Eagle's nest questions

[Glen]

I hear eagle's nest is super clear so we thought about diving it this weekend. I've never been there. I'll probably end up calling Larry Green but wanted to get some heads up...

When you reach the top of the debris cone, how will you know which line is upstream? How far penetration is the Randy Room? Are there restrictions between the debris cone and the randy room? How far penetration do I expect to get using a pumped set of 95's. What would be a typical dive plan for a first timer here? Mix, time etc... Do you place your 02 on the submerged log? Are there chains or something to clip them to? Where do you typically place your deco bottle?? on the top of the debris cone? I would appreciate anybody's input if they are familiar with this dive. I've been in Dipolder several times but not in the nest. Glen

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[wingman]

What is the road condition going back to the nest...can a regular two wheel drive low clearance vehicle make it back without getting stuck?

What is the road condition going back to the nest...can a regular two wheel drive low clearance vehicle make it back without getting stuck?

You could drive a corvette back there, but I wouldn't. Clearance is an issue, 2 wheel drive is fine.

[CaptainSpeleo]

Glen:

When you reach the top of the debris mound, straight down the slope is "upstream" and up and over the peak is "downstream". If you're wearing a compass(which I do on all cave dives), heading east will take you "upstream" and heading west with take you "downstream".

A typical first-time dive shouldn't involve more than 30 minutes round-trip from the debris mound and back. Depending on whether you go "upstream" or "downstream", if you maintain a normal swimming pace, you'll reach a depth of 270' upstream(if you make it to the Super Room) and 290' downstream(if you go through the restriction). Over-pumped low-pressure steel 95's will do you fine, as long as you're not a gas hog.

Clip your O2 tank to the tree log at about 30' - 32' on the way down. Clip your EANx 32% tank to the line at the top of the debris mound. I personally breathe off the EANx 32% from the surface until I reach the debris mound, then I switch to Trimix while I'm clipping it off. A 15/33 mix works fine for me, but some divers like more helium.

Once you finish the dive and return to your EANx 32% tank, you can starting breathing off of it from the 130' deco stop. Once you reach your O2 tank at the 30' deco stop, you can clip it on and have it ready to breathe off of as you move up to the 20' deco stop.

Expect to have about 60 - 75 minutes of decompression after making a 30-minute round-trip dive.

What is the road condition going back to the nest...can a regular two wheel drive low clearance vehicle make it back without getting stuck?

Hi Bill,
I was just there the other day. The road is exactly the same as the last time we were there together. You will have no trouble with that hippie van of yours (hee hee!).

Ralph D.

[resolute]

was there on Sunday - road is no problem at all - thanks again to all who made this site possible! :)

Lots of mountain bikers all over the area this weekend on an adventure style scavanger hunt/race. Eagles Nest was one of the waypoints where the race orgainzers had a punch conveniently attached to the last step, by the deco bottle hangers (so all the bikers had to get wet getting in and out of the steps - except when we were there already wet and could punch their ticket for them. Last time I was there a wedding was happening by the pond, this time this... ha.. go figure! But a very good thing - shows all the simultaneous uses can co-exist in the venue and everyone can enjoy!

Vis was very nice by the way - great dive!

JB

[wingman]

Hi Bill,
I was just there the other day. The road is exactly the same as the last time we were there together. You will have no trouble with that hippie van of yours (hee hee!).

Ralph D.[/quote]
Hey Ralph,
Hippie van?? i thought that was only for the vw van with flowers and peace symbols painted all over it...actually thinking about resurrecting the peace symbol again these days...will see you at ginnie next week, will be diving thursday through sunday. Bill

[Glen]

I dove Eagle's Nest upstream yesterday, feb 22 with three friends. It was about 2:00 pm when we arrived and we spooked two lovers who had ridden their bikes all the way back there to get away from everybody and do some skinny dippin! Guess we ruined their day. We had two teams and entered the water about 5 minutes apart. Thanks everybody for the wealth of info. It was a big help. I also talked to larry green the day before and he gave me a mental tour. We were the only ones there on tuesday and the visibility in the cave was like Ginnie! I could see as far as my light would shine. Even in the basin on deco I could see from the habitat all the way to where the deco log sticks out of the water at least 75 feet away. Anyway, we used 14/44, swam to the breakdown room, explored a little, swam about 75 feet into the main tunnel past the breakdown and turned on my 3rds at 700 feet p. We were 18 minutes going in and we returned to our stages at 30 minutes. Total run time was 119 minutes. Max depth 270. An awesome dive! Now I can't wait to do it again. Glen

[DoublesOrNothing]

Yep, that was a good dive. And a great trip.

[DeepSea]

You get all the great trips. We are usually there on Thursday nights and have never had any luck with one of these experiences...Last night I got to do deco with an alligator gar. I had never seen one of these there and I have been in the nest quite a few times. I wonder if he was just lost.



was there on Sunday - road is no problem at all - thanks again to all who made this site possible! :)

Lots of mountain bikers all over the area this weekend on an adventure style scavanger hunt/race. Eagles Nest was one of the waypoints where the race orgainzers had a punch conveniently attached to the last step, by the deco bottle hangers (so all the bikers had to get wet getting in and out of the steps - except when we were there already wet and could punch their ticket for them. Last time I was there a wedding was happening by the pond, this time this... ha.. go figure! But a very good thing - shows all the simultaneous uses can co-exist in the venue and everyone can enjoy!

Vis was very nice by the way - great dive!

JB

[resolute]

You get all the great trips. We are usually there on Thursday nights and have never had any luck with one of these experiences...

Yeah..... I'm wondering what I'll see the next time :D