IRAP Administrator
08-04-2007, 01:04 PM
This happened in 1992 When I was cavern certified and my buddy was only open water certifed. We were out exploring open water spring dive sites that allowed a taste of cavern for the OW diver.
The previous day we had spent at Emerald Springs bending my buddy's cheapo OW dive computer on a repeditive dive to 130' (first day he owned it - past a certain depth it was supposed to go out of range automatically - and it just seems that on a repeditive dive it was even more limited).
This day we were at Vortex. We paid and signed all the waivers, made sure we understood the rules and it was OK to go in the cavern (not recomended but allowed was the answer).
We headed in following the installed "line". We noted that the place wasn't as large and open as most places we had been and seemed to travel inward a significant distance. Still it was an easy swim and the line was easy to follow and we had no real distance references other then the increasing depth.
So a short time later we found ourselves about 100' deep, who knows how far back (actually about 350'), nearing our turn pressure and facing a metal gate... unlocked and open.
Needless to say we could hardly miss the oportunity to look briefly beyond the grate before heading back. It was a quick pop through the grate and down a steep slope to pop out in a small room at 118'.
"Very Neat!" was our first thought. A quick spin in place showed several small passages leading off in several directions.
Our second thought: "Hey where'd the line go?!!!"
Indeed, the lines/pipes we had followed into the cave must have stopped at the metal gate. After a quick spin our point of entry was less obvious then any of the other small passageways surrounding us.
My OW buddy's third thought: get up off the bottom, get vertical and start kicking at the floor.
Well, this "quick look" is suddenly seeming like a very bad idea. Fortunately the bottom sedement was pretty heavy and didn't immediately cloud the whole room we were about to try and figure our way back out of.
Another quick spin in place and I discarded most of the passages around us as our exit. What looked like a pile of debris in one corner on closer inspection was actually the bottom of the slope we had entered from.
We exited quickly with only that brief scare.
The previous day we had spent at Emerald Springs bending my buddy's cheapo OW dive computer on a repeditive dive to 130' (first day he owned it - past a certain depth it was supposed to go out of range automatically - and it just seems that on a repeditive dive it was even more limited).
This day we were at Vortex. We paid and signed all the waivers, made sure we understood the rules and it was OK to go in the cavern (not recomended but allowed was the answer).
We headed in following the installed "line". We noted that the place wasn't as large and open as most places we had been and seemed to travel inward a significant distance. Still it was an easy swim and the line was easy to follow and we had no real distance references other then the increasing depth.
So a short time later we found ourselves about 100' deep, who knows how far back (actually about 350'), nearing our turn pressure and facing a metal gate... unlocked and open.
Needless to say we could hardly miss the oportunity to look briefly beyond the grate before heading back. It was a quick pop through the grate and down a steep slope to pop out in a small room at 118'.
"Very Neat!" was our first thought. A quick spin in place showed several small passages leading off in several directions.
Our second thought: "Hey where'd the line go?!!!"
Indeed, the lines/pipes we had followed into the cave must have stopped at the metal gate. After a quick spin our point of entry was less obvious then any of the other small passageways surrounding us.
My OW buddy's third thought: get up off the bottom, get vertical and start kicking at the floor.
Well, this "quick look" is suddenly seeming like a very bad idea. Fortunately the bottom sedement was pretty heavy and didn't immediately cloud the whole room we were about to try and figure our way back out of.
Another quick spin in place and I discarded most of the passages around us as our exit. What looked like a pile of debris in one corner on closer inspection was actually the bottom of the slope we had entered from.
We exited quickly with only that brief scare.