Orange Grove Sink - Distance Tunnel(08/20/06)
Lonestarfl and I made a sidemount dive in the Distance Tunnel(which is about p950' from Orange Grove Sink) because we had not been there in a long time and we had never gone far enough to reach the "T" to the double north tunnels.
Visibility in the basin was a little green and hazy, but once we descended to 35' - 40', visibility was very good for the entire swim to The Distance Tunnel.
After we had swam a few hundred feet into The Distance Tunnel, we noticed the gray silty floor was in a smooth pristine condition, which indicated that no other divers had been there for a long time.
We finally reached the "T" and took the left tunnel. We proceeded for several hundred feet before we turned the dive.
We were surprised to see a lot of ceiling percolation on the way back out, which slowed down our exit. Visibility did not vastly improve until we reached a point 200' - 300' east of the Martz Offshoot Tunnel.
We arrived at the Orange Grove Sink/Challenge Sink Tunnel and continued our exit.
Upon arriving back at Orange Grove Sink, our dive computers showed 90 minutes of bottom time. We made a 10-minute safety stop and then surfaced.
EANx 32 was used for the dive. Maximum depth reached was 69', but most of the dive was in the 40' - 45' depth range.
(Note: This dive is very doable in backmounted doubles, but sidemounts are recommended if you plan to swim to the far reaches of The Distance Tunnel because of the gray silty floors and the low floor-to-ceiling height in some areas)
Re: Orange Grove Sink - Distance Tunnel(08/20/06)
Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainSpeleo
Lonestarfl and I made a sidemount dive in the Distance Tunnel(which is about p950' from Orange Grove Sink) because we had not been there in a long time and we had never gone far enough to reach the "T" to the double north tunnels.
Visibility in the basin was a little green and hazy, but once we descended to 35' - 40', visibility was very good for the entire swim to The Distance Tunnel.
After we had swam a few hundred feet into The Distance Tunnel, we noticed the gray silty floor was in a smooth pristine condition, which indicated that no other divers had been there for a long time.
We finally reached the "T" and took the left tunnel. We proceeded for several hundred feet before we turned the dive.
We were surprised to see a lot of ceiling percolation on the way back out, which slowed down our exit. Visibility did not vastly improve until we reached a point 200' - 300' east of the Martz Offshoot Tunnel.
We arrived at the Orange Grove Sink/Challenge Sink Tunnel and continued our exit.
Upon arriving back at Orange Grove Sink, our dive computers showed 90 minutes of bottom time. We made a 10-minute safety stop and then surfaced.
EANx 32 was used for the dive. Maximum depth reached was 69', but most of the dive was in the 40' - 45' depth range.
(Note: This dive is very doable in backmounted doubles, but sidemounts are recommended if you plan to swim to the far reaches of The Distance Tunnel because of the gray silty floors and the low floor-to-ceiling height in some areas)
Even wonder about that sand slide in the distance tunnel??? It is directly under the road leading into Peacock hmmmmm....
