buddy David B (SFL) for a little weekend crazyiness at Ginnie Springs while Chris M and Ed P and the Cave 1 group was off diving Little River.Devil’s Ear: Stage Bottle Rock via Bone Room Claudia and I let the smelly boys go do their own dive and the girls put in the reel and did a stage dive from the Ear to just shy of Stage Bottle Rock via the Bone Room. Amazing how different the flow is on the mainline versus on the Bone Line, and it picked right back up after we got back on the mainline. I had never been much past the Maple Leaf and there are some very pretty stratified clay banks further upstream. Great vis and a fun drift out. 90 mins bottom plus 18 minutes deco. Avg 78'. 53 minutes in, 37 minutes out. Devil’s Ear: Hill 400 After gasing up and taking our chances with the Ginnie Deli, Ron and I did another stage dive while David and Les did some Cave 1 diving. This time we took the Hill 400 jump. Flow was very light up Hill 400 and very pretty cave as well. Tons of other passages to check out on future dives. On deco, we got to watch some Open Water divers brave the Ear, towing their floating, polypropolene "guiderope" behind them. 75 mins bottom plus 24 minutes deco. Avg 76'. 38 mins in, 27 mins out. Then it was off to join the Brits and the Kentucky guys and the lone Russian at Floyds for dinner. Sunday, June 1, 2008We were up bright and early Sunday morning, tanks already filled, to head to Madison Blue for the last day of diving. When we got there a little before 9, the basin was deserted, by 11am it was crammed full of cliff jumpers with funny accents. The basin is now relatively clear with 40'+ of visibility, reduced a little when the swimmers dive down to the bottom.Madison Blue: Godzilla Circuit Ron, David and I went in the main entrance, I lead and dropped stage and deco bottles after the primary tie in and traveled 200' up the mainline to the Godzilla jump. The main passage of Madison is rather small cave, at leasts compared to the other caves we've been diving this weekend. Low ceiling, wide passage, mostly rock floor with good pull-and-glide, and flow can vary. Today it was moderate. On the Godzilla line, the passage is a little lower, with barely noticeable flow and with a mostly sand-silt flow... easy to kick up with errant fin kicks or lack of contouring, but settles quickly. The cave is a little dirty right now with both organic and made man crap, probably from syphoning a few weeks back. David did his part and removed a plastic plate and spent beer cans from leaves on the floor of the monkey room. The Godzilla room itself is about a 40' high room that seems really big since you've just been in relatively small cave. We foung Godzilla him/herself and admired the fashion accessories. We then continued along the Godzilla line, turning about 20' before completing the circuit. 30 mins in, 30 mins out, run 80 mins, bottom average 70'. The original plan was to come back to the primary, pick up the stages, recalculate thirds and continue the dive along the mainline, but due to cold, we nixed that and decoed out, avoiding the dive-bombing swimmers. Ron and David journeyed on their way and I stayed since a group I know from Pensacola was also there... Brian and Heather Anderson and Cecelia and there group got blow out and opted for some cave diving. The gaggle of them were on Megaladon rebreathers, but had one open circuit diver with them, so I paired up with Doug for a second dive after lunch and a run-in with some fire ants. Madison Blue: Banana Room via Godzilla For the second dive, I lead in through the rabbit hole and we jumped off to Godzilla again, then jumped to the Banana Room. I had to bring my stage to match Doug's gas, and it was definitely interesting to keep the stage valve or butt from banging into things through the low passage. We turned where the Banana line rejoins the mainline. 25 mins in, 25 mins out, 78 min run, bottom average 60'. Both Saturday and Sunday were 100degF days. It was the hottest weather I have dove in, nevermind dove dry in. It was amazing how much water I needed to drink to stay even minimally hydrated. Overall a great trip, got to see some people I haven't seen for a while and got to meet some fun new buddies. |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 06 June 2008 ) |
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