SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
Jackson Blue 5-14-9
Kevin Carlisle swung by my place late Thursday morning for an easy, no rush start for a weekend of cave diving. We planned to take our time over the trip and we talked cave diving nearly the entire time. Stopped at the Ponce De Leon exit and finally got to try the Speedy Dogs there, the chilli dogs were great and Kevin swears by the burgers. Afterwards, we headed over to Vortex to catch up with Shane and Andrea over there. Once we got the low down on all the new happenings, we figured it was time to head over to Marianna. First thing we did was grab a hotel room and unloaded the Miss Jellyfish, which I had packed away for the trip. Once we finished up with that, it was off to Cave Adventurers to grab some fills and sign in for diving at Jackson Blue.
It was windy and the skies were pretty dark in the distance, but we managed to gear up and hit the water before conditions got too nasty. The flow was down from two weekends ago, but still made for sporty swimming when you couldn't duck out of the way. Kevin tied into the Goldline and I led from there, picking out some of the better places to swim the cave up the goldline. Whats left of the grass carp we found two weeks ago in the Goodman Circuit can be found in the cavern now. Visibility had improved to 80' or so, another improvement from two weekends ago. We hit about 700'p before the dive was called and we simply let the flow carry us out. I pointed out a few of the jumps in the beginning portion of the cave. We had a total dive time of 51 minutes with a max depth of 97', it was raining a bit when we exitted, but not bad. By the time we finished packing up, it was storming.
Ben M met up with us at the park and we hit up Old Mexico for dinner. That place always hits the spot!
5-15-9
Morning came and we loaded up a bit and headed out to McD's for an Egg McMuffin and hit a gas station up for a couple drinks. Once again we hit up Edd's to sign in to dive Jackson Blue and also to meet up with BamaMedic and Ben M who'd both be diving with us. The weather was decent in the morning!
I volunteered to run the reel on the first dive and lead the way so BamaMedic could see some of the better areas of the cave to swim in order to avoid the majority of the flow. Kevin brought up the rear and Ben shadowed the entire team. We made it to about 600'p before the dive was turned and we headed back out, again just letting the flow push us towards the exit. We had a great little dive lasting 35 minutes with a max depth of 95'.
Just over an hour later, we were back in the water. This time, BamaMedic ran the reel and led the dive. We used the same tanks as our previous dive(actually, I was still working off my original fill from yesterday) and we still managed to get about 500' into the cave for a dive lasting 34 minutes with a max depth of 95'. Definately a great set of dives to start the day! BamaMedic saved the day with all kinds of sandwich stuff to eat on for lunch.
I parted ways with Kevin and BamaMedic after our great dives and loaded up with Ben M and headed over to Edd's for some fills and to meet up with Spd135. We headed back to the Executive to pick up the boat and headed back to the Fish Camp boatlaunch, setup the Miss Jellyfish, and launched out with two sets of gear and myself and Spd riding shotgun. I dumped Spd and all the gear off at the platform at Hole in the Wall and zipped over to Edd's to pick up Ben M and the rest of the gear we'd be using. After a bit of shuttling around, we had everything and everyone at the cave.
Our original plan was to run up to the Century Tunnel in hopes of finding some clearer water. The visibility on the mainline was around 30' upstream and downstream. I ran the reel(3:46 SI from our previous dive) to the upstream line and we started our way down the cave, taking note of all the jumps in the beginning of the upstream passage(more than I realized). At about 900'p Spd135 had an Oring extrude from his 2nd stage which turned our dive. The dive out was uneventfull and once we had Spd back to the chimney to the cavern area, he OK'd us to continue on. I pulled out my wetnotes and we decided to head downstream for a bit. I swapped the primary from the upstream to the downstream mainline and we headed up the opposite cave. I turned the dive a bit early of thirds at the Big E, around 700'p. I had a max depth of 85' for a dive lasting 67 minutes including 3 minutes on O2.
We surfaced to some very close lightning strikes and thunder as well as a few showers here and there. I zipped Ben M and all the tanks over to Edds. Afterwards, I picked Spd135 up and we hauled ass back to the boat launch and did a super quick and dirty breakdown on the boat. By the time we met back up with Ben M at Edds, most of the storm had passed and the thunder and lightning seemed to be further off in the distance. We grabbed some fresh fills and headed back to the hotel rooms for showers and headed off to the Cornerstone for dinner with several other cave divers as well as Stacey and Edd. My food was great, the great majority of everyone else weren't exactly satisfied and the service was slow. It wasn't the first time I've had slow service at the Cornerstone, but it was the first time I've heard anyone complain about the food. Hopefully it was just a bad day for them. I fell asleep quickly.
5-16-9
Spd135, Ben M, and I headed out early for some quick breakfast at McDs and then off for some diving on the Chipola. We headed a bit south of Marianna and setup the boat along the side of the Chipola off a common area found by dirt road. Actually, we were starting a little further downstream than my usual put-in since some campers had already claimed my typical launching zone. The next suitable site downstream was actually downstream of a nasty set of shoals, luckily the water levels were high enough that the boat had no problems zipping over them. Normally, I would not have been able to traverse this area. We kept the boat light and I met Spd and Ben at a bridge upstream, where we loaded up tanks and one person, shuttled them to the site, and picked up the remaining gear and person to get all three of us to a hole in the river.
This is a great little river cave that supposedly rarely blows out, and despite the higher water levels, it was issuing crystal clear water with 100' visibility and a respectable flow. I ran the primary in and let the other two take the lead as they aren't as familiar with the site as me. The cave changes forms several times over as you progress inwards with small wormhole passage, to breakdown rooms, to craggly windy passages. It also holds some very large flathead catfish. We made it about 50' short of the sidemount restriction, which I believe is around 1600'p, before the dive was called. The ride out was alot of fun, gently coasting out with the flow using your fins just to maneuver you out of the way of incoming limestone projections and breakdowns. I had a max depth of 39' for a total dive time of 67 minutes.
We made excellent time loading back up and heading back to the Mill Pond where we set the boat back in the water at the dirt ramp on Day Loop. Ben M went and picked up some lunch for us at Subway and eventually met back up with us topside at JB. Spd135 and I headed to JB on the Miss Jellyfish to get another short dive in to complete the day. We also met up with Cwick and one of his buddies as he was getting aquainted with his new sidemount rig!
We were in the water again a bit more than two and a half hours after our river cave dive. This time Spd135 led the dive and ran a primary into a shelf at the back of the beginning-upper section of the cavern. It didn't go so we poked into the main cavern and looked around a bit before dropping into the chimney. We talked about doing the Goodman Circuit, but Spd decided the Young's Siphon was a better jump to explore with the amount of gas he had before turning the dive. We poked around a bit more on the way out and surfaced with a total dive time of 46 minutes with a max depth of 93'.
As what was becoming normal... It was storming again and I was glad that I didn't have a metal boat. We hauled ass to the dirt launch and packed up and scooted back over to Edds for more fills. We ended up over there for quite awhile chatting with everyone else coming in to escape the elements and get fills or unload some $$.
We ended up at Po Folks that night for dinner, it had been easily 15 years since I had eaten at one. The food was the expected country cookin, but I think I'm set again for atleast another decade. Watched a bit of Die Hard 2 and Terminator 3 before deciding it was late enough to get some sleep.
5-17-9 Twin Caves
One more early morning and breakfast at McD's under our belts before our dive team of three hit up the dirt launch again to set up the Miss Jellyfish. It was foggy, but atleast we didn't hear any lightning! We hoped it would hold out until the afternoon, when we'd hopefully be packed up and in the car. We played the shuttle game one last time to get everyone(me, Ben M, and Spd135) over to the platform at Twin Caves. We were treated to an Owl eating on a freshly caught bream on one of the trees close to the platform. It was probably the closest I've ever been to a wild owl and it didn't really spook from our presence - and I didn't bring my camera - LOL. Damnit.
I led the dive and we set a steady pace down the Subway Tunnel. We opted to drop down the 2nd fissure into the deep section in order to stay shallow a bit longer, for a little extra gas to be used in the deep section. We dropped down to the deep section and hit the double arrows, where I set a jump up to the line opposite the mainline. We swam upstream and noted the area of a jump we hoped to explore a bit if we had gas after checking out the Terminal Room. We made it to the "T" before the dive was called and we started our exit. I pulled the jump and we cruised down the opposite side of the circuit and ascended up the downstream fissure in order to see a little different scenery on the way out. The swim out was uneventfull but nice as visibility was much improved over my dives here two weeks previous. I had a max depth of 104' for a dive lasting 73 minutes. It was overcast as we surfaced, but the sun was actually peaking out on occassion. We relaxed for quite a bit at the platform before heading back to pack up and leave.
Once the boat and all the dive gear was packed away in the Spd's van, we decided to head to Zaxby's for some lunch. It was great and I think we were all pretty exhausted. The storms hit us again on the way back West, but atleast we weren't on the boat in the middle of the Mill Pond this time around. It was another great trip and I'm very much looking forward to the next one. Can't beat the excellent caves around here and great dive buddies!
Kevin Carlisle swung by my place late Thursday morning for an easy, no rush start for a weekend of cave diving. We planned to take our time over the trip and we talked cave diving nearly the entire time. Stopped at the Ponce De Leon exit and finally got to try the Speedy Dogs there, the chilli dogs were great and Kevin swears by the burgers. Afterwards, we headed over to Vortex to catch up with Shane and Andrea over there. Once we got the low down on all the new happenings, we figured it was time to head over to Marianna. First thing we did was grab a hotel room and unloaded the Miss Jellyfish, which I had packed away for the trip. Once we finished up with that, it was off to Cave Adventurers to grab some fills and sign in for diving at Jackson Blue.
It was windy and the skies were pretty dark in the distance, but we managed to gear up and hit the water before conditions got too nasty. The flow was down from two weekends ago, but still made for sporty swimming when you couldn't duck out of the way. Kevin tied into the Goldline and I led from there, picking out some of the better places to swim the cave up the goldline. Whats left of the grass carp we found two weeks ago in the Goodman Circuit can be found in the cavern now. Visibility had improved to 80' or so, another improvement from two weekends ago. We hit about 700'p before the dive was called and we simply let the flow carry us out. I pointed out a few of the jumps in the beginning portion of the cave. We had a total dive time of 51 minutes with a max depth of 97', it was raining a bit when we exitted, but not bad. By the time we finished packing up, it was storming.
Ben M met up with us at the park and we hit up Old Mexico for dinner. That place always hits the spot!
5-15-9
Morning came and we loaded up a bit and headed out to McD's for an Egg McMuffin and hit a gas station up for a couple drinks. Once again we hit up Edd's to sign in to dive Jackson Blue and also to meet up with BamaMedic and Ben M who'd both be diving with us. The weather was decent in the morning!
I volunteered to run the reel on the first dive and lead the way so BamaMedic could see some of the better areas of the cave to swim in order to avoid the majority of the flow. Kevin brought up the rear and Ben shadowed the entire team. We made it to about 600'p before the dive was turned and we headed back out, again just letting the flow push us towards the exit. We had a great little dive lasting 35 minutes with a max depth of 95'.
Just over an hour later, we were back in the water. This time, BamaMedic ran the reel and led the dive. We used the same tanks as our previous dive(actually, I was still working off my original fill from yesterday) and we still managed to get about 500' into the cave for a dive lasting 34 minutes with a max depth of 95'. Definately a great set of dives to start the day! BamaMedic saved the day with all kinds of sandwich stuff to eat on for lunch.
I parted ways with Kevin and BamaMedic after our great dives and loaded up with Ben M and headed over to Edd's for some fills and to meet up with Spd135. We headed back to the Executive to pick up the boat and headed back to the Fish Camp boatlaunch, setup the Miss Jellyfish, and launched out with two sets of gear and myself and Spd riding shotgun. I dumped Spd and all the gear off at the platform at Hole in the Wall and zipped over to Edd's to pick up Ben M and the rest of the gear we'd be using. After a bit of shuttling around, we had everything and everyone at the cave.
Our original plan was to run up to the Century Tunnel in hopes of finding some clearer water. The visibility on the mainline was around 30' upstream and downstream. I ran the reel(3:46 SI from our previous dive) to the upstream line and we started our way down the cave, taking note of all the jumps in the beginning of the upstream passage(more than I realized). At about 900'p Spd135 had an Oring extrude from his 2nd stage which turned our dive. The dive out was uneventfull and once we had Spd back to the chimney to the cavern area, he OK'd us to continue on. I pulled out my wetnotes and we decided to head downstream for a bit. I swapped the primary from the upstream to the downstream mainline and we headed up the opposite cave. I turned the dive a bit early of thirds at the Big E, around 700'p. I had a max depth of 85' for a dive lasting 67 minutes including 3 minutes on O2.
We surfaced to some very close lightning strikes and thunder as well as a few showers here and there. I zipped Ben M and all the tanks over to Edds. Afterwards, I picked Spd135 up and we hauled ass back to the boat launch and did a super quick and dirty breakdown on the boat. By the time we met back up with Ben M at Edds, most of the storm had passed and the thunder and lightning seemed to be further off in the distance. We grabbed some fresh fills and headed back to the hotel rooms for showers and headed off to the Cornerstone for dinner with several other cave divers as well as Stacey and Edd. My food was great, the great majority of everyone else weren't exactly satisfied and the service was slow. It wasn't the first time I've had slow service at the Cornerstone, but it was the first time I've heard anyone complain about the food. Hopefully it was just a bad day for them. I fell asleep quickly.
5-16-9
Spd135, Ben M, and I headed out early for some quick breakfast at McDs and then off for some diving on the Chipola. We headed a bit south of Marianna and setup the boat along the side of the Chipola off a common area found by dirt road. Actually, we were starting a little further downstream than my usual put-in since some campers had already claimed my typical launching zone. The next suitable site downstream was actually downstream of a nasty set of shoals, luckily the water levels were high enough that the boat had no problems zipping over them. Normally, I would not have been able to traverse this area. We kept the boat light and I met Spd and Ben at a bridge upstream, where we loaded up tanks and one person, shuttled them to the site, and picked up the remaining gear and person to get all three of us to a hole in the river.
This is a great little river cave that supposedly rarely blows out, and despite the higher water levels, it was issuing crystal clear water with 100' visibility and a respectable flow. I ran the primary in and let the other two take the lead as they aren't as familiar with the site as me. The cave changes forms several times over as you progress inwards with small wormhole passage, to breakdown rooms, to craggly windy passages. It also holds some very large flathead catfish. We made it about 50' short of the sidemount restriction, which I believe is around 1600'p, before the dive was called. The ride out was alot of fun, gently coasting out with the flow using your fins just to maneuver you out of the way of incoming limestone projections and breakdowns. I had a max depth of 39' for a total dive time of 67 minutes.
We made excellent time loading back up and heading back to the Mill Pond where we set the boat back in the water at the dirt ramp on Day Loop. Ben M went and picked up some lunch for us at Subway and eventually met back up with us topside at JB. Spd135 and I headed to JB on the Miss Jellyfish to get another short dive in to complete the day. We also met up with Cwick and one of his buddies as he was getting aquainted with his new sidemount rig!
We were in the water again a bit more than two and a half hours after our river cave dive. This time Spd135 led the dive and ran a primary into a shelf at the back of the beginning-upper section of the cavern. It didn't go so we poked into the main cavern and looked around a bit before dropping into the chimney. We talked about doing the Goodman Circuit, but Spd decided the Young's Siphon was a better jump to explore with the amount of gas he had before turning the dive. We poked around a bit more on the way out and surfaced with a total dive time of 46 minutes with a max depth of 93'.
As what was becoming normal... It was storming again and I was glad that I didn't have a metal boat. We hauled ass to the dirt launch and packed up and scooted back over to Edds for more fills. We ended up over there for quite awhile chatting with everyone else coming in to escape the elements and get fills or unload some $$.
We ended up at Po Folks that night for dinner, it had been easily 15 years since I had eaten at one. The food was the expected country cookin, but I think I'm set again for atleast another decade. Watched a bit of Die Hard 2 and Terminator 3 before deciding it was late enough to get some sleep.
5-17-9 Twin Caves
One more early morning and breakfast at McD's under our belts before our dive team of three hit up the dirt launch again to set up the Miss Jellyfish. It was foggy, but atleast we didn't hear any lightning! We hoped it would hold out until the afternoon, when we'd hopefully be packed up and in the car. We played the shuttle game one last time to get everyone(me, Ben M, and Spd135) over to the platform at Twin Caves. We were treated to an Owl eating on a freshly caught bream on one of the trees close to the platform. It was probably the closest I've ever been to a wild owl and it didn't really spook from our presence - and I didn't bring my camera - LOL. Damnit.
I led the dive and we set a steady pace down the Subway Tunnel. We opted to drop down the 2nd fissure into the deep section in order to stay shallow a bit longer, for a little extra gas to be used in the deep section. We dropped down to the deep section and hit the double arrows, where I set a jump up to the line opposite the mainline. We swam upstream and noted the area of a jump we hoped to explore a bit if we had gas after checking out the Terminal Room. We made it to the "T" before the dive was called and we started our exit. I pulled the jump and we cruised down the opposite side of the circuit and ascended up the downstream fissure in order to see a little different scenery on the way out. The swim out was uneventfull but nice as visibility was much improved over my dives here two weeks previous. I had a max depth of 104' for a dive lasting 73 minutes. It was overcast as we surfaced, but the sun was actually peaking out on occassion. We relaxed for quite a bit at the platform before heading back to pack up and leave.
Once the boat and all the dive gear was packed away in the Spd's van, we decided to head to Zaxby's for some lunch. It was great and I think we were all pretty exhausted. The storms hit us again on the way back West, but atleast we weren't on the boat in the middle of the Mill Pond this time around. It was another great trip and I'm very much looking forward to the next one. Can't beat the excellent caves around here and great dive buddies!
