NSDiver
Contributor
My Intro Cave class with Johnny Richards was to start on Saturday, so I went down early on Friday to get some practice with the LP95 w/ H-valve configuration I would be diving. On the way I picked up a used DR 10W HID from Cave Excursions – saved me some money on renting. I spent some time configuring the new gear at Ginnie before tooling around in the basin – my first guess on weight was spot on, and the rig trimmed out very nicely. I did have some trouble descending though (sinus headache) so a trip to the High Springs CVS was scheduled before dinner for some Sudafed.
Saturday morning I met Johnny at the dive shop at 8:30. He was punctual as always – just my style. The next hour and a half we spent going over line protocol, lost line drill, lost buddy drill, loss of light, and loss of directional reference outside the shop. The “locals” made this process a little longer than it needed to be...
First dive was to be an “introductory” dive with Johnny laying the line into the Ear, and a quick dive to the Keyhole in Devil’s. Flow in the Ear was as heavy as I remembered it from Cavern class, and made my backup regulator free-flow several times. I was glad I wasn’t running the reel on this dive. Once inside the cave I did the best pull-and-glide I could manage, but felt fortunate that I was behind Johnny on this dive as my technique needed refinement. I was struck by how much different the dive was than I thought it would be, and the unique challenge posed by flow in a confined space. Once past the Lips the dive was turned, the primary lights went off and the backup lights deployed. A simple OOA drill was also done on the way out, but the exit was pretty uneventful.
The second dive went much better. I was leading this time, and running the reel into the Ear was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I tried to remember the places Johnny had tied off to, which made the task simpler. This dive my pull and glide was much better, and I felt like I had much better awareness of the “line, the light, and the cave.” We made it this time to the Keyhole, and turned the dive. Then it was time for the lost line drill.
When I got the signal that the drill was to start, I took a few seconds to look at the line position in the cave, and then put my favorite mask on (covered with red duct tape with “Help Me” written on the front). Johnny grabbed my valves and dragged me downstream for what seemed like forever - but was probably only about 10 seconds – and dropped me on the floor. I started looking for a rock, and found one to tie my spool off to. I started poking around looking for the right side wall (knowing that the line runs high in the tunnel on the right wall), but felt pretty disoriented. I spent several minutes with fruitless attempts, and only started getting my act together when I slowed down and thought about the situation a little more. I relaxed into a more horizontal trim, oriented myself to the flow, and finally found the line with the tip of my fin. Johnny told me I placed my line arrow on the gold line right at ten minutes – the time limit for the drill. But I found it! I switched back to my good mask. On the way out we did a no-lights exit, but could see a bit of daylight even from where we started the drill. After the dive was some classroom work, and the rest of the night off. The CVS got another visit for Neosporin and Band-Aids for my shredded fingers (turns out my pull-and-glide needs more work).
The next day was Peacock Springs. We entered at Peacock I (water there is nasty right now) and tied into the gold line. The dive plan was to dive the Olsen tunnel towards Pothole, and turn the dive at Pothole sink or thirds. The dive seemed a lot easier than at Devil’s – no pull-and-glide was necessary (or appropriate in this cave), so I felt like a had a lot better awareness and had a better chance to look around at the beautiful cave around me. I also tried to work on light awareness, and found I had to often shield my light to make sure Johnny was still behind me, as I kept losing his beam in mine. Something I would have never thought about before. Made it to Pothole with plenty of gas to spare, and took a moment to shield our lights and see the tiny stream of light coming from the sink.
Right as we turned to dive Johnny showed me his pressure gauge, and it was reading 0! He hovered there, apparently perplexed, and I turned back on his left post – we had talked about a left hand roll off the day before, and this was the unannounced drill. On the way back Johnny was leading, and veered off into another tunnel. I couldn’t get his attention with my light, so I dedicated some gas to finding him (re-evaluated thirds), tied my spool into one of the permanent line arrows, and went after him. With some “talking” I got him to get in front of me and follow my spool back to the gold line. Not two minutes later he began to follow a jump line (was one of those green “hi-viz” lines that looked a lot like the gold line at first glance.) He heeded my light signal this time. At the end of the dive I tried to do a valve shutdown drill, but I couldn’t quite reach one of my valves. I would try again.
The next dive was the Peanut Tunnel towards the Breakdown Room. This was probably the best dive of the trip. The Peanut Tunnel was very interesting, and entering the Breakdown Room at the end of the tunnel was an amazing feeling. We turned the dive at the 600’ line arrow and headed back. Once back in the Peanut Tunnel we did the lights out air share, which was mostly uneventful. During the drill I felt very relaxed, but it occurred to me how most people (henceforth: “sane people”
should not feel good about being back in an underwater cave with no lights, breathing from an artificial source... We switched up the air share, and once daylight was plainly visible the drill was over. I deployed my backup light, and finally managed to do the valve shutdown drill by loosening up on my waist strap. As I reeled back in, I even managed to jam my unjammable Halcyon Pathfinder. Nice. Hand shake at the steps – NACD Intro Cave!
Class went great – and though it might have been nice to have a buddy at some point, I don’t think I would have learned as much as I did in a solo class. There wasn’t a thing that I got away with during the dives – his awareness and attentiveness to what I was doing was amazing. Having done both Cavern and Intro with Johnny, I’d highly recommend him to anyone. I’m already looking for spots on the calendar for my next trip for some "fun" dives.
-Nick
Saturday morning I met Johnny at the dive shop at 8:30. He was punctual as always – just my style. The next hour and a half we spent going over line protocol, lost line drill, lost buddy drill, loss of light, and loss of directional reference outside the shop. The “locals” made this process a little longer than it needed to be...
First dive was to be an “introductory” dive with Johnny laying the line into the Ear, and a quick dive to the Keyhole in Devil’s. Flow in the Ear was as heavy as I remembered it from Cavern class, and made my backup regulator free-flow several times. I was glad I wasn’t running the reel on this dive. Once inside the cave I did the best pull-and-glide I could manage, but felt fortunate that I was behind Johnny on this dive as my technique needed refinement. I was struck by how much different the dive was than I thought it would be, and the unique challenge posed by flow in a confined space. Once past the Lips the dive was turned, the primary lights went off and the backup lights deployed. A simple OOA drill was also done on the way out, but the exit was pretty uneventful.
The second dive went much better. I was leading this time, and running the reel into the Ear was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I tried to remember the places Johnny had tied off to, which made the task simpler. This dive my pull and glide was much better, and I felt like I had much better awareness of the “line, the light, and the cave.” We made it this time to the Keyhole, and turned the dive. Then it was time for the lost line drill.
When I got the signal that the drill was to start, I took a few seconds to look at the line position in the cave, and then put my favorite mask on (covered with red duct tape with “Help Me” written on the front). Johnny grabbed my valves and dragged me downstream for what seemed like forever - but was probably only about 10 seconds – and dropped me on the floor. I started looking for a rock, and found one to tie my spool off to. I started poking around looking for the right side wall (knowing that the line runs high in the tunnel on the right wall), but felt pretty disoriented. I spent several minutes with fruitless attempts, and only started getting my act together when I slowed down and thought about the situation a little more. I relaxed into a more horizontal trim, oriented myself to the flow, and finally found the line with the tip of my fin. Johnny told me I placed my line arrow on the gold line right at ten minutes – the time limit for the drill. But I found it! I switched back to my good mask. On the way out we did a no-lights exit, but could see a bit of daylight even from where we started the drill. After the dive was some classroom work, and the rest of the night off. The CVS got another visit for Neosporin and Band-Aids for my shredded fingers (turns out my pull-and-glide needs more work).
The next day was Peacock Springs. We entered at Peacock I (water there is nasty right now) and tied into the gold line. The dive plan was to dive the Olsen tunnel towards Pothole, and turn the dive at Pothole sink or thirds. The dive seemed a lot easier than at Devil’s – no pull-and-glide was necessary (or appropriate in this cave), so I felt like a had a lot better awareness and had a better chance to look around at the beautiful cave around me. I also tried to work on light awareness, and found I had to often shield my light to make sure Johnny was still behind me, as I kept losing his beam in mine. Something I would have never thought about before. Made it to Pothole with plenty of gas to spare, and took a moment to shield our lights and see the tiny stream of light coming from the sink.
Right as we turned to dive Johnny showed me his pressure gauge, and it was reading 0! He hovered there, apparently perplexed, and I turned back on his left post – we had talked about a left hand roll off the day before, and this was the unannounced drill. On the way back Johnny was leading, and veered off into another tunnel. I couldn’t get his attention with my light, so I dedicated some gas to finding him (re-evaluated thirds), tied my spool into one of the permanent line arrows, and went after him. With some “talking” I got him to get in front of me and follow my spool back to the gold line. Not two minutes later he began to follow a jump line (was one of those green “hi-viz” lines that looked a lot like the gold line at first glance.) He heeded my light signal this time. At the end of the dive I tried to do a valve shutdown drill, but I couldn’t quite reach one of my valves. I would try again.
The next dive was the Peanut Tunnel towards the Breakdown Room. This was probably the best dive of the trip. The Peanut Tunnel was very interesting, and entering the Breakdown Room at the end of the tunnel was an amazing feeling. We turned the dive at the 600’ line arrow and headed back. Once back in the Peanut Tunnel we did the lights out air share, which was mostly uneventful. During the drill I felt very relaxed, but it occurred to me how most people (henceforth: “sane people”
should not feel good about being back in an underwater cave with no lights, breathing from an artificial source... We switched up the air share, and once daylight was plainly visible the drill was over. I deployed my backup light, and finally managed to do the valve shutdown drill by loosening up on my waist strap. As I reeled back in, I even managed to jam my unjammable Halcyon Pathfinder. Nice. Hand shake at the steps – NACD Intro Cave!Class went great – and though it might have been nice to have a buddy at some point, I don’t think I would have learned as much as I did in a solo class. There wasn’t a thing that I got away with during the dives – his awareness and attentiveness to what I was doing was amazing. Having done both Cavern and Intro with Johnny, I’d highly recommend him to anyone. I’m already looking for spots on the calendar for my next trip for some "fun" dives.
-Nick
