SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
DogHouseDiver was playing with the idea of getting a night run into Morrison over the week, so I went ahead and hit up MBT for some air fills during a break between jobs. Thursday came around and I was loaded up with gear incase I had to leave directly from work depending on when DHD would be able to cut out from his job. I ended up finishing up early and he wasn't able to get out before his normal hours, so I managed to get a nap in before meeting up with him at his place. We loaded up the Jetta and headed East, probably a little before 7PM.
We made good time to Morrison and hit a few showers along the way, with lightning being seen in various thunderheads in any general direction. Luckily, it wasn't raining on sight and we could even see stars overhead, but also thunderstorms in just about any direction(just not directly above us). The water was a bit high, and appeared slightly tannic, but clear. A fog was rising ontop the waterway and made for quite a spooky sight, especially at night... There was nobody else at the park, but it was NOISY! We had to practically scream to communicate over the orchestra of frogs, bugs, and birds that were all howling tremendously. It was crazy how loud they were.
We geared up and hit the water, finding clear blue spring water under a tannic layer that only dropped to about 3'. Visibility was 40' and better from there out and improved to spottless near the cavern entrance. The cavern, as always, was crystal clear and our lights illuminated the different formations it the cavern. Morrison's cavern is so nice, there's some neat craggly rock, some crumbly breakdown near the spring vents, lots of sandboils on the bottom, a few claybanks tucked away in some of the smaller alcoves, and lots and lots of eels! DogHouseDiver thumbed the dive on turn pressure and we ascended into OW, then recalculated gas, and I passed him a reel to line us into the shallower cavern. We turned after exploring a bit, with gas turning pressures never coming into play, then proceeded to goof around in OW. At night the bottom comes alive, minnows cover the bottom and reflect light back from our primaries like diamonds. Eels can be found in OW, hunting actively, crawfish tool around scavenging for food, and other fish can be spotted as well. We got buzzed by a nice striped bass and I saw a shadowbass in an old cypress stump. We ended up with a max depth of 74' for a dive lasting 70 minutes.
It never did rain onsite while we were there, but we hit a few showers along the way back home again. Stopped by Burger King, just as they were closing at Midnight, in Crestview to grab some dinner to eat on the ride home. I made it back to my bed around 2AM, exhausted, but totally satisfied with the little dive excursion
We made good time to Morrison and hit a few showers along the way, with lightning being seen in various thunderheads in any general direction. Luckily, it wasn't raining on sight and we could even see stars overhead, but also thunderstorms in just about any direction(just not directly above us). The water was a bit high, and appeared slightly tannic, but clear. A fog was rising ontop the waterway and made for quite a spooky sight, especially at night... There was nobody else at the park, but it was NOISY! We had to practically scream to communicate over the orchestra of frogs, bugs, and birds that were all howling tremendously. It was crazy how loud they were.
We geared up and hit the water, finding clear blue spring water under a tannic layer that only dropped to about 3'. Visibility was 40' and better from there out and improved to spottless near the cavern entrance. The cavern, as always, was crystal clear and our lights illuminated the different formations it the cavern. Morrison's cavern is so nice, there's some neat craggly rock, some crumbly breakdown near the spring vents, lots of sandboils on the bottom, a few claybanks tucked away in some of the smaller alcoves, and lots and lots of eels! DogHouseDiver thumbed the dive on turn pressure and we ascended into OW, then recalculated gas, and I passed him a reel to line us into the shallower cavern. We turned after exploring a bit, with gas turning pressures never coming into play, then proceeded to goof around in OW. At night the bottom comes alive, minnows cover the bottom and reflect light back from our primaries like diamonds. Eels can be found in OW, hunting actively, crawfish tool around scavenging for food, and other fish can be spotted as well. We got buzzed by a nice striped bass and I saw a shadowbass in an old cypress stump. We ended up with a max depth of 74' for a dive lasting 70 minutes.
It never did rain onsite while we were there, but we hit a few showers along the way back home again. Stopped by Burger King, just as they were closing at Midnight, in Crestview to grab some dinner to eat on the ride home. I made it back to my bed around 2AM, exhausted, but totally satisfied with the little dive excursion
