| Cave Diving
Weekend Dive Outpost December 15 & 16 2001 |
|
 Dave and I at Cow. |
After our fun Friday
afternoon in Jupiter ScubaDave and I parted company only to meet up at the
Dive Outpost the next morning for some cave diving.. Wooohooo!!! and Dave
flashing about his new Henderson Gold core suit!!!.. Debbie had planned to
join us also, but had been attacked by a horrid head cold earlier in the
week :-(... hope you feel better soon!! especially by the chick dive.. We started out with a dive in the cave at Orange Grove. I haven't ever seen the water here so clear. If you turned on your back it resembled one of those photos you see in magazines.. like a pudding baisin with trees leaning over the rim (yes I could see these despite the usual duckweed).. We swam into the cave far enough to see the numbers begin to decline and I saw the 700ft marker pointing to challenge sink almost at the same time we turned the dive. Then Dave and I had fun at our safety stop by pretending to skydive off the ledge in the baisin. The water was so clear it really felt as if I was flying. We also dived that night (or was it Sunday morning already!!!), Myself, Dave and Will. I had not dived with Will since before I was cave certified and finally managed to catch our first cave dive together even if it was at 1:00am!!! We went to Telford Spring. In fact now I think about it I don't think we had dived together since April. First we decided to use the terrapin entrance because that way we could omit the gaps, but after we looked at the climb down and given that it was pitch black, we opted for the main spring after all. As we were looking at the water we spotted the most HUGE water moccassin in the spring.. I had never seen one before and there was NO WAY I was gonna get in the water with him; so Guess what.. we braved the climb after all!!! Yikes... I managed it but did slide the last two feet on my bum.. The dive was really super, and a new place for me, it's a very spectacular cave. I really liked it, and on the way out (thanks to Will), I managed to remember to swim the top of the cave (much smarter than grovelling along close to the bottom). I also saw one of the little white crawfish again. Dave told me they live for 20 years!! Imagine staying in the cave for 20 years. Of course we had endless drills in the open water part <g>... but still managed some high fives at the end of the dive. After a little sleep, Dave and I decided to go to Peacock and dive both tunnels there. First we dived the pothole tunnel back to the place where you can see up to the surface (sorry I forgot what it is called). It's really fascinating to look up and see that little slit up there. Out of all the caves I have been in I have decided that this is the spookiest. I know I only have a 10W HID, but it just gets sucked right up and disappears into the blackness. I have found I MUCH prefer the small holes.. The vis was a little reduced too, due to tons of traffic already that morning!! We then went back to the first tie off, recalculated turn pressures and headed into the peanut tunnel.. I had the reel and it was quite hard to find a spot that wasn't already taken and avoid the other reels. We swam back through the narrow part and then finally turned the dive at the place where it drops down and opens out again. I wanted to go further but I'll need bigger tanks for that.. On the way back we were passed by two groups coming in. One group of three normal cave divers, then a huge group that I think was five! sporting split fins, Dave also noted and mentioned to me later that one of them had a y valve with a single reg and the other orifice completely open!.. it was a busy day. We headed to Little River for our final dive. This was a terrific dive.. Dave took his turn with the reel. We drew a little map and made a detailed dive plan, since this dive had some T's in the line. At the first marker we went via the left tunnel, and went as far as the Florida room (I think so anyway from the description). We then returned via the right tunnel. this was an awesome dive and one that was a great ending to my weekend. By the time we got out it was nearly dark (pesky winter afternoons).. so I had to make a quick departure in order to get home in time to catch a few Z's before work the next day.. I did take a nap somewhere just past Orlando, and got home at about 1:30am. Very tired, but really satisfied with my weekend of diving. I had tried out two new places and explored new places in caves I had previously visited. Not to mention diving in all the different sizes of caves from the very small to very large!!! I'm ready to go back up there in January for the chick dive, and now I know why I need another battery for my light. They take a long time to charge don't they!! |