My Cave Diving blog... On my way to the Abe Davis Award.

[The Chairman]

You are right Sam, and I did a dive with Jeano and Fred the day before that. Thanks. If anyone remembers a cave dive with me, please refresh my memory. Mine is demonstrably worst than Sam's which is one reason why I'm doing this!

04/29/2015

18: Ginnie. Solo. Per Capt Jim Wyatt's suggestion, I did the Roller Coaster today. Ginnie is more familiar with each dive. On every jump, I take a moment to stop and find the line it's referring to. This was the fourth set of double arrows at about 750 and until today I had never seen that line. I was careful to keep the line low in case scooters were in the cave, tieing off on a rock in the dead center of the run. I can tell why they call it the Roller Coaster too. Up, down, left, right, this was all over the place. There were a number of places to pull and glide on but it was obvious that a few divers had done silt angels in there at one time. I was going to make the jump to the gold line and continue up to the next jump and do it as well, but I got a bit spooked. Was it the death in here a few nights ago? I don't know and I didn't care. I had plenty of gas, but I went back to the last jump, pulled my spool and am calling it a day. Total dive time 1:02 w/7 minutes of Deco. My VTX required two minutes less than my DG03 (5 vs 7).

Caveat: before the dive, I had gotten some weird looking crap on my foot, so I went down to the river to wash my feet. A young man was sitting there on the bench and I said something like "Clearing your head by the river?" What followed was a nice conversation with Zach who will be doing his cavern class tomorrow. What was even nicer was that he was reading ScubaBoard on his phone when I interrupted him. I wish him the best of luck and hope we read about his cavern class as well as how much he likes DRIS: Dive Right In Scuba.

Caveat part deux: It was nice seeing Jill Heinerth in the parking lot after the dive. She's using the Ginnie Pool to do 'skills n drills' with a student on their new Prism. I asked her how many cave dives and how many hours on the rebreather does a person need before they combine the two (with a class, of course). She told me the only requirement was to have 50 hours on the rebreather before you think about taking a class to go in a cave. This guy's just learning, so they are only using Ginnie as a pool. Interesting. Best of luck to her and her student as well!

 

[TONY CHANEY]

I will be more than glad to dive with you when I get back down to cave county. You really have to do Waterhole...what a blast as well as the Well.

 

[The Chairman]

The Water hole is fun, but I've never been to the well! Today was my last cave dive for a bit. The next ones will be in a few weeks in Mexico!

04/30/2015

19: W/ Richard Black. Runtime 1:01 with 5 minutes of deco on O2. Max depth 103, water temp 70^oF. My second time on the roller coaster and I had a lot more fun. I saw two really dirty double arrows near the end that apparently go straight to the bats. Maybe next time. Gas switches are far smoother on the both the VTX and the DG03. I didn't like how my light cord was threaded. Didn't feel right, so I'll be more attentive next time when I gear up. I also stowed my sidemount hoses while I was on O2. I start by taking the right side out of the necklace and pulling the hose back until it seats into place. Then I take the entire necklace off since it stays on the left tank, and pulled it back until it seats as well. Both second stages are a quick pull away, should I need them, but all I have to deal with is the O2 second stage. Just before I get to the steps, I crank off the tank valves and unclip them from the back. I kneel on the steps, unhook my BCD hose, and unclip the chest straps. I always rest a few minutes before I truck the tanks up the stairs, pack the Scuba Kart and wheel it back to the Van.

 

[The Chairman]

06/10/2015

20: Solo at Ginnie Springs. If you haven't read this yet, http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/dive-rite/507384-dive-rites-new-nomad-ltz-sidemount-bcd.html, you might want to take a moment for some fill in. One of us had to make a quick run to High Springs to drop off Fang with her Auntie Gwen and Uncle Jim while Elena and I take two weeks off diving in Mexico. My first dive with steel tanks and no dry suit in my Dive Rite Nomad LTZ was over before it began. I couldn't get off the bottom with all the weight!!! On my trip to the Socorro Islands, I determined I was not diving it correctly. The left side hose (traditional), was only the emergency back up and the left side hose was the one I was supposed to be using. The difference in buoyancy is considerable. So, I jumped at the chance to try the LTZ with steels and hopefully only a bathing suit. Fang and I headed to cave country!

To be sure, I wanted to get in two/three dives while I was in the area. I had flown in from LA late on Monday and had gotten an early start Tuesday from Key Largo. By the time I got to cave country, I had lost my impetus. Early on Wednesday, I went to breakfast, went to Ginnie and waited for them to open. In the hour or so I had before they opened, I dutifully set up my gear onto some water heaters disguised as scuba tanks. These are LP 120s: the big boys! I figured, if the Nomad LTZ could support them, then I just don't have to worry. I also brought my wet suit in case I still wasn't buoyant enough. After making pleasantries with the Ginnie staff, I drove down and got ready to dive. Everything was already set up, so I jumped in my bathing suit and tshirt and wheeled it all down to the stairs. Final kitting was quick and easy and I put a good amount of air into my Nomad LTZ before I submerged. The water felt good after two weeks of drying out, and I found myself descending quickly. My hand easily found the inflator and I gave it a longish press. With my left hand poised, ready to take the brunt of the impact, it felt good to simply stop. I could tell there was a good amount of air in the BC, but I was still a long ways from being full. To fully check things out, I picked up and clipped off my deco bottle only to find I was still trim and neutral. From there I did a short dive doing the bone line circuit and just missed going into deco. Still did five minutes on O₂, packed up my gear and headed back south feeling happy.

I am typing this from an apartment here in Mexico where we hope to go cenote diving this week, as long as the weather permits us to get to the dive sites. It's pouring right now and we hope it will only pour for one more day. We'll only be diving AL80s this week, but I still feel confident that this Nomad LTZ will handle anything I throw at it.

 

[karstdvr]

I dutifully set up my gear onto some water heaters disguised as scuba tanks. These are LP 120s: the big boys! I figured, if the Nomad LTZ could support them, then I just don't have to worry..

Nice report.

I am a fan of LP 120s for sidemounting because they are actually quite light and nimble in the water compared to on the land, even when they get low in gas they can get floaty. A better assessment of lift may come from a set of 108s if can can access them.

 

[The Chairman]

Thanks for the kind words. I only have a few dives with these tanks, but so far, I really like them. I hope to try some 108s in the not too distant future. These 120s are on loan for the time being. The person who owns them hasn't dove them in years and he's happy I'm getting use out of them. So far, I find them to be just as you say: very nimble, given the size, once you are in the water. I'm certainly glad I have a cart to get them to the water!

 

[The Chairman]

06/15/2015, Eden Cenote, Ponderosa sistema, Quintana Roo, Mexico

This is an easy to get to cave system and quite popular for open water divers, classes and people just wanting to have fun in the cool clear waters. Entrance fee was only $80 Mexican which is about six bucks American to get in. Bathrooms are a bit rustic, but they are there! Steps down to the water are solid concrete and there is a solid concrete deck to do the final kitting at water level. Even after the last few days of storms, this was a nicely done and clean environment.The fish in this system are simply stunning with the Sailfin Molly getting the award in that department. It wasn't a particularly sunny day, but the mosquitoes were quite light. It's still important to bring bug repellant as I was getting a bit chewed on by no see ums of some kind.

21: With Mselenaous and giuded by Peter Broger from Riviera Maya Diving. I dove two AL80s with no exposure protection and 12 pounds. This dive was in the "River Run" cave and was remarkable for the incessant halocline throughout most of our dive. By remarkable, I mean freaky deaky. If you're in the cooler fresh water above the halocline, it's like you're flying above the surface of the water. You can see the distinct divide between the two layers with everything beneath the layer being somewhat blurry. You want to rub your eyes but logically you know that won't help one whit. Following the Gold Line is easy until it goes through the interface where it transforms to a warm yellow fuzz. If your buddy is swimming through the interface, things become even freakier as the turbulence between fresh and salt really distorts your vision. It can be disorienting at times and FUN! We penetrated back 1500 ft or so into a slight current through various formations but only saw two stalagmites.

22: With Mselenaous and giuded by Peter Broger from Riviera Maya Diving. This dive was to the Wizard's Den and while I really enjoyed the first dive, this was simply stunning in many different ways. In fact, this would take right past where we turned the previous dive, but the difference between the two was night and day. First, this was a shallower dive which meant a deeper penetration to about 2,000 ft. Also, we swam by at least one other entrance replete with surface debris, fish and stunning light vistas. It was as we turned into the cave sistema from the other opening that the real magic started: cave decorations. No, not decorated by humans, but by Mother Nature. Let me tell you, she pulled out all the stops on this one. When we passed the first collection of stalactites/mites I frantically waved my light to get Elena's attention lest she missed it. If I had known what we were about to see, I wouldn't have bothered. Within a couple of minutes we were surrounded by thousands upon thousands of them including pillars, flow stones, straws, bacon and shapes I had never seen before. Portions of it looked like a mass of pipes of a cathedral's organ out of Dante's imagination. This was truly a wizard's den and it was odd how many of them were not vertical but at some wild angle or another. At first I thought diver induced destruction, but then it became obvious that nature was at work in this. Many of these stalactites/mites suffered from the active geology. I remember one huge stalagmite at an absurd angle. It was sitting on a very thin sheet of rock that had obviously broken due to its own weight. Sure, there were fresh fractures that seem to be the work of careless divers, but they were dwarfed by the nature induced calamities. I know for certain that I didn't want to add anything to them, so I made my way slowly and methodically, ever sensitive to my feet and tanks. I was a few hundred PSI from turning the dive when I snagged the guide line with the weight pocket on my tank. Moving the back of the tank up cleared it easily, but the passage was so tight that I snagged it again within moments. This time it felt really stuck. I tried gently a few times, but it was stubborn. Peter was leading with Elena in the second position and both had just turned a corner up ahead. I waved my light and was delighted by how quickly a return signal came back to me. Just about the time they got back to free me, the line popped clear and we were back on track. I turned the dive on thirds and we used about half the air exiting as we did coming in. Again, Elena seemed to come back with more air than she left with. She never did hit thirds.

It should be noted that Peter was actually the 'B' team for Cave Training Mexico, aka Riviera Maya Diving. We were supposed to dive with his SO, Alessandra Figari. Unfortunately, the weekend's storm interfered with the IDC she was conducting so we were stuck with Peter. Obviously, I'm having a bit of fun at Peter's expense. He was simply awesome! Incredibly patient and helpful, he made us feel at home, kept us informed and even played Sherpa. What a class act and someone you should jump at the chance to dive with. If he's the 'B' team, then the 'A' team must be incredibly phenomenal!

 

[SWAMPY459]

Do they count all cave dives or only the ones after you take the class?

 

[ucfdiver]

Do they count all cave dives or only the ones after you take the class?

Cave dives for the award are only post full cave, but dives at any level count (cavern dives count, as long as you're full cave).

 

[The Chairman]

I have quite a bit more dives in caves than this. I was in no rush to become full cave and am not in much of a rush to get the Abe Davis award either. I just think it's an overlooked award and could use a bit of support. Only dives after Full cave are eligible to count towards the award.