SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
12-13-8
I was up by 4AM Saturday morning and it was damned close to freezing outside. Dale Wilson met me at the house and we loaded up his truck with my gear as well as the seasoned dive yacht, Miss Jellyfish. Hit the road in time to see the sun coming up over Pensacola Bay. Seemed like we'd have clear skies. We were at our boat launch along the creek by 8:30AM and started piling the gear out. Dale hooked an AL80 up to the yacht and she was filled in short time. The cave gear got piled in and we were off. The creek was high, but we were confident in our spring, with its high flow to stay clear(I've dived it with river levels higher than Saturdays levels).
The ride down the creek, and then down river was slow(albeit a bit faster going down river aided by its swift flow). River water pushed up the majority of the spring run, but nearly to the headspring, we were in slightly tannic, but clear, green springwater. The water was was high, but there was still a strong boil pushing up from the depths.
We geared up, discussed a plan, and I lead down to the cave entrance. Flow spewed out the cave entrance with an impressive force, making it necessary to use the pull rope tied off inside to pull ourselves in. Once in the cavern, and inside the restriction, the flow was easily managable, throughout the rest of our dive. It would even allow for a swift drift out once our turn was met. Visibility was easily 50-60' and the water was blue. This particular cave is fairly dark, lots of goethite, tannic stained walls, with soft limestone, clay, and dark stained sands on the floor. The main passage passes through dome room after dome room as it winds up and down, further into the earth. Eventually the passage turns right, and drops a dozen feet and continues further. The walls are lined with fossils and there are more fossils strewn about the floor. Sidepassages are pretty common, but we stick to the mainline until we hit about 1100'p. This was Dale's first time in this system and he figured it was a good amount of cave for this go around and we turned without ever meeting out turn around pressure. The trip out was quick while riding the flow out. I hit a max depth of 79' for a dive lasting about an hour.
Once on the surface and gearing down, some locals motored up to the headspring and we spoke with them for awhile. We asked about other springs and they hadn't been to the other little spring along our day's adventure, so they followed us. I'm sure they were thinking we were crazy for winding down the tight little waterways we were heading through, seemingly deeper and deeper into the woods, but they followed, only getting their bassboat stuck once or twice. We hit the spring and it was also slightly tannic, but clear and green along the OW basin. We parked along the berm and geared up for another dive. This spring has a really nice cavern, but the passage below isn't really big enough for backmount or sidemount configurations(not to mention the impressive flow blowing sand out like crazy). We explored the cavern and took another look at the vent below, wishing it might be passable. Its a very unique cavern, very tall, very untouched, stained, and impressive. I hit 85' for a short dive of 21 minutes.
The ride back was slow, very slow, heading up a swift running river with rising water. The clouds came out and blotted the sun, and the wind picked up, I was damned cold on the ride home. The hot chocolate at Dee's Restraunt was very much welcomed! Had a great meal and the ride home was uneventfull aside from lots of cave diving talk! Once home, we unloaded the truck, and I tossed the gear and the majority of the boat right into my wagon.
12-14-8
Cmufieldhockey met up with me at my house at 5:45AM in the morning, with a very light drizzle and chilly temps. We finished loading up my boat and piled her gear into my car, then she took the keys and we headed out. By the time we crossed over the Pensacola Bay Bridge, the rain had stopped and the sun started to shine through. We stopped at Vortex for some fills and talked to Andrea and Eduardo for a bit. Always nice visiting with them and I swear I'm gonna get back in that cave to dive before too long. Once gassed up, we headed south and to the same boat launch I was at on Saturday. The water was noticably higher, and muddier. Seemed atleast 2' higher, maybe even 3' at this portion of waterway. We had one major thing going our way, it was comfortable outside, probably 20* warmer than the previous day, friggin welcomed!
Its amazing how much faster my boat can go with ~120lbs less person and probably 50lbs less gear in the boat. With cmufieldhockey riding shotgun in the Miss Jellyfish, we zipped down the creek and the river and made the trip out to our spring in no time(comparatively). The river water had inundated the entire basin by Sunday and there was no visibility within the basin, just muddy water. As expected, there was still a copious boil rising up from below, so we geared up happily.
Once geared up, with a diveplan in mind, we hit the cold(64F) water until at the ledge, where we could see clear blue water jetting out from the restrictive cave entrance below. The water felt warm in comparison and it was relieving to get into the cave. cmufieldhockey led the way and we made a leisurely pace into the tunnel. CMU was apparently quite excited by the hyrogliphics in the wall, telling the story of early cave men/women, with skirts, and big buts. They apparently ate fish and penguins, the latter of which scarily resemble their own children. She eventually realized her overactive imagination was just running wild and she was simply viewing some really neat fossils embedded in the walls! Despite the heavy flooding, the flow was still pumping and the spring showed no signs of weakening, much less blowing out. By the time we hit ~1000'p cmu thumbed the dive, hitting a conservative turn pressure after burning through her gas after musing through an ancient history of people that existed in never-ever land(LOL), oh and screwing around with a big-ole camera! The drift out was quick and we had zero deco, but our safety stop in the cold river water inundating the OW basin was pretty miserable. I hit 81'(water levels were higher) for another dive just short of an hour.
We considered another dive, but after the slow ride back to the boat launch yesterday, we decided to be safe in order not to have to deal with riding around at night. Our safety margin was further increased by the much lighter load, and we probably ended up having more than enough time to make a second dive. Ah well, there will be a next time!
Dee's is closed on Sundays so we headed up to Ponce De Leon and grabbed some grub from Sally's, I really missed sour-cream-n-chives fries! Spent the trip back talking about cave diving, it just makes the trip go that much faster!
Had a great weekend, but pretty exhausting. Very much looking forward to the new year for more adventures with great dive buddies!
I was up by 4AM Saturday morning and it was damned close to freezing outside. Dale Wilson met me at the house and we loaded up his truck with my gear as well as the seasoned dive yacht, Miss Jellyfish. Hit the road in time to see the sun coming up over Pensacola Bay. Seemed like we'd have clear skies. We were at our boat launch along the creek by 8:30AM and started piling the gear out. Dale hooked an AL80 up to the yacht and she was filled in short time. The cave gear got piled in and we were off. The creek was high, but we were confident in our spring, with its high flow to stay clear(I've dived it with river levels higher than Saturdays levels).
The ride down the creek, and then down river was slow(albeit a bit faster going down river aided by its swift flow). River water pushed up the majority of the spring run, but nearly to the headspring, we were in slightly tannic, but clear, green springwater. The water was was high, but there was still a strong boil pushing up from the depths.
We geared up, discussed a plan, and I lead down to the cave entrance. Flow spewed out the cave entrance with an impressive force, making it necessary to use the pull rope tied off inside to pull ourselves in. Once in the cavern, and inside the restriction, the flow was easily managable, throughout the rest of our dive. It would even allow for a swift drift out once our turn was met. Visibility was easily 50-60' and the water was blue. This particular cave is fairly dark, lots of goethite, tannic stained walls, with soft limestone, clay, and dark stained sands on the floor. The main passage passes through dome room after dome room as it winds up and down, further into the earth. Eventually the passage turns right, and drops a dozen feet and continues further. The walls are lined with fossils and there are more fossils strewn about the floor. Sidepassages are pretty common, but we stick to the mainline until we hit about 1100'p. This was Dale's first time in this system and he figured it was a good amount of cave for this go around and we turned without ever meeting out turn around pressure. The trip out was quick while riding the flow out. I hit a max depth of 79' for a dive lasting about an hour.
Once on the surface and gearing down, some locals motored up to the headspring and we spoke with them for awhile. We asked about other springs and they hadn't been to the other little spring along our day's adventure, so they followed us. I'm sure they were thinking we were crazy for winding down the tight little waterways we were heading through, seemingly deeper and deeper into the woods, but they followed, only getting their bassboat stuck once or twice. We hit the spring and it was also slightly tannic, but clear and green along the OW basin. We parked along the berm and geared up for another dive. This spring has a really nice cavern, but the passage below isn't really big enough for backmount or sidemount configurations(not to mention the impressive flow blowing sand out like crazy). We explored the cavern and took another look at the vent below, wishing it might be passable. Its a very unique cavern, very tall, very untouched, stained, and impressive. I hit 85' for a short dive of 21 minutes.
The ride back was slow, very slow, heading up a swift running river with rising water. The clouds came out and blotted the sun, and the wind picked up, I was damned cold on the ride home. The hot chocolate at Dee's Restraunt was very much welcomed! Had a great meal and the ride home was uneventfull aside from lots of cave diving talk! Once home, we unloaded the truck, and I tossed the gear and the majority of the boat right into my wagon.
12-14-8
Cmufieldhockey met up with me at my house at 5:45AM in the morning, with a very light drizzle and chilly temps. We finished loading up my boat and piled her gear into my car, then she took the keys and we headed out. By the time we crossed over the Pensacola Bay Bridge, the rain had stopped and the sun started to shine through. We stopped at Vortex for some fills and talked to Andrea and Eduardo for a bit. Always nice visiting with them and I swear I'm gonna get back in that cave to dive before too long. Once gassed up, we headed south and to the same boat launch I was at on Saturday. The water was noticably higher, and muddier. Seemed atleast 2' higher, maybe even 3' at this portion of waterway. We had one major thing going our way, it was comfortable outside, probably 20* warmer than the previous day, friggin welcomed!
Its amazing how much faster my boat can go with ~120lbs less person and probably 50lbs less gear in the boat. With cmufieldhockey riding shotgun in the Miss Jellyfish, we zipped down the creek and the river and made the trip out to our spring in no time(comparatively). The river water had inundated the entire basin by Sunday and there was no visibility within the basin, just muddy water. As expected, there was still a copious boil rising up from below, so we geared up happily.
Once geared up, with a diveplan in mind, we hit the cold(64F) water until at the ledge, where we could see clear blue water jetting out from the restrictive cave entrance below. The water felt warm in comparison and it was relieving to get into the cave. cmufieldhockey led the way and we made a leisurely pace into the tunnel. CMU was apparently quite excited by the hyrogliphics in the wall, telling the story of early cave men/women, with skirts, and big buts. They apparently ate fish and penguins, the latter of which scarily resemble their own children. She eventually realized her overactive imagination was just running wild and she was simply viewing some really neat fossils embedded in the walls! Despite the heavy flooding, the flow was still pumping and the spring showed no signs of weakening, much less blowing out. By the time we hit ~1000'p cmu thumbed the dive, hitting a conservative turn pressure after burning through her gas after musing through an ancient history of people that existed in never-ever land(LOL), oh and screwing around with a big-ole camera! The drift out was quick and we had zero deco, but our safety stop in the cold river water inundating the OW basin was pretty miserable. I hit 81'(water levels were higher) for another dive just short of an hour.
We considered another dive, but after the slow ride back to the boat launch yesterday, we decided to be safe in order not to have to deal with riding around at night. Our safety margin was further increased by the much lighter load, and we probably ended up having more than enough time to make a second dive. Ah well, there will be a next time!
Dee's is closed on Sundays so we headed up to Ponce De Leon and grabbed some grub from Sally's, I really missed sour-cream-n-chives fries! Spent the trip back talking about cave diving, it just makes the trip go that much faster!
Had a great weekend, but pretty exhausting. Very much looking forward to the new year for more adventures with great dive buddies!
