OK, for the "Blue Hole Cleaning Report"
The State Police divers worked for two weeks and one weekend on the cleaning of the hole. They setup a divided barrier of large railroad timbers and straw bales to catch the sand and silt they pumped out of the bottom in fron to the hole to the parking bollards. There was a pile of sand and "crap" that was, I guess, approximately 10 to 15 cubic yards worth on the Eastern side of the parking lot. They also removed lots of smaller rock, some old concrete filled barrels (must have been used for the platform floats) and even a tree stump (I have NO idea how that got down there). And that stuff is piled up on the West side of the overflow stream area.
The visibility was pretty low for the hole, maybe 10-15' max. Not as bad as some places folks diver regularly. Our HID lights were a big help in todays dives.
The cleaning process has removed a larger area of rocks and debris below and in front of the covered inlet grate. I did not hear why this was done, but rumors are they want to open up the cavern and cave behind the grate at some point. Maybe this was the first step.
There was several groups of OW divers doing their cert dives today. I felt a bit sorry for them and the lack of viz. But, then again it wasn't all bad. A day diving was better than raking the backyard leaf pile anyday!!
The State Police divers worked for two weeks and one weekend on the cleaning of the hole. They setup a divided barrier of large railroad timbers and straw bales to catch the sand and silt they pumped out of the bottom in fron to the hole to the parking bollards. There was a pile of sand and "crap" that was, I guess, approximately 10 to 15 cubic yards worth on the Eastern side of the parking lot. They also removed lots of smaller rock, some old concrete filled barrels (must have been used for the platform floats) and even a tree stump (I have NO idea how that got down there). And that stuff is piled up on the West side of the overflow stream area.
The visibility was pretty low for the hole, maybe 10-15' max. Not as bad as some places folks diver regularly. Our HID lights were a big help in todays dives.
The cleaning process has removed a larger area of rocks and debris below and in front of the covered inlet grate. I did not hear why this was done, but rumors are they want to open up the cavern and cave behind the grate at some point. Maybe this was the first step.
There was several groups of OW divers doing their cert dives today. I felt a bit sorry for them and the lack of viz. But, then again it wasn't all bad. A day diving was better than raking the backyard leaf pile anyday!!
...but any weekend is probably do-able.
