Jordan
10-23-2005, 09:36 PM
After finding our way to a nice little blue hole we dropped our charged 80's into the basin and suited up. Some equestrians were passing by and chatted us up ("how deep is it"; "is it dark in there?"; "how long do your oxygen tanks last?"; etc). The cool weather was welcome, being we climbed into black fleece and drysuits.
Once in the water, I spiraled down to the opening and noticed a heavy flow pouring out of a small little hole. After about 30 seconds of clawing and scraping and moving rocks and using my feet to push against the ceiling and finally by using the wall on the right side I pulled myself through the restriction and then got myself into a little chute that is still the same restriction and somehow made it through there. I say somehow because there was nothing to grab onto and I couldn't kick into the flow, but I just went - somehow.
Finally out of the flow, I turned around and watched my buddy struggle along. It was nice to relax after dealing with that bottleneck - my breathing rate finally settled down after a couple of minutes. Then I saw my buddy's 2nd attempt 10 minutes into my dive (I waited at about 25' depth just inside the entrance - he crawled and scraped and pushed but he didn't have the wingspan that I do and couldn't reach that right wall to pull himself through. He got spit out like he didn't stand a chance...since his 2nd attempt was just as unsuccessful as the 1st, I turned and did my dive alone. We both knew that he was done for the day (I'm surprised I got him that far from his couch!).
Pulling the line out from underneath sand mounds, I swam along into the biggest room of the cave (that I have found so far) and then spiraled down, descending over a huge rock that looks to have fallen and turned to the right and looked up at an all black ceiling (the closest thing I've seen to that black was some goethite formations in Indian). You descend from 45 feet to 65 feet and enter a tunnel that trims down in size and zip zags constantly. It seems to make a 90 degree turn about every 30 feet. I follow the line and come to a Y. Go right and continue on. Come to another Y. Go left because the low bedding plane duckunder looks fun. The water in this tunnel was so clear and blue it was remarkable (it was blue blue in the whole cave so far but in this tunnel there was no sediment being kicked up from the flow so the vis was just cracklin'...this was also the first tunnel that I was in that I could see farther than 30 feet without seeing a wall). I sure was enjoying myself but after a quick check on my gauges and noggin I decided to come on out. Had an uneventful exit - I sure did notice the sharp edges sticking out. Everytime my aircell rubbed against those sharp rocks I got paranoid (not that this wouldn't be an easy cave to crawl out of). When I got to the entrance restriction I made sure to do a little safety stop before being spat out and then went for it. I let all of the air out of my BC and suit and went face first. My left fin got stuck in between two rocks and the flow caught me and there I was, flapping in the breeze. I felt my fin's spring-heel strap go boing boing and my mask quickly filled with water and all I could do was laugh. I wiggled and jiggled my foot and soon enough I was out. Fun fun. After the dive I was lucky enough to be shown several other semi-local sinks by my old-timer buddy (Suwannacoochee area) including Cathedral, Edwards, and Jade. I heard a story about his first time doing deco at midnight in Edwards when a train went by. I guess the walls shake!
Once in the water, I spiraled down to the opening and noticed a heavy flow pouring out of a small little hole. After about 30 seconds of clawing and scraping and moving rocks and using my feet to push against the ceiling and finally by using the wall on the right side I pulled myself through the restriction and then got myself into a little chute that is still the same restriction and somehow made it through there. I say somehow because there was nothing to grab onto and I couldn't kick into the flow, but I just went - somehow.
Finally out of the flow, I turned around and watched my buddy struggle along. It was nice to relax after dealing with that bottleneck - my breathing rate finally settled down after a couple of minutes. Then I saw my buddy's 2nd attempt 10 minutes into my dive (I waited at about 25' depth just inside the entrance - he crawled and scraped and pushed but he didn't have the wingspan that I do and couldn't reach that right wall to pull himself through. He got spit out like he didn't stand a chance...since his 2nd attempt was just as unsuccessful as the 1st, I turned and did my dive alone. We both knew that he was done for the day (I'm surprised I got him that far from his couch!).
Pulling the line out from underneath sand mounds, I swam along into the biggest room of the cave (that I have found so far) and then spiraled down, descending over a huge rock that looks to have fallen and turned to the right and looked up at an all black ceiling (the closest thing I've seen to that black was some goethite formations in Indian). You descend from 45 feet to 65 feet and enter a tunnel that trims down in size and zip zags constantly. It seems to make a 90 degree turn about every 30 feet. I follow the line and come to a Y. Go right and continue on. Come to another Y. Go left because the low bedding plane duckunder looks fun. The water in this tunnel was so clear and blue it was remarkable (it was blue blue in the whole cave so far but in this tunnel there was no sediment being kicked up from the flow so the vis was just cracklin'...this was also the first tunnel that I was in that I could see farther than 30 feet without seeing a wall). I sure was enjoying myself but after a quick check on my gauges and noggin I decided to come on out. Had an uneventful exit - I sure did notice the sharp edges sticking out. Everytime my aircell rubbed against those sharp rocks I got paranoid (not that this wouldn't be an easy cave to crawl out of). When I got to the entrance restriction I made sure to do a little safety stop before being spat out and then went for it. I let all of the air out of my BC and suit and went face first. My left fin got stuck in between two rocks and the flow caught me and there I was, flapping in the breeze. I felt my fin's spring-heel strap go boing boing and my mask quickly filled with water and all I could do was laugh. I wiggled and jiggled my foot and soon enough I was out. Fun fun. After the dive I was lucky enough to be shown several other semi-local sinks by my old-timer buddy (Suwannacoochee area) including Cathedral, Edwards, and Jade. I heard a story about his first time doing deco at midnight in Edwards when a train went by. I guess the walls shake!