Morrison Springs - Sunday 1/17/10

[b1draper]

Looking at either going to Morrison or Jackson Blue on Sunday. Does anyone know the condition of Morrison? I know the hydrologic report shows it at around 9 ft and may be down to 8ft by Sunday.

Anyone interested in joining me?

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Morrison will be tannic and cold, Jackson Blue has a crappy OW basin and you shouldn't be in the cavern without the right certifications - it might screw it up for everyone who's got the training. At one point in time, no one was allowed at JB(as in, it was gated off).

You might find some interesting stuff on the other side of the fence from Jackson Blue.

 

[Aqua Camp]

Man, I'm glad I looked for this thread. Yes, Yes, Yes!!! Morrison's is awesome. Flooded to crap about 10 feet above pool. Black water that you can't see your hand in front of your face, UNTIL you get to the log and a little deeper. Man, at 30+ feet it opens up to the Morrison's we know and love. I was there at daybreak yesterday morning and I'm here to tell you that this was the highlight of my trip. This is not for open water students. I / we left the class at the motel and 2 advanced guys and a DM and I went. DM and I went first, then surfaced to brief the other guys on condition and tie a line. Looking out from the dock you see the vortex of water erupting from the springs. Just follow it to the honey hole. Oh, there is no surface light visible beyond about 6 feet. No lie, as we were surfacing we could see daylight at about 6 feet. Cool Creepy.

 

[Aqua Camp]

Oh, and cold was only in the black. Spring water is like bathwater after going through the cold.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Its not a site for AOW and DMs either, get some cavern training at a minimum - and in reality, you should think about cave training when there is NO ambient light.

You can be AOW after like 12 dives, it means very little. There is no overhead training involved in DM or Instructor classes.

 

[scuba066]

Are you saying everyone that dives at Morrison should be cave certified? These guys didn't say the went into the cavern. Plus, AOW allows for overhead obstructions within limits. I agree the dive described would be a bit much for a new AOW diver. But, I think you should know a little bit more about these guys before you tell them to go away until they get more training.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Morrison, at its current conditions, is an advanced dive. The statement, "just follow it to the honey hole" indicates they were in the cavern. And there is NO agency that allows for overhead obstructions within limits at the level of AOW. Overhead diving is dangerous without the proper training. Almost 600 divers have died in caves, many of them OW divers with no overhead training. Aqua Camp has no overhead training. Look at his profile. He lists every other certification but overhead. There's no assumption on Mat's part.

 

[scuba066]

A AOW diver can go into overhead obstruction situations as long as the overall distance to the surface does not exceed 130 feet and the "opening" is not obscured at that distance.
I do not dive side mounts, I don't have a canister light, but, I have dove Morrison many times and enjoy it. And, guess what, I went into the cavern and looked around, not far, but, I went in, it requires no more skills than a shallow wreck penetration.
I do not plan to get cave certified, I have no interest. But, I assure you my skills allow me to safely penetrate a spring. And, I guarantee you my buoyancy control and trim will not muck it up for you trained cavern divers.
Yes, bugman is making alot of assumptions. You do not have to be cave certified to enjoy florida spring diving.

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

A AOW diver can go into overhead obstruction situations as long as the overall distance to the surface does not exceed 130 feet and the "opening" is not obscured at that distance.
I do not dive side mounts, I don't have a canister light, but, I have dove Morrison many times and enjoy it. And, guess what, I went into the cavern and looked around, not far, but, I went in, it requires no more skills than a shallow wreck penetration.
I do not plan to get cave certified, I have no interest. But, I assure you my skills allow me to safely penetrate a spring. And, I guarantee you my buoyancy control and trim will not muck it up for you trained cavern divers.
Yes, bugman is making alot of assumptions. You do not have to be cave certified to enjoy florida spring diving.

What agency allows this??? AOW is not for overhead diving.. I too enjoyed diving morrison before getting trained for it and I tell everyone I did not have a clue what I was doing. Until you take a class you are going to be clueless as to what can happen. Listen to those with experience, it might save your life. Everything Rob and Mat have said are very true, I would listen if I was you.

 

[Mark Michaud SELAUSAR]

For a few feet, the "upper cavern" is a cavern. After a few more, even though it is small, it is a cave. The lower "Cavern" as it is called, is a cave. There is a restriction that has to be navigated to get in and there is ZERO light unless you bring it with you. If the condtions topside get nasty, you can't even see the opening from inside with lights out. There is zero training for these conditions short of cavern training. AOW, DM, Divecon, Instructor, Master Diver...................Do not provide any legitimate training for this environment.

You can dive this, and get many dives there................but...............this does not create experience. You are only getting away with it. What if the rope break and the vis topside goes away? What if there is a cave in that ruins the visibilty? What if you light goes out? What plan do you have for this? How do you monitor your gas supply? What is your plan there?

This is not about "I'm a cave diver and you're not" This is about having the proper training to do this safely. I have a lot of dives, OW, commercial, Cave and have only had one really, true, close call. That was when my training meant the most. I have raised boats from the Industrial Canal in New Orleans and have never had an issue. I have dived some really tight and silty caves with Mat and Rob and never had an issue there.

My issue came in a large, high flow, cave while following all of the rules. By being careful I looked back at my buddy, like we are trained to do, and wandered into a passage off of the mainline that went to crap real fast. This passage was in perfect line with the turn in the main passage. It was about three feet tall and silted completely out in seconds. Because of my training I had a plan, as did my partner who I met and hour before the dive, and we both got out no worse for the wear.

Please don't take this as a "better than you" scolding. You very well may dive this all of your life and nothing will happen. But, if it does? Remember, OW, Cave, Wreck, whatever diving we do, and for whatever reasons we do it it is about FUN. Just take a minute and think about it.