SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
DogHouseDiver swung by my house Thursday night and we loaded up his trailer and the back of his hatchback for a weekend of diving. We cruised over to Pensacola and crashed at the "Dog House". DHD would be taking a cavern class this weekend and his buddy Paul would be joining him for it, he lives in Pensacola which would make our Friday start a little easier as we'd be a little further East than our homes in AL. Great place to crash too, it has a dive locker where wet gear can be hanged to drip and dry. Can't beat the fire pit, pool, and bar too! We cranked the internet up and headed over to Perrone's Vimeo page to watch a couple cave diving video's before calling it a night.
Friday 4-24-9, Jackson Blue
Friday morning came early and Paul cooked up some eggs, ham, and there was fresh bread on hand for breakfast. We loaded up the trailer with more gear, and started setting up tanks for the upcoming classes.
Then Paul got a call, they had a broken 'copter that needed to be fixed so he would have to work. A little calling around and it was decided that we would continue on and with a little luck, Paul would meet up with DGD later that night and catch up on Saturday. So we got a bit of a late start and eventually made it over to Cave Adventurers and met up with BGillespie while we filled up some tanks. Then, off to Jackson Blue our three person team went.
Flow seemed to be significant and a very strong boil was showing. The water was down close to a foot from the last time I was there and the basin was crystal clear. We geared up and got our gear to the water to start our dive. The three of us did a very basic dive at first so DogHouseDiver could get readjusted to his gear and continue getting accustomed to the new setup. Once he signaled and waved us on, BGillespie and I headed in for a cave dive.
BGill led the dive through the cavern and down the chimney and tied off to the goldline and I helped light up the jump he tied into, called the Goodman Circuit. He led in as we fought the flow, which was still very evident in the sidepassage. It had been a little while since I've been in this very nice looking passage and the silt mounds, clay banks, and low bedding plane formations along the outskirts were very ejoyable. Once the passage started up towards the cavern area again, we came across something unexpected. There was a large, 2.5-3', grass carp laying on the bottom. I thought it was dead, but apparently it had enough life to whip its tale a few times at BGillespie. It wouldn't be alive for long, I'm sure the cave crawfish population will enjoy the free meal. It must have gotten lost when the water levels were higher and the water visibility dropped(very milky). We made our way up the passage to where it comes up the top of the back of the cavern and drops vertically down a fissure crack and loops back on itself. The Goodman circuit is alot of fun! Once back at the mainline, I jumped off to the Young's Siphon line and led to its EOL where it goes under a tight duck under, then pinches off at a restriction. There's also a small opening that allows you to see the goldine in the cavern. We turned there and headed back to the goldline. We had originally planned another jump, if gas allowed, but we cancelled that and made our exit with very minimal deco(2 min on O2). Had a max depth of 95' for 64 minutes of run time. Great dive!
We headed over to Cave Adventurers to get some quick fills and hoped to pick up a new Nomad rig for Paul(but it hadn't gotten setup yet). Gordon had to leave shop to mail out some packages, but DogHouseDivers got his fills atleast first. I thought my tanks were filled as well, but I was mistaken
We made it over to Wakulla Dive Center for 6:30PM where DogHouseDiver would be going over paperwork, lectures on cavern diving, and doing a pool session. There was one other diver there and another was missing still. BGillespie filled up and we wished DHD luck and headed out.
BGillespie and I checked another sink on the way to Tallahassee and found the water levels much lower than what we had seen on previous visits. The water also looked fairly clear, so we decided we'd be diving there on Saturday. I made a call to Perrone Ford and he met us up at a restraunt in Tallahassee called Po-Boys and the three of us had a great meal catching up and joking around. I didn't have my hopes up for a good Po-Boy in Florida, but I was suprised in a good way Crashed at BGillespie's that night and prepared for another relatively early start in the morning.
More to come.
Friday 4-24-9, Jackson Blue
Friday morning came early and Paul cooked up some eggs, ham, and there was fresh bread on hand for breakfast. We loaded up the trailer with more gear, and started setting up tanks for the upcoming classes.
Then Paul got a call, they had a broken 'copter that needed to be fixed so he would have to work. A little calling around and it was decided that we would continue on and with a little luck, Paul would meet up with DGD later that night and catch up on Saturday. So we got a bit of a late start and eventually made it over to Cave Adventurers and met up with BGillespie while we filled up some tanks. Then, off to Jackson Blue our three person team went.
Flow seemed to be significant and a very strong boil was showing. The water was down close to a foot from the last time I was there and the basin was crystal clear. We geared up and got our gear to the water to start our dive. The three of us did a very basic dive at first so DogHouseDiver could get readjusted to his gear and continue getting accustomed to the new setup. Once he signaled and waved us on, BGillespie and I headed in for a cave dive.
BGill led the dive through the cavern and down the chimney and tied off to the goldline and I helped light up the jump he tied into, called the Goodman Circuit. He led in as we fought the flow, which was still very evident in the sidepassage. It had been a little while since I've been in this very nice looking passage and the silt mounds, clay banks, and low bedding plane formations along the outskirts were very ejoyable. Once the passage started up towards the cavern area again, we came across something unexpected. There was a large, 2.5-3', grass carp laying on the bottom. I thought it was dead, but apparently it had enough life to whip its tale a few times at BGillespie. It wouldn't be alive for long, I'm sure the cave crawfish population will enjoy the free meal. It must have gotten lost when the water levels were higher and the water visibility dropped(very milky). We made our way up the passage to where it comes up the top of the back of the cavern and drops vertically down a fissure crack and loops back on itself. The Goodman circuit is alot of fun! Once back at the mainline, I jumped off to the Young's Siphon line and led to its EOL where it goes under a tight duck under, then pinches off at a restriction. There's also a small opening that allows you to see the goldine in the cavern. We turned there and headed back to the goldline. We had originally planned another jump, if gas allowed, but we cancelled that and made our exit with very minimal deco(2 min on O2). Had a max depth of 95' for 64 minutes of run time. Great dive!
We headed over to Cave Adventurers to get some quick fills and hoped to pick up a new Nomad rig for Paul(but it hadn't gotten setup yet). Gordon had to leave shop to mail out some packages, but DogHouseDivers got his fills atleast first. I thought my tanks were filled as well, but I was mistaken
We made it over to Wakulla Dive Center for 6:30PM where DogHouseDiver would be going over paperwork, lectures on cavern diving, and doing a pool session. There was one other diver there and another was missing still. BGillespie filled up and we wished DHD luck and headed out.
BGillespie and I checked another sink on the way to Tallahassee and found the water levels much lower than what we had seen on previous visits. The water also looked fairly clear, so we decided we'd be diving there on Saturday. I made a call to Perrone Ford and he met us up at a restraunt in Tallahassee called Po-Boys and the three of us had a great meal catching up and joking around. I didn't have my hopes up for a good Po-Boy in Florida, but I was suprised in a good way Crashed at BGillespie's that night and prepared for another relatively early start in the morning.
More to come.