SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
After OW class around four years ago, I had no intention to ever get into cavern/cave diving. I had poked my head into the cavern at Vortex on several occassions and it just didn't appear to be anything I wanted to get further into. The cavern at Vortex has been beat up, manipulated, and modified too much to be attractive to me at the time. About a year and a half later, I would dive the cavern at Morrison for the first time and found(and still do) myself in awe by its size and beauty. Its a far more natural looking site, and the lower cavern still looks quite natural despite the cave entrance being blown up several decades ago. I would later dive other caverns that are either advertised as being, or reported to be, fairly safe for comfortable OW divers. It was more than enough to wet my appetite and want more, but I knew I'd need training to make my way into some of the less friendly caverns. This would also mean different gear, as my recreational rig just wouldn't get me far into the overhead training.
Fast forward to this summer and I've finally built a cave diving rig and signed up for Cavern Class through Kenny Paramore. I've got to thank algulfdiver(Gary at Gary's Gulf Diver) and Chas Broughton(Underwater Works) for helping me buy the necessary equipment for this endeavor. I've also got to thank Perrone Ford for helping me get it all setup and in the water in the weeks following up to my cavern class. Kenny came recommended from several other cave instructors. I cannot say enough about Ken, he's an excellent instructor and absolutely one of the nicest guys I've ever met. Even then, the lessons he provided came through in the highest seriousness. I will be taking future classes with him.
Morrison Springs 7-28-7
I met up with Kenny P at 9AM onsite at Morrison. We filled out the remaining paperwork that wasn't completed already and discussed what would be done throughout the days dives. We did some line drills around the trees, avoiding poison ivy, and discussed several aspects of reel usage. Ken checked out my gear and we hit the 68*F water. We would be running some line drills in OW on this dive between the cypress, that lays across the dropoff leading to the cavern opening, and the dive platform. The tree has been dragged about 10' downstream from its original resting place. It still spans the dropoff, but likely isn't visibile from the inside of the cavern opening anymore. Its amazing what some idiot can do with a houseboat in a day to effect the look of the site thats had the same scenic entrance for several decades. The drills went off without a hitch and we were out of the water in 16 minutes with a max depth of 20'.
18 minutes later we were back underwater doing a quick S-drill and bubble check before diving down the dropoff towards the cavern entrance. I tied off on the left side of the outside of the entrance and a secondary tieoff just inside the cavern before running line around the cavern clockwise. The primary reel had nearly completely run out of line as I rounded the cavern back to the entrance and tied off just past my original secondary tie-off. We looked around the cavern for a bit before Kenny signalled an exit. I reeled back up and out we went. After a safety stop we were out of the water with a max depth of 83' for 31 minutes.
We had a quick lunch of sandwiches, while Perrone and LIVES4SHARKS, joined us, brining more fruit and some chicken! We discussed the dives and swapped a few stories. Had a great SI of around 2 hours before getting back in the water for our final dive of the day. Another bubblecheck and S-drill, and we were heading back down towards the cavern entrance. This time I tied off on the right side and ran line around the cavern counterclockwise. Afterwards, Kenny had me do a lost line, no visibility(simulated) drill, which was interesting - I died after several attempts. After the drill, I reeled the line back up and we headed out again, with a safety stop before surfacing. Dive to 80' and lasting 37 minutes. We headed to Marianna, which is where we'd be diving on Sunday, dropped tanks off at Cave Adventures, ate dinner(Madison's), then went over the test and more paperwork.
Jackson Blue 7-29-7
After a great night of sleep and a morning shower, some McD's breakfast, a quick check-in at the Sheriff's Dept and a stop at Edd's for the tanks; we found ourselves at Blue Springs Park at the head of Merrit's Mill Pond looking down at Jackson Blue Spring. We were the first people onsite. We followed a similar plan to the previous days diving and decided to run line on the right side of the cavern on this first dive and tie-in to the goldline. Jackson Blue has an awesome cavern, there is a pile of broken down rocks in the center of the longish shaped cavern dividing it, nearly, in two. I had been to the Mill Pond once before on boat, and we had swam to JB to get a look at it, but hadn't been beyond the overhang at the cavern entrance. It was awesome seeing the rest of it, and there is still so much to see. I'm very much looking forward to diving it again. It was a great dive and Kenny pointed out several features that I would have likely missed on my first several visits. Hit a max depth of 89' for a dive lasting 30 minutes. My reeling in wasn't all that tight and there were several loose loops within the reel that would need to be worked out during the SI. D'Oh.
We discussed the dive and decided to run line on the left side of the cavern, which is lower, on this go around. A little over an hour later, we were back in the water checking for bubbles and completing an S-Drill. I ran line nearly to the point of exitting the cavern zone on the left side, then back over the breakdown to tie-in to the goldline. At this point, we explored the cavern until I reached 1/6ths. My reel work in and out was by far the best I've done so far during this class. I enjoyed the hell out of it. Hit a max depth of 52' for 32 minutes. It was a great dive and a great class. I'm really looking forward to getting more profficient at the skills introduced to me. Kenny and I hit a chinese buffet(Fortune Cookie?) in Marianna before checking out of the Sheriff's Dept and going our seperate ways.
It was a great weekend taking a great course. I'd recommend Kenny P to anyone considering taking a cavern course. Jackson Blue can expect me this weekend and surely more weekends to come.
I'm happy to have so many more sites open to me for diving and looking forward to continuing my education!
Fast forward to this summer and I've finally built a cave diving rig and signed up for Cavern Class through Kenny Paramore. I've got to thank algulfdiver(Gary at Gary's Gulf Diver) and Chas Broughton(Underwater Works) for helping me buy the necessary equipment for this endeavor. I've also got to thank Perrone Ford for helping me get it all setup and in the water in the weeks following up to my cavern class. Kenny came recommended from several other cave instructors. I cannot say enough about Ken, he's an excellent instructor and absolutely one of the nicest guys I've ever met. Even then, the lessons he provided came through in the highest seriousness. I will be taking future classes with him.
Morrison Springs 7-28-7
I met up with Kenny P at 9AM onsite at Morrison. We filled out the remaining paperwork that wasn't completed already and discussed what would be done throughout the days dives. We did some line drills around the trees, avoiding poison ivy, and discussed several aspects of reel usage. Ken checked out my gear and we hit the 68*F water. We would be running some line drills in OW on this dive between the cypress, that lays across the dropoff leading to the cavern opening, and the dive platform. The tree has been dragged about 10' downstream from its original resting place. It still spans the dropoff, but likely isn't visibile from the inside of the cavern opening anymore. Its amazing what some idiot can do with a houseboat in a day to effect the look of the site thats had the same scenic entrance for several decades. The drills went off without a hitch and we were out of the water in 16 minutes with a max depth of 20'.
18 minutes later we were back underwater doing a quick S-drill and bubble check before diving down the dropoff towards the cavern entrance. I tied off on the left side of the outside of the entrance and a secondary tieoff just inside the cavern before running line around the cavern clockwise. The primary reel had nearly completely run out of line as I rounded the cavern back to the entrance and tied off just past my original secondary tie-off. We looked around the cavern for a bit before Kenny signalled an exit. I reeled back up and out we went. After a safety stop we were out of the water with a max depth of 83' for 31 minutes.
We had a quick lunch of sandwiches, while Perrone and LIVES4SHARKS, joined us, brining more fruit and some chicken! We discussed the dives and swapped a few stories. Had a great SI of around 2 hours before getting back in the water for our final dive of the day. Another bubblecheck and S-drill, and we were heading back down towards the cavern entrance. This time I tied off on the right side and ran line around the cavern counterclockwise. Afterwards, Kenny had me do a lost line, no visibility(simulated) drill, which was interesting - I died after several attempts. After the drill, I reeled the line back up and we headed out again, with a safety stop before surfacing. Dive to 80' and lasting 37 minutes. We headed to Marianna, which is where we'd be diving on Sunday, dropped tanks off at Cave Adventures, ate dinner(Madison's), then went over the test and more paperwork.
Jackson Blue 7-29-7
After a great night of sleep and a morning shower, some McD's breakfast, a quick check-in at the Sheriff's Dept and a stop at Edd's for the tanks; we found ourselves at Blue Springs Park at the head of Merrit's Mill Pond looking down at Jackson Blue Spring. We were the first people onsite. We followed a similar plan to the previous days diving and decided to run line on the right side of the cavern on this first dive and tie-in to the goldline. Jackson Blue has an awesome cavern, there is a pile of broken down rocks in the center of the longish shaped cavern dividing it, nearly, in two. I had been to the Mill Pond once before on boat, and we had swam to JB to get a look at it, but hadn't been beyond the overhang at the cavern entrance. It was awesome seeing the rest of it, and there is still so much to see. I'm very much looking forward to diving it again. It was a great dive and Kenny pointed out several features that I would have likely missed on my first several visits. Hit a max depth of 89' for a dive lasting 30 minutes. My reeling in wasn't all that tight and there were several loose loops within the reel that would need to be worked out during the SI. D'Oh.
We discussed the dive and decided to run line on the left side of the cavern, which is lower, on this go around. A little over an hour later, we were back in the water checking for bubbles and completing an S-Drill. I ran line nearly to the point of exitting the cavern zone on the left side, then back over the breakdown to tie-in to the goldline. At this point, we explored the cavern until I reached 1/6ths. My reel work in and out was by far the best I've done so far during this class. I enjoyed the hell out of it. Hit a max depth of 52' for 32 minutes. It was a great dive and a great class. I'm really looking forward to getting more profficient at the skills introduced to me. Kenny and I hit a chinese buffet(Fortune Cookie?) in Marianna before checking out of the Sheriff's Dept and going our seperate ways.
It was a great weekend taking a great course. I'd recommend Kenny P to anyone considering taking a cavern course. Jackson Blue can expect me this weekend and surely more weekends to come.
I'm happy to have so many more sites open to me for diving and looking forward to continuing my education!
