Another weekend, another video....

[ucfdiver]

Marchand setup/cleaned all the safety spools , cookies, etc and is out of frame for most of the dive. JahJahWarrior is the lead diver through most of this. Not the easiest cave to swim through....

If a mod can embed this, I would appreciate it!

Another Florida Spring on Vimeo

[vimeo]15086588[/vimeo]

 

[TSandM]

I have to say, I got halfway through it, but it really didn't look like the third diver was having much fun. I don't mind small, tight, technical sections, but if they never open up to anything where I can see, I begin to wonder why I'm there.

 

[ucfdiver]

I have to say, I got halfway through it, but it really didn't look like the third diver was having much fun. I don't mind small, tight, technical sections, but if they never open up to anything where I can see, I begin to wonder why I'm there.

I was 3rd, and it certainly wasn't my favorite dive. There are some extremely cool rock formations on the floor (look like egg shells), and tree roots that grow through the cave, but it's hard to show all that without making the viewer sea sick.

I'll chalk this one up as a miss. However one of the prettiest caves I've seen is just down river, so it's all hit or miss in this area. Sometimes you're really pleasantly surprised at what you find after tight crawls I hear. While it's closed to the public and I haven't dove it, I hear Silver Glenn is barely SM for 600ft and then opens into a massive room. (I'll post a pic)

 

[TSandM]

Oh, now THAT looks like fun. Reminds me of the segment in Heinerth and Skiles's video about the river, where they go down and do 45 minutes of tight sidemount passage, and open up in a HUGE room with gorgeous rock layering. But 20 minutes into the process, I would have been asking some big questions about how much longer we were going to do this . . .

 

[karstdvr]

FWIW,if you can get lead divers to use a modified flutter kick or shuffle kick in the narrow areas with silt on side walls,it will result in less silting. I don't say this to be critical,but I learned a lot when shooting video,and critiquing it.

 

[ucfdiver]

FWIW,if you can get lead divers to use a modified flutter kick or shuffle kick in the narrow areas with silt on side walls,it will result in less silting. I don't say this to be critical,but I learned a lot when shooting video,and critiquing it.

Kelly,

Your advice is much appreciated. The cave2exproductions videos are great, you guys did an amazing job. Those videos would be one of the first I would show new cave divers. My cave instructor (Rich) actually suggested looking at those videos as "something to work towards". I hope once we get more experience with this others say the same about ours.

 

[karstdvr]

Kelly,

Your advice is much appreciated. The cave2exproductions videos are great, you guys did an amazing job. Those videos would be one of the first I would show new cave divers. My cave instructor (Rich) actually suggested looking at those videos as "something to work towards". I hope once we get more experience with this others say the same about ours.

I worked a couple other video projects,and it really made me think about things like positioning myself relative to the wall,silt etc. I had become comfortable with the frog kick for everything,but I would get "chewed out" for having a big kick near a shelf with a lot of silt. Great job on the video because it is hard to shoot small cave,especially when it is silty;plus some great angles.

 

[TSandM]

I had become comfortable with the frog kick for everything,but I would get "chewed out" for having a big kick near a shelf with a lot of silt.

This was one of the things David Rhea tried to work with us on in our Cave 2 class. There's so much to learn, to do this thing really well!

 

[knowone]

It's a great contemplation vid. I'll watch it a few more times although that room never appeared. (someone else's home movies?)
Show it to the early range recreationals so they can see that one fins to suit the environ.
Very good.

 

[karstdvr]

This was one of the things David Rhea tried to work with us on in our Cave 2 class. There's so much to learn, to do this thing really well!

Learning to read the cave is imperative. Cave divers have an arsenal of propulsion means,but unfortunately limit themselves to one. A baseball pitcher wouldn't survive in the majors with one pitch,we need to develop all of our tools,and use them efficiently,and at the correct times. My litmus test is making it from P1 past the breakdown room without any contact with any part of the cave. I also like to exit from the first T to the wall before the cavern in JB with no fin strokes or sculling,but only flow,and using breath control for ascent and descent.