OP
Day Three: Saturday
Well I said bye to my Cavern buddy yesterday and today I get a new buddy for Intro. Feels a bit like groundhog day now as far as the getting up in the morning and eating some Hardees prior to getting to Ginnie Springs. We were told to be there at 8:30 so naturally myself and crippled cheerleader get there around 8:00. I walk in and find my now pal Johnny at the central display case/table finalizing some paperwork and I start to fill out my new waiver. This time I feel like a total stud because I put down "Cavern" as my highest training. Johnny fills out my wrist band and on it he writes "INTRO" in bold letters along with the date 2/11-2/12. Once again, I am on top of the world and feel great. Then we wait around a bit for Von to show up around 8:20. Johnny tells us that once our paperwork is all done and the piper has been paid to meet up outside so we can do some line work. So off we go to learn about line arrows and cookies and proper protocols for placing these items on a line in a cave. Gear configuration was our next little task to complete and there was just about as much difference in mine and my buddies gear than there was in the cavern class. Von was rolling sidemount and I was still in backmount double 100s. Then it was on to our first pre-dive brief and dive. So the plan was Johnny would run the line in the Ear and then I would be the second diver and Von would be third and we would go in and get up on the left wall and pull and glide our way back to the Lips and then call the dive, simple stuff. So here I am eager beaver and excited guy while Von and I do our safety checks and we head to the Ear. When we get near the Ear I am looking around and I don't see Johnny so I think "Johnny went in that damn hole without us and this is part of our training" so I look down in the Ear and see a guy down at the bottom heading on into the Ear cavern. I see this and think that it is Johnny so I shoot down the Ear and when I get down I do not see Johnny's line nor do I see Johnny so I get off to the left and look above me and a see a sidemount diver (who I thought was Von) above me waiting in the the little calm area. In my mind I am thinking maybe Johnny just did not come down but Von and I did and we will wait for Johnny, so I wait and wait and wait, had to have been 7 minutes and I see Johnny pop his head down and look at me and then throw a thumb so I thumb back and we head up. Once on the surface I discover how big of an idiot I am and how the lead diver would not go down without signaling the team to make sure everyone is on the same page. Everyone got a good laugh at my expense and I felt horrible. Let me correct that, I was not made to feel horrible by Johnny, I just felt terrible feeling like I had let Johnny down. We re-did the pre-dive briefing and this time went in with no issue and did our entry to the Lips with no problem and then did a drill or two on the way back out. We get to the surface and get our briefing and chat for a bit before getting ready to make our second dive. Second dive was more of the same as the first but this time I get to run the reel in and lead the dive back to the Keyhole. We don't actually make it all the way to the Keyhole though as Von called the dive on his turn pressure about half way from the Lips to the Keyhole. More drills on the way out and everything ran well up to and including the pulling of the line. Back at the surface we had our final post brief for the day with Johnny. He said we did good but he would like us to make a few dives at least to the sign so that Von could practice running the line. So Von and I did our safety checks and gas matching and Von led us back in so that he could run the line. When we surfaced and made it back to the parking area Johnny was the and I told him "Johnny, I am whipped bud. Just tired as **** and Von is saying he is cold (wetsuit)" So Johnny told us that was fine and we all cut out for the day..
to be continued...
Well I said bye to my Cavern buddy yesterday and today I get a new buddy for Intro. Feels a bit like groundhog day now as far as the getting up in the morning and eating some Hardees prior to getting to Ginnie Springs. We were told to be there at 8:30 so naturally myself and crippled cheerleader get there around 8:00. I walk in and find my now pal Johnny at the central display case/table finalizing some paperwork and I start to fill out my new waiver. This time I feel like a total stud because I put down "Cavern" as my highest training. Johnny fills out my wrist band and on it he writes "INTRO" in bold letters along with the date 2/11-2/12. Once again, I am on top of the world and feel great. Then we wait around a bit for Von to show up around 8:20. Johnny tells us that once our paperwork is all done and the piper has been paid to meet up outside so we can do some line work. So off we go to learn about line arrows and cookies and proper protocols for placing these items on a line in a cave. Gear configuration was our next little task to complete and there was just about as much difference in mine and my buddies gear than there was in the cavern class. Von was rolling sidemount and I was still in backmount double 100s. Then it was on to our first pre-dive brief and dive. So the plan was Johnny would run the line in the Ear and then I would be the second diver and Von would be third and we would go in and get up on the left wall and pull and glide our way back to the Lips and then call the dive, simple stuff. So here I am eager beaver and excited guy while Von and I do our safety checks and we head to the Ear. When we get near the Ear I am looking around and I don't see Johnny so I think "Johnny went in that damn hole without us and this is part of our training" so I look down in the Ear and see a guy down at the bottom heading on into the Ear cavern. I see this and think that it is Johnny so I shoot down the Ear and when I get down I do not see Johnny's line nor do I see Johnny so I get off to the left and look above me and a see a sidemount diver (who I thought was Von) above me waiting in the the little calm area. In my mind I am thinking maybe Johnny just did not come down but Von and I did and we will wait for Johnny, so I wait and wait and wait, had to have been 7 minutes and I see Johnny pop his head down and look at me and then throw a thumb so I thumb back and we head up. Once on the surface I discover how big of an idiot I am and how the lead diver would not go down without signaling the team to make sure everyone is on the same page. Everyone got a good laugh at my expense and I felt horrible. Let me correct that, I was not made to feel horrible by Johnny, I just felt terrible feeling like I had let Johnny down. We re-did the pre-dive briefing and this time went in with no issue and did our entry to the Lips with no problem and then did a drill or two on the way back out. We get to the surface and get our briefing and chat for a bit before getting ready to make our second dive. Second dive was more of the same as the first but this time I get to run the reel in and lead the dive back to the Keyhole. We don't actually make it all the way to the Keyhole though as Von called the dive on his turn pressure about half way from the Lips to the Keyhole. More drills on the way out and everything ran well up to and including the pulling of the line. Back at the surface we had our final post brief for the day with Johnny. He said we did good but he would like us to make a few dives at least to the sign so that Von could practice running the line. So Von and I did our safety checks and gas matching and Von led us back in so that he could run the line. When we surfaced and made it back to the parking area Johnny was the and I told him "Johnny, I am whipped bud. Just tired as **** and Von is saying he is cold (wetsuit)" So Johnny told us that was fine and we all cut out for the day..
to be continued...
