Hole in the Wall and Twin Cave 10-7-7 Dive Reports

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Packing up a day early really is the ticket. On saturday, I loaded up the Miss Jellyfish and my dive gear early on, so I could get up(a bit later) and simply leave when the alarm hit on Sunday morning. Worked out great too, 5:30AM the alarm sounded, brushed my teeth, filled up the car and boat with gas, then made it on the interstate by 6AM. Not exactly the prettiest morning, overcast, misty, and foggy too. It didn't really clear up any throughout my trip to Marianna. I hit up Cave Adventures early to top off my doubles and chatted with Edd for a bit. cmufieldhockey8 made it for the 9AM meet time and once I was filled, we headed down the road to setup the dive yacht at a small dirt boat launch(which was temporarily closed for repairs - not that it affected what we needed it for). Boat went up without a hitch and we loaded her up to go.



We decided to dive Hole in the Wall first, since it would average out to be the deeper of the two sites we planned to dive. The trip there wasn't bad at all. The Miss Jellyfish didn't exactly have a ton of spair room with two full sets of cave gear, and two divers to wrestle it all in the water, but she got us to Hole relatively quickly(didn't plane out though). Surely a masterfull captain had plenty to do with it.





Luckily, the Mill Pond wasn't exactly buzzing with activity today so we didn't have to worry about working around anyone elses boats in the narrow channels guiding through the hydrilla and eel grass. The platform at Hole in the Wall was empty, so we pulled up and tied in to gear up.

Hole in the Wall



First snag of the day, my computer decided it wasn't going to work. I should have checked it Saturday while loading up, but didn't, and payed for it today. After unloading the boat to the platform, I zipped over to Cave Adventure's dock(~300 meters away from Hole) and rented a computer. My computer is apparently pretty anal with batteries, it likes specific brands - working perfectly fine again though. Back at the platform, I geared back up and we decided to dive the downstream tunnel at Hole since nothing is really flowing and visibility has been much better on that side. I've been upstream once, during class, so downstream would be new to me. Its a great dive, big room after big room, lots of dolomite formations on the ceiling, albino crawfish and albino salamanders. You do have to deal with catfish mucking up certain sections(vis no worse than 20-25'), but when you weren't in a catfish zone, 70' of visibility prevailed. We made it about 50' past the "E", guessing around ~800', when cmufieldhockey thumbed the dive for sixths. We took it easy on the way out and there was a neat little area 100-150' from the beginning of the downstream passage that was littered with the bones of some unlucky vertebrate. I was leading the dive and got to reel in the primary vertically up the chimney. It wasn't nearly as messy as when I did the same feat during my Intro class. Hit a depth of 82' for a dive lasting 50 minutes. Great dive and some awesome cave with indiscernible flow.

Just a bit over an hour after our first dive, we were back in the water to dive the upstream tunnel. Again, flow was indiscernible, but visibility was a bit milky, 20-30', depending on how bad the catfish were mucking about. I still like the formation in the very beginning of the cave that juts out from the left like a long gnarly finger. I also like going up and over that big area that turns to the left. We ended up making it about 450-500'(estimated) into the cave before sixths was called and we turned the dive. I know we were about 100' beyond where I had gone during my Intro Class, but I was much more relaxed and more able to note different features of the cave. I hit a max depth of 82' for a dive lasting 44 minutes. Even though visibility wasn't superb, it was enough to enjoy the environment around us.



Twin Cave

After our second dive, we headed back to Cave Adventure's to get fills, and then back into town so I could find a battery unsuccessfully for my computer(Energizer's and Aladin Tec's don't get along) and some food. After getting our tanks loaded back into the Miss Jellyfish(startled a big ole watersnake near the dock), we headed over to Twin Cave. It was getting late, but we hoped to get a single dive in before it was too late.

The copious amounts of beaver **** on the platform should have been a surefire sign that the dive would be a crapshoot.



We persisted regardless. It would have been a real hassle wrestling gear up to the platform(while dodging turds) since it was so high over the low water levels, so we geared up in the water itself. After fumbling with gear and going over a dive plan, it was late in the afternoon, but we still wanted a try at our dive. Once underwater, we noticed that all the hydrilla had been cleared between the cave entrance and the steps, which was great! Once we got to the entrance, it was a mess, talk about thick! Hydrilla completely choked out the hole and after several attempts and reattempts, we couldn't really find the entrance and ended up aborting the dive. I did manage a mask rescue after cmu dropped it into the muck we were kicking up. Getting the gear back in the boat was a bit funny, a controlled tumble worked well with my doubled 130s. Boats packed, our dive was only to 14' for a total of 22 minutes putzing around the entrance, it was dark, and now it was raining - perfect! I managed to completely soak my dry clothes while packing the gear, and the Miss Jellyfish, back into my car.

Still, even with the not-so-great weather, the rain, and all the hangups, I had a great day of diving the Mill Pond. I'm sore all over today, but still looking forward to getting back out there - hopefully able to dive Twin on the next go-round! Had a great dive buddy and a great day out on the yacht, can't go wrong!

[cmufieldhockey8]

Yay! It really was an awesome day. Thanks for the great report. You had a chance to emphasize my calling the dive b/c of air AND jamming my reel! (which I havn't touched yet) I guess the viz was no worse then 20 feet in Hole in the Wall but that was low enough for my liking in a cave.

That mask rescue, people, was done with his wetsuit on but no gear, fins or weight belt in about 5 feet of silted-out water... imagine what that looked like. Thanks to Mat and the yaht for a memorable day.

[jeandiver]

Awesome report you two !!!
It has been reported that Ben and the Beano will be up at JB Park on Saturday and MAY check out the two water-filled karst formations you two just dove.
Er , I don't like ANY kind of droppings so ... :11:
Both of us have NEVER dove Twin or Hole in the Wall so , this should be INTERESTING to say the least

Thanks for the Wonderful conditions report.
Awesome help for a couple of Newbies. (EEK)

Jeano Beano

P.S. Er , OK , now I am curious...Do I keep looking for a Letter E?

[cmufieldhockey8]

I think the E looks more like a monster with 2 mouths. That may help find it.

[SuPrBuGmAn]

...You had a chance to emphasize my calling the dive b/c of air AND jamming my reel! (which I havn't touched yet)...

D'Oh! How could I have forgotten that part?! LOL

P.S. Er , OK , now I am curious...Do I keep looking for a Letter E?

Yeah, its about 750' in the downstream tunnel(left side tunnel when you're going down the chimney). I had never seen it before, except for the notation on a map, but it was painfully obvious we had reached it as it came into sight.

I told Edd about the hydrilla at Twin, and he might go out there and clean up the entrance to make it more managable. So you guys shouldn't have any real problems there either.

[Kenny P.]

Mat,
Great report! Thanks. One correction, that is otter crap not beaver crap. Beaver crap is much easier to deal with, as their diet of bark and wood chips has a more pleasant aroma than the otter's diet, of snails fish and everything else aquatic!
Did you find the log over the cavern entrance at Twin? I wonder if the hydrilla from the cleared path ended up in the funnel opening of Twin?
Thanks Again,
Kenny P.
P.S. Will you make it to the CDS social Saturday?

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Kenny,

We found the log, its shifted slightly. I'm thinking you are correct about all the hydrilla from the path being cleared making its way into the entrance - it was bad! Otter crap it is, and stinky as ever!

I have prior plans to camp out on Perdido River this weekend, but plans may be changing. If we move the camping trip, you can BET I'll be at the social this Saturday

I thought my computer problems were aliviated, but apparently not. Its draining batteries like they are going out of style, so I'll have to hook up the old console I suppose :P Back to Uwatec my Tec goes, hopefully to get fixed up nice and purty!

[Scubakevdm]

Kenny,

We found the log, its shifted slightly. I'm thinking you are correct about all the hydrilla from the path being cleared making its way into the entrance - it was bad! Otter crap it is, and stinky as ever!

I have prior plans to camp out on Perdido River this weekend, but plans may be changing. If we move the camping trip, you can BET I'll be at the social this Saturday

I thought my computer problems were aliviated, but apparently not. Its draining batteries like they are going out of style, so I'll have to hook up the old console I suppose :P Back to Uwatec my Tec goes, hopefully to get fixed up nice and purty!

Hey man, just to let you know... the infrared transmitters on the Aladin Tec's were all defective, eventually sticking on and draining the batteries very quickly. Fear not though (if you bought your computer at an authorised dealer) because ScubaPro replaces them with the Tec 2G, a two gas computer almost identical, except for shiny buttons to the Aladin TEC. I have about 150 dives on the battery that mine came with at this point.

[jeandiver]

Kenny,

I have prior plans to camp out on Perdido River this weekend, but plans may be changing. If we move the camping trip, you can BET I'll be at the social this Saturday

(PERK...)
Ben and I will be at the park between 9 and 9:30 AM Saturday.
(Be there Sunday too)
I wonder if dem Panhandler cavers have ever seen anyone dive in a 3MM shorty before? :11:

Da Beano

[deeper thoughts]

Thanks for an interesting report