Little river.. Hey it was 37degrees and we needed those funny
hats..
Santa Fe River
Dave Puts his stuff together
The Run at Devils Ear
The Ball marks the entrance to the cave
|
I arrived at Islamorada at about 8:00am for my second dive on the wreck but discovered that my dive was not
going to go out. The weather was not very nice, and it was decided to save
it for a better day. Well not to be deterred I immediately decided to cut my
losses and head for the caves. This was my original plan for after the
dive so I just did it a little earlier. Stopped by the house
to feed the cat, switched from tech to cave gear in the car and bailed out .
Woohoo!!!
Telford Feb 10th 8:00pm
I arrived at the caves shortly after six and there was ScubaDave patiently
waiting for me at Rennakers (he wouldn't let them close until I got there
:-)...). He had a big smile on his face since he had been diving little
river all afternoon while I was on the road :-/...
I quickly got my tanks topped off, I got settled in at the Dive Outpost and then
headed to Telford. We were also joined on this dive by John Mc Macken. Our dive plan was for me to run the primary reel
then Dave and John run the gap reels one each. Pre-Dive safety check
included a very careful check in the spring entrance for big snakes, remembering
my last night dive there and the scary water moccassin.
Fortunately this time there was nothing lurking (that I could see anyway).
We had a fun dive, 50ft 61mins... We made quick exit at the terrapin
sink and hung out there checking the stars for a while before proceeding
on with our dive. Usually on the first dive I get myself all situated, and
used to the fresh water again, but this time it was just cool right from
the moment I hopped in.
Feb 11th
Monday morning bright and early we headed off to peacock, with a plan to
dive the peanut tunnel. We decided just to follow the
main line in and back. Dave ran the primary reel.
It was one of those perfect dives where you just keep going and going..
Kinda like the energizer bunny. We reached the end of the line in
the peanut tunnel.. Dave still had 500psi until turn pressure and I had
200psi. The dive was 50ft and 1hr 12 mins. After a
respectable surface interval we decided to dive the pothole tunnel
and do a bit of exploring. The next step was eating, filling and
recharging light batteries while we planned our night dive. At
this point I got so fed up with recharging all the time I bought a second
battery... and I must have had shopping fever cause I got a new bottom
timer as well Woohoo.. The night dive was to be little river
:-(.. Big smile. We had a killer dive. back to the T, left at the
first marker then back via the Merry-go-round tunnel. I was in the
lead for this one, I didn't mean to swim fast.. I think it's
something to do with the flow.. that makes me go faster or maybe I just
like that cave too much. Dave thought I had found a scooter
somewhere. We still had a fun dive though.. 97ft 48mins.
Feb 12th
Tuesday was our day to go to Ginnie.. I had not properly been back into
the Devils ear since my cave class so it was a very cool expedition.
Somehow I have always been busy enough elsewhere.. Wow... was I surprised
at what I found in there..
First Dive we went in through the Eye, and I ran the primary reel.. then
we headed into the cave and turned at about 600ft. I just
couldn't believe how BIG it is in there.. our dive time was 97ft 56 mins.
We hung out in the water for quite some time piddling around and checking
the fishes and other divers (we could only find one of those!). We
had the whole cave to ourselves... I guess that's what you get if you go
on Tuesday Morning Woohoo... Second dive we did a short dive into the
ear entrance and just set up the primary reel in there ready for the
afternoon dive. 59ft 20mins. Then we went off to get
lunch and fills and now switch to my new light battery <bg>...
Our third and last dive of the day we went straight in and turned at the
1000ft marker...I still had a bit of gas but was running out of
time. WOW... it was so big in there that we couldn't even see
the other side of the cave.. My light just seemed to die in the
distance.. I guess I have to save up for an 18 watt now!!! The flow
was pretty strong but the second time in we were ready for it and I
remembered the tough spots from the morning dive.. It was much smoother
and I began recognizing the landmarks now as we cruised
past. We looked at the map later and the spot we turned
was called the Maple leaf.. It was so much fun, I can't
imagine how people ever manage to explore all of the tunnels in there...
it is simply huge... Definitely more dives are necessary :-)..The dive was
95ft 53mins.
After packing up gear, we turned and headed south, both on I75 I
suppose we hadn't discussed the dives enough so through the advantage of
cell phones Somehow we managed to hook up at about exit 67 I think
and decided to have a barbecue dinner to celebrate. By this
time it was pretty late, so I hopped back in the X and headed South,
arriving home at just a bit past midnight :-). |
