SLIM
01-05-2005, 11:29 AM
It was a dark and rainy night when I pulled into the state of FL. I was traveling down I-10 on my way to Live Oak to meet up with a guy named TJ. As I followed the clear directions he gave me to look for the green cylume stick I pulled through the gate and saw what looked like a driveway could be in several directions. He came running out in the rain to flag, which is the correct directions. I stopped and unloaded a few things for a nights sleep and then we were off to get some food and then ran around to look at a few different places. He told me that some guy named Chip was coming, well he called and told us how late he would be and that he would be up first thing in the am.
The next day Chip, TJ and my self went to dive Cow on the up stream section. After I passes the reel through that hole to TJ we waited for Chip. He was busy getting a new fangled contraption together. The only thing that was hard about diving with Chip is he did not have any bubbles to follow. We dive on upstream of Cow and look around having a good time in the nice system and exited the sink after a 73-minute dive. The next plan was get our tanks topped off and head on over to Cathedral. Well for those of you who know about this system it is not normally a good place to dive but the 6-foot of Vis was I guess all right. The problem was I was looking for a Castle and could not find one. I thought Cathedral meant it was a Castle. The problem was coming out there were like 5 or 6 other lines the were tied to the wood steps. The handrail was about a foot underwater and poor TJ kept getting hung up but he fought through it like a trooper and came out with out any incident. That dive was a max of 136 for a total time of 58 minutes.
The next day I did a few easy dives with a buddy that has kind of taken me on as his mentor. Now that is scary. We did a few dives in Peacock and had a nice time. Day after that my buddy WJH and I went to Ginnie for some fun. Got to say Hi to Connie and catch up on things since it was last year since I saw her. I did give her a Christmas gift. The same stuff I gave TJ, and a few others. While WJH and I are gearing up and getting into the water we see Chick diver had Spectra and say Hi to them since we met them the night before at Floyd’s On our second dive on the mail line we are coming out and some DIVERS did not give us the right of way exiting in some restrictions but the last of the group did let us come on out. WJH and I are starting to exit the Ear and we wait for the people to get on through that were entering. That is one place to just let them come on in. It was Chick diver, spectra and a student she was teaching and she was running the reel in. She has a new way of doing it and it looked to be a good way. Do our wave and exit. Later when they were getting out we all chatted about the dinner and her class. We get back to where we were staying at Dive Outpost and are just hanging around and Chip comes flying in to see what I was doing the next morning. Well after he mentioned that FW wanted to know if I could do Bonnet with them since they had reservations for four and one of the four was busy teaching an OW class.
I meet with the gang like I am supposed to but they kept calling this guy Forrest. Now I know my woods and was looking around and there he was The man FW. We had to do that yearly greeting since it was a year since last time I saw him. There was a new guy this time Jay that was diving with us this time. FW runs the reel in and tells us that it clears up once we get in. Jay was talking about going down to beat the gator with is yellow stick, what ever that means. Never saw a gator so I guess Jay beat it. Had a wonderful dive for 64 minutes. While exiting the system I see FW holding the line in his left hand looking like it was broke and we were on the wrong side. Well luck to have it he was showing me the loose line and to OK it until we got through the silt and to a where the line was attached again. When we got out we drove over to see Janet to tell her about the conditions of the system and the line.
After FW and I gas up he takes me to the top of Henlies Castle in Peacock 3. Janet keeps telling us it is starting to siphon. You know ole FW and this Missouri boy, you got to show me. We run the reel to the main line and fan the silt to see what directions it was going. It was springing at this time. We go all the way back to the top of the drop off and then turn the dive. When we are hanging for our short deco we are still looking at the direction the water is going. Still springing. After 67 minutes we exit. I go on and get out of the water and I see FW looking like a submarine playing in the Slough area and fining upstream. When he gets out he mentions it’s got a lot of flow still.
The following day FW asked if I had anything planned and I said I need to check with WJH, he wanted to work on some skills. At 9 am FW gets to the shop and we decide to let him take us on the mile run. I know that that dive kicked WJH’s but, longer then we thought it would be but doing the proper calculations from each sink, we did not have any problem for the dive that took 112 minutes to complete. Gassing up at Cathy’s we head on over to Telford so WJH can get some work on running reels and spools. On the way in we see pass 2 other teams coming out, one of them thought we were doing a lights out drill when we were only covering our lights so the exiting team can see better and our lights not blind them. That dive went off with out a hitch and WJH did a great job on doing his job. The river could be seen at the bottom of the incline at the entrance and it was neat to watch the tannic water just seemed to flow in and out about a foot. This dive lasted a total of 59 minutes.
New Years eve I did my ritual dive at midnight. This year some blond chick that is knows as Starry skies ask if she could join and I say not a problem. After we get all geared up and in the water for the nice first dive of the year that lasted 47 minutes, longer then I thought it would be since Starry skies was in a wet suit and would have gotten cold sooner but she did alright for being kind of new to this sport. I noticed that the flow was down form when we were in it the other day. She asked what we hade planed for the next day. I tell her 1 more dive and then let everything hang out to dry so I can get it packed up to go. We decide to do downstream Cow and let Starry Skies to run the reel. That was a great dive for 42 minutes.
That evening while I am just chilling and resting for my 15-hour drive home I was going to have the next day TJ runs in and tried like a mad dog to get me to do 1 more dive. Something about setting a world record. I had everything all packed and stored and it would be a PIA to get it out. Next year I am planning to have it packed so that I can make that 1 last dive. But until then I can only say I was invited to set that new world record.
Maybe later I will work on a version so that Bubba can read it.
:roll:
SLIM
The next day Chip, TJ and my self went to dive Cow on the up stream section. After I passes the reel through that hole to TJ we waited for Chip. He was busy getting a new fangled contraption together. The only thing that was hard about diving with Chip is he did not have any bubbles to follow. We dive on upstream of Cow and look around having a good time in the nice system and exited the sink after a 73-minute dive. The next plan was get our tanks topped off and head on over to Cathedral. Well for those of you who know about this system it is not normally a good place to dive but the 6-foot of Vis was I guess all right. The problem was I was looking for a Castle and could not find one. I thought Cathedral meant it was a Castle. The problem was coming out there were like 5 or 6 other lines the were tied to the wood steps. The handrail was about a foot underwater and poor TJ kept getting hung up but he fought through it like a trooper and came out with out any incident. That dive was a max of 136 for a total time of 58 minutes.
The next day I did a few easy dives with a buddy that has kind of taken me on as his mentor. Now that is scary. We did a few dives in Peacock and had a nice time. Day after that my buddy WJH and I went to Ginnie for some fun. Got to say Hi to Connie and catch up on things since it was last year since I saw her. I did give her a Christmas gift. The same stuff I gave TJ, and a few others. While WJH and I are gearing up and getting into the water we see Chick diver had Spectra and say Hi to them since we met them the night before at Floyd’s On our second dive on the mail line we are coming out and some DIVERS did not give us the right of way exiting in some restrictions but the last of the group did let us come on out. WJH and I are starting to exit the Ear and we wait for the people to get on through that were entering. That is one place to just let them come on in. It was Chick diver, spectra and a student she was teaching and she was running the reel in. She has a new way of doing it and it looked to be a good way. Do our wave and exit. Later when they were getting out we all chatted about the dinner and her class. We get back to where we were staying at Dive Outpost and are just hanging around and Chip comes flying in to see what I was doing the next morning. Well after he mentioned that FW wanted to know if I could do Bonnet with them since they had reservations for four and one of the four was busy teaching an OW class.
I meet with the gang like I am supposed to but they kept calling this guy Forrest. Now I know my woods and was looking around and there he was The man FW. We had to do that yearly greeting since it was a year since last time I saw him. There was a new guy this time Jay that was diving with us this time. FW runs the reel in and tells us that it clears up once we get in. Jay was talking about going down to beat the gator with is yellow stick, what ever that means. Never saw a gator so I guess Jay beat it. Had a wonderful dive for 64 minutes. While exiting the system I see FW holding the line in his left hand looking like it was broke and we were on the wrong side. Well luck to have it he was showing me the loose line and to OK it until we got through the silt and to a where the line was attached again. When we got out we drove over to see Janet to tell her about the conditions of the system and the line.
After FW and I gas up he takes me to the top of Henlies Castle in Peacock 3. Janet keeps telling us it is starting to siphon. You know ole FW and this Missouri boy, you got to show me. We run the reel to the main line and fan the silt to see what directions it was going. It was springing at this time. We go all the way back to the top of the drop off and then turn the dive. When we are hanging for our short deco we are still looking at the direction the water is going. Still springing. After 67 minutes we exit. I go on and get out of the water and I see FW looking like a submarine playing in the Slough area and fining upstream. When he gets out he mentions it’s got a lot of flow still.
The following day FW asked if I had anything planned and I said I need to check with WJH, he wanted to work on some skills. At 9 am FW gets to the shop and we decide to let him take us on the mile run. I know that that dive kicked WJH’s but, longer then we thought it would be but doing the proper calculations from each sink, we did not have any problem for the dive that took 112 minutes to complete. Gassing up at Cathy’s we head on over to Telford so WJH can get some work on running reels and spools. On the way in we see pass 2 other teams coming out, one of them thought we were doing a lights out drill when we were only covering our lights so the exiting team can see better and our lights not blind them. That dive went off with out a hitch and WJH did a great job on doing his job. The river could be seen at the bottom of the incline at the entrance and it was neat to watch the tannic water just seemed to flow in and out about a foot. This dive lasted a total of 59 minutes.
New Years eve I did my ritual dive at midnight. This year some blond chick that is knows as Starry skies ask if she could join and I say not a problem. After we get all geared up and in the water for the nice first dive of the year that lasted 47 minutes, longer then I thought it would be since Starry skies was in a wet suit and would have gotten cold sooner but she did alright for being kind of new to this sport. I noticed that the flow was down form when we were in it the other day. She asked what we hade planed for the next day. I tell her 1 more dive and then let everything hang out to dry so I can get it packed up to go. We decide to do downstream Cow and let Starry Skies to run the reel. That was a great dive for 42 minutes.
That evening while I am just chilling and resting for my 15-hour drive home I was going to have the next day TJ runs in and tried like a mad dog to get me to do 1 more dive. Something about setting a world record. I had everything all packed and stored and it would be a PIA to get it out. Next year I am planning to have it packed so that I can make that 1 last dive. But until then I can only say I was invited to set that new world record.
Maybe later I will work on a version so that Bubba can read it.
:roll:
SLIM