Things are slow on the board and they are slow at work. I was sitting here thinking about what I had to do to get ready for this weekends dive and got thinking that maybe it would make a descent thread. If not it will give me something to do for a few minutes.
The dive will be in Roubidoux springs in Missouri. I really like this cave. Much like the Florida caves it is gorgeous with 30 - 60 foot vis. Right now the flow is very low allowing descent penetration even for those of us that don't have scooters. There is only one passage so the only place to go on successive dives is further in. A couple hundred feet in is what is known as the stair case. The staircase is a steep drop to about 145. The cave runs at 145 - 150 for about 600 ft or so then comes up to about 135. A little further on is a big room. We have been in to just shy of the room and the plan this time is to see as much of the room as we can. The map shows the far end of the room to be 160 ft to the cieling.
Now for packing and planning. Most everything will be done at the last minute because we were busy all week. Monday - unpacking from last weekend and teaching in the classroom, Teusday - teaching in the pool. wednesday - meeting with the Boy Scouts about the venture group we are spnsoring. Thursday - pool again.
That brings us to Friday. Looks like we will have a long night mixing gas, inspecting, organizing and packing equipment. Bottom gas will be some 18/40 we mixed for a Lake Superior trip that was canceled a couple of weeks ago. We will need one stage for the dive we're planning and that has yet to be mixed. I also need to rig another reg for the stage. 50% needs to be mixed. O2 botlles and Argon needs to be topped off. We also have to do some mixing for some others that are joining us (a seperate team).
We'll get all that done Friday night and have everything organized on the floor of the shop. We'll sleep in on Saturday Then stop by the shop on the way out of town to load the truck and do a final check of every thing. Need to remember new batteries for the backup lights.
Not much new dive planning to do because the dive will be the same as the one two weeks ago with an additional 10 min or so of bottom time and of course a little more deco.
We'll spend the rest of the day Saturday driving the 7+ hours. Once we get there we get dinner and head for the hotel where we will do go over the dive plan and put schedules on slates, batteries in lights and all that other last minute stuff.
Sunday morning we'll grab a light breakfast and be at the Waynsville police station at 7 am to sign in. Once at the spring it will take an hour or so to put everything together, carry stage and deco bottles down to the spring basin and gear up.
After the dive and some surface time I'll take my son in for a cavern dive. The cave has a great cavern zone. Then we load up and head back. We usually get home about 1 am and have one Hell of a mess to streighten up the next day.
This dive is only this easy to prepare for because we have done most of it before.
The dive will be in Roubidoux springs in Missouri. I really like this cave. Much like the Florida caves it is gorgeous with 30 - 60 foot vis. Right now the flow is very low allowing descent penetration even for those of us that don't have scooters. There is only one passage so the only place to go on successive dives is further in. A couple hundred feet in is what is known as the stair case. The staircase is a steep drop to about 145. The cave runs at 145 - 150 for about 600 ft or so then comes up to about 135. A little further on is a big room. We have been in to just shy of the room and the plan this time is to see as much of the room as we can. The map shows the far end of the room to be 160 ft to the cieling.
Now for packing and planning. Most everything will be done at the last minute because we were busy all week. Monday - unpacking from last weekend and teaching in the classroom, Teusday - teaching in the pool. wednesday - meeting with the Boy Scouts about the venture group we are spnsoring. Thursday - pool again.
That brings us to Friday. Looks like we will have a long night mixing gas, inspecting, organizing and packing equipment. Bottom gas will be some 18/40 we mixed for a Lake Superior trip that was canceled a couple of weeks ago. We will need one stage for the dive we're planning and that has yet to be mixed. I also need to rig another reg for the stage. 50% needs to be mixed. O2 botlles and Argon needs to be topped off. We also have to do some mixing for some others that are joining us (a seperate team).
We'll get all that done Friday night and have everything organized on the floor of the shop. We'll sleep in on Saturday Then stop by the shop on the way out of town to load the truck and do a final check of every thing. Need to remember new batteries for the backup lights.
Not much new dive planning to do because the dive will be the same as the one two weeks ago with an additional 10 min or so of bottom time and of course a little more deco.
We'll spend the rest of the day Saturday driving the 7+ hours. Once we get there we get dinner and head for the hotel where we will do go over the dive plan and put schedules on slates, batteries in lights and all that other last minute stuff.
Sunday morning we'll grab a light breakfast and be at the Waynsville police station at 7 am to sign in. Once at the spring it will take an hour or so to put everything together, carry stage and deco bottles down to the spring basin and gear up.
After the dive and some surface time I'll take my son in for a cavern dive. The cave has a great cavern zone. Then we load up and head back. We usually get home about 1 am and have one Hell of a mess to streighten up the next day.
This dive is only this easy to prepare for because we have done most of it before.
