SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
I met up with Kevin Carlisle at the I-10 exit and we loaded up my dive gear into his truck Thursday afternoon and headed East. Sally's made for a great meal, as always, and gave us a good little break in the drive before hitting up Marianna for the night. Friday morning came early, and we were able to sleep in till 7AM since we came out the night before and it was well worth it. McDonalds(we signed in at the Sheriff's Dept first) has a buy one get one free McMuffin deal right now, which we took advantage of before hitting up Cave Adventurers for some fresh fills. Gordon got us back on the road in no time and we were at Blue Springs Park.
Good Friday, a holiday weekend, blue skies and warm tempertures and most of the caves out East are flooded(or will be soon). All this, and we had the park to ourselves, and that wouldn't change all day. It was suprising, but welcomed. The water was high, but from the surface, noticably clearer from last Saturday. Still a very copious boil along the surface that a stiff south wind couldn't hide.
We hit the water and Kevin tied in with the primary and led the way to the goldline, where he tied in and we continued on. Flow was strong and easiest progress was made by carefully picking your path where you can pull and glide along the cave. The sand at the bottom of the chimney constantly stirred from the waters pushing through and up into the cavern area. Once at the bottom of the chimney, in the main passage, progress was slow and we were just shy of chickenhead rock, a little further than the first breakdown, when we turned our dive. The ride out was easy. Just let go, and you get shot out. Care had to be given coming out the chimney so you didn't get shot upwards, risking an embolism. Exitting the cavern was a bit more controlled as the flow was more dissapated. We left the reel in for our next dive and did a 3 minute stop before exitting after a dive with a max depth of 96' for 32 minutes.
Congratulations Kevin, on your 200th dive!
We spent a little better than 2 hours on the surface, just talking about diving, suprised at the lack of anyone else diving on such a great day! Once back in the water, we were able to set our attention straight into the cave as the reel was already in place. We progressed about 600'p in this time around, a little further than chickenhead rock, when we turned the dive. Again, exitting the main passage was quick! The cavern was relaxing and Kevin pulled the reel on this dive and we sat out on the ledge just inside the cavern for another safety stop before exitting after another dive to 96' for 32 minutes(mimmicking our first dive, but with a little longer penetration). On our exit, a plane buzzed the pond and titled its wings at us a few times, letting us know Edd Sorenson was back in town. He continued on down the pond to buzz his house, probably to make sure Gordon was still awake - LOL.
Nearly two hours later, we were back in the water, for one last dive. This time we would just be doing a glorified cavern dive. I ran a longer jump spool from OW back to the goldline and we headed to the bottom of the breakdown in the cavern(on the east side). I pointed out the end of one of the jump lines visible from a smallish hole that connects the cavern to this lower passage. Then we headed to the back of the cavern where we looked at the water sampling equipment and Kevin saw a part of the Goodman Circuit that extends into the back of the main cavern chamber. After that we spent lots of time looking at the fossils embedded in the walls, ceilings, floor, and breakdown pretty much everywhere. We poked in and out of any nook and cranny we could find until the dive was called. I spooled back into the cavern for another safety before exitting with a max depth of 57' for a dive lasting 51 minutes. This was my favorite dive of the day, simply relaxing!
We zipped back over to Edds after gearing down and packing up, payed up, BS'd a bit(its mandatory), then headed into Marianna for some grub. We hit up Old Mexico, one of my favorites and the place was packed out. The food was excellent and filling and we headed back home, talked cave diving the entire time. The trip went by quickly! Always a good time diving with some awesome buddies, looking forward to next time!
Good Friday, a holiday weekend, blue skies and warm tempertures and most of the caves out East are flooded(or will be soon). All this, and we had the park to ourselves, and that wouldn't change all day. It was suprising, but welcomed. The water was high, but from the surface, noticably clearer from last Saturday. Still a very copious boil along the surface that a stiff south wind couldn't hide.
We hit the water and Kevin tied in with the primary and led the way to the goldline, where he tied in and we continued on. Flow was strong and easiest progress was made by carefully picking your path where you can pull and glide along the cave. The sand at the bottom of the chimney constantly stirred from the waters pushing through and up into the cavern area. Once at the bottom of the chimney, in the main passage, progress was slow and we were just shy of chickenhead rock, a little further than the first breakdown, when we turned our dive. The ride out was easy. Just let go, and you get shot out. Care had to be given coming out the chimney so you didn't get shot upwards, risking an embolism. Exitting the cavern was a bit more controlled as the flow was more dissapated. We left the reel in for our next dive and did a 3 minute stop before exitting after a dive with a max depth of 96' for 32 minutes.
Congratulations Kevin, on your 200th dive!
We spent a little better than 2 hours on the surface, just talking about diving, suprised at the lack of anyone else diving on such a great day! Once back in the water, we were able to set our attention straight into the cave as the reel was already in place. We progressed about 600'p in this time around, a little further than chickenhead rock, when we turned the dive. Again, exitting the main passage was quick! The cavern was relaxing and Kevin pulled the reel on this dive and we sat out on the ledge just inside the cavern for another safety stop before exitting after another dive to 96' for 32 minutes(mimmicking our first dive, but with a little longer penetration). On our exit, a plane buzzed the pond and titled its wings at us a few times, letting us know Edd Sorenson was back in town. He continued on down the pond to buzz his house, probably to make sure Gordon was still awake - LOL.
Nearly two hours later, we were back in the water, for one last dive. This time we would just be doing a glorified cavern dive. I ran a longer jump spool from OW back to the goldline and we headed to the bottom of the breakdown in the cavern(on the east side). I pointed out the end of one of the jump lines visible from a smallish hole that connects the cavern to this lower passage. Then we headed to the back of the cavern where we looked at the water sampling equipment and Kevin saw a part of the Goodman Circuit that extends into the back of the main cavern chamber. After that we spent lots of time looking at the fossils embedded in the walls, ceilings, floor, and breakdown pretty much everywhere. We poked in and out of any nook and cranny we could find until the dive was called. I spooled back into the cavern for another safety before exitting with a max depth of 57' for a dive lasting 51 minutes. This was my favorite dive of the day, simply relaxing!
We zipped back over to Edds after gearing down and packing up, payed up, BS'd a bit(its mandatory), then headed into Marianna for some grub. We hit up Old Mexico, one of my favorites and the place was packed out. The food was excellent and filling and we headed back home, talked cave diving the entire time. The trip went by quickly! Always a good time diving with some awesome buddies, looking forward to next time!
