SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
Morrison Springs 7-21-7
After a bit of dancing around trying to secure some buddies for diving this weekend, Saturday ended up bringing quite a few divers out of the woodwork. I got onsite about an hour early for our 2PM dive time to adjust some gear around(my regs were setup for single tanks and I'd be diving doubles this weekend). I also wanted to take some pics of the site now that everything has been leveled. The structures that used to act as bathrooms, changing rooms, and a diveshop have been toppled, leveled, and dirted over. The pavillion is gone as well, leaving the seawall(benches still attached) as the only manmade structures left onsite(they still have some port-o-potties). I wasn't the only person to show up early. Captain Grumby was onsite and SeaYoda was onsite shortly afterwards. Halftime(who will find ScubaBoard shortly, no doubt) also met up with us after seeing my buddy fishing on MBT's forums. Tony and Josh(both from MBT) were also onsite with a class. eanxgirl was onsite with a different OW class. A group of Tom Smedley's friend had also joined us. Quite a few divers onsite, obviously, then there were the locals...
Visibility in the basin was suprisingly decent, considering the traffic at 30-50' and we made a beeline to the cavern. The typical inhabitants could be found inside cavern; eels, catfish, minnows, rockbass, ect. Hit a max depth of 85' until I hit 1/6ths and SeaYoda and I turned the dive(Captain Grumby and Halftime had already turned at 1/3rds on singles). We all goofed around in the basin for a short period of time before exitting the water after 41 minutes.
We had a fairly uneventfull SI for just over an hour, catching up. Although we were harrassed by a drunken girl(?) from Geneva, AL(she was proud of this, why?). Being dissappointed after not finding any of us to be armed forces or police, she stumbled elsewhere. cmufieldhockey8 was also onsite by this time and she joined us for the second dive. Less people onsite allowed the spring to push quite a bit of the silt downstream and visibility improved to 50-60'. I ran line into the cavern this time and we followed the same dive plan. At turnaround pressure, I spooled everything back up with 2 minutes of NDL time to spare
I hit a max depth of 88'. We goofed around again in the basin for a short period of time before heading out to dryland for a divetime of 45 minutes.
Vortex Springs 7-21-7
SeaYoda and Captain Grumby headed to Sally's, cmufieldhockey8 headed out to get ready for a cave dive further East(Jackson Blue), leaving the group of Tom Smedley's buddies, HalfTime, and me to join Tom Smedley and Rick Murchison's classes with thier customary cookout at Vortex. After sampling quite a few different sausages, one of the classes decided to do a night dive. Seemed like a good idea, so HalfTime and I jumped in as well. The recent algae blume onsite has been dealt with and visibility was clearer than I've seen in quite some time with visibility in the 25-50' range. It was gin clear the following morning after the silt was allowed to settle. Parking is cut in half at the spring due to the feud between Doc and the new owners, just a little warning. The normal residents were out, bream, bass, coi(goldfish), eels, and rockbass could be found easily. Hit a max depth of 59' for a dive lasting 46 minutes.
Morrison Springs 7-22-7
After crashing for the night in the back of my station wagon, I made it back to Morrison by 8AM. HalfTime would be along for the dives as well. The early times allowed us to enjoy far greater visibility than on Saturday. We had atleast 100' of visibility during our first dive and we followed the same diveplan as on Saturday. I ran line into the cavern and we dove till our turnaround pressures. Afterwards, we goofed around in the basin for a short period of time before exitting the water. I hit a max depth of 88' for a dive lasting 35 minutes.
Another SI for a bit over an hour left enough time for quite a few classes to arrive onsite and get in the water. jvehie was onsite teaching a Search and Rescue Class. Visibility was reduced considerably and there was nearly no visibility just outside the cavern entrance due to particulate and mung kicked up and tumbling in the exitting flow. Outside of this area would clear to about 30' of visibility. As always, the cavern was pristine. Again, we followed the same divetime and at turnaround pressure, I reeled the line in that I deployed on the previous dive. After exitting the cavern, we ventured down the spring run a bit and were rewarded with the sites of bowfin, mullet, and pike. The run is always fun for seeing more wildlife since very few people venture outside the basin - less traffic always means more numerous and more variety of creatures to be seen. Max depth of 87' for a total dive time of 46 minutes.
HalfTime headed back to Vortex to spend some time with the rest of his family and I joined jvehie at Sally's for some bacon cheeseburgers and sour creme and chives fries. Shortly after arriving there, PHD and MDB joined us for a spill. PHD came equipped with laptop and aerial videography and a toy plane in the yard. Had a great lunch and headed home.
Another great weekend at the panhandle springs. Looking forward to cavern classes next weekend for a little more of the same, this time with a purpose - LOL.
After a bit of dancing around trying to secure some buddies for diving this weekend, Saturday ended up bringing quite a few divers out of the woodwork. I got onsite about an hour early for our 2PM dive time to adjust some gear around(my regs were setup for single tanks and I'd be diving doubles this weekend). I also wanted to take some pics of the site now that everything has been leveled. The structures that used to act as bathrooms, changing rooms, and a diveshop have been toppled, leveled, and dirted over. The pavillion is gone as well, leaving the seawall(benches still attached) as the only manmade structures left onsite(they still have some port-o-potties). I wasn't the only person to show up early. Captain Grumby was onsite and SeaYoda was onsite shortly afterwards. Halftime(who will find ScubaBoard shortly, no doubt) also met up with us after seeing my buddy fishing on MBT's forums. Tony and Josh(both from MBT) were also onsite with a class. eanxgirl was onsite with a different OW class. A group of Tom Smedley's friend had also joined us. Quite a few divers onsite, obviously, then there were the locals...
Visibility in the basin was suprisingly decent, considering the traffic at 30-50' and we made a beeline to the cavern. The typical inhabitants could be found inside cavern; eels, catfish, minnows, rockbass, ect. Hit a max depth of 85' until I hit 1/6ths and SeaYoda and I turned the dive(Captain Grumby and Halftime had already turned at 1/3rds on singles). We all goofed around in the basin for a short period of time before exitting the water after 41 minutes.
We had a fairly uneventfull SI for just over an hour, catching up. Although we were harrassed by a drunken girl(?) from Geneva, AL(she was proud of this, why?). Being dissappointed after not finding any of us to be armed forces or police, she stumbled elsewhere. cmufieldhockey8 was also onsite by this time and she joined us for the second dive. Less people onsite allowed the spring to push quite a bit of the silt downstream and visibility improved to 50-60'. I ran line into the cavern this time and we followed the same dive plan. At turnaround pressure, I spooled everything back up with 2 minutes of NDL time to spare
I hit a max depth of 88'. We goofed around again in the basin for a short period of time before heading out to dryland for a divetime of 45 minutes. Vortex Springs 7-21-7
SeaYoda and Captain Grumby headed to Sally's, cmufieldhockey8 headed out to get ready for a cave dive further East(Jackson Blue), leaving the group of Tom Smedley's buddies, HalfTime, and me to join Tom Smedley and Rick Murchison's classes with thier customary cookout at Vortex. After sampling quite a few different sausages, one of the classes decided to do a night dive. Seemed like a good idea, so HalfTime and I jumped in as well. The recent algae blume onsite has been dealt with and visibility was clearer than I've seen in quite some time with visibility in the 25-50' range. It was gin clear the following morning after the silt was allowed to settle. Parking is cut in half at the spring due to the feud between Doc and the new owners, just a little warning. The normal residents were out, bream, bass, coi(goldfish), eels, and rockbass could be found easily. Hit a max depth of 59' for a dive lasting 46 minutes.
Morrison Springs 7-22-7
After crashing for the night in the back of my station wagon, I made it back to Morrison by 8AM. HalfTime would be along for the dives as well. The early times allowed us to enjoy far greater visibility than on Saturday. We had atleast 100' of visibility during our first dive and we followed the same diveplan as on Saturday. I ran line into the cavern and we dove till our turnaround pressures. Afterwards, we goofed around in the basin for a short period of time before exitting the water. I hit a max depth of 88' for a dive lasting 35 minutes.
Another SI for a bit over an hour left enough time for quite a few classes to arrive onsite and get in the water. jvehie was onsite teaching a Search and Rescue Class. Visibility was reduced considerably and there was nearly no visibility just outside the cavern entrance due to particulate and mung kicked up and tumbling in the exitting flow. Outside of this area would clear to about 30' of visibility. As always, the cavern was pristine. Again, we followed the same divetime and at turnaround pressure, I reeled the line in that I deployed on the previous dive. After exitting the cavern, we ventured down the spring run a bit and were rewarded with the sites of bowfin, mullet, and pike. The run is always fun for seeing more wildlife since very few people venture outside the basin - less traffic always means more numerous and more variety of creatures to be seen. Max depth of 87' for a total dive time of 46 minutes.
HalfTime headed back to Vortex to spend some time with the rest of his family and I joined jvehie at Sally's for some bacon cheeseburgers and sour creme and chives fries. Shortly after arriving there, PHD and MDB joined us for a spill. PHD came equipped with laptop and aerial videography and a toy plane in the yard. Had a great lunch and headed home.
Another great weekend at the panhandle springs. Looking forward to cavern classes next weekend for a little more of the same, this time with a purpose - LOL.
