What a difference a week makes -A Cave training update
With the current situation at Peacock, it is truly hard to reconcile the images of flooding with the great experience I enjoyed last Thursday and Friday.
I made it to Amigos for some top-offs just as the rain started to come down on the afternoon of the 1st (I was able to close out the bug hunting season in Jupiter the day before) and then it was off to Live Oak where I bunked down for the night.
I was up that way to hopefully complete my Apprentice class (and Advanced Nitrox) with Cave Diver's Forum's own TJ. And while the rains pounded down Wednesday night and continued on & off on Thursday; is was really not too bad at Peacock for a day of diving... and training. Atedeschi was my fellow student and cohort for the two days (he was doing the class sidemount).
Our first dives were a bit hit-n-miss as Anthony and I had never been in the water together. This was made all the more challenging as Anthony's DR 500 lumen LED was so weak that I had to cover my light anytime I tried to get a reference of his position. Additionally my first tie-in at our planned jump prior to Olsen was a cluster#$$^. But after a short SI at Olsen (made even shorter after we heard thunder), our return trip went a whole lot smoother. Even the lights out/air share in the Peanut tunnel went quite well.
After some fills, TJ decided it was worth a look to see if Kidde Sink was diveable even though the rain was still coming down lightly. After a short drive to the sink near Blue Springs State park, we geared up and gave it a try. Who needs blacked out masks for training when you can just dive in 3' vis? The conditions made for a revised dive objective of just going down a line from the open sink toward the actual cave system. We called the dive quickly but Anthony and I were starting to work a lot better together - touch contact will do that to you.
By Friday morning, the topside conditions turned perfect; no premonitions of the troubles now upon that area. Our first two dives were also at Peacock 1, but instead of going toward Peanut or the main gold line; we did our dives in the direction of the Well and the passage that heads toward Peacock 2 - nice silty areas to allow for a proper critic of our buoyancy etc. TJ was continuing with his strategy of keeping us off the beaten path - pragmatic would be the best way to characterize TJ's teaching style and methods.
Our last dive was at P3 where I was able to feel the mild siphon as well as see the remnants of a very buzzy beaver (literally) and then the class was over. Early plans to go over to Little River were squashed as the effect of the rains from Wednesday and Thursday were already starting to be felt and I still wanted to make it past Atlanta that night.
The Verdict: We both passed, but of course there were recommendations and suggestions of areas where we could certainly improve - Sensei TJ continued his positive and constructive criticism until the very end and for that I am very much appreciative.
