Peacock Grand Traverse

Hey all,
I was wondering if anyone could give me any info on the grand traverse? I found an old thread and gathered that its about 4600' total length. Is this right? About how long does it take to complete? Also, about how much gas do you use (I think I have an average sac rate)? Using my last dive at peacock as a baseline (peacock down pothole to crossover to peanut back to peacock) i used (roughly) 1300 psi on 95's, and it is (again, roughly) 3000' of passage, right? So doing some (rough again) calculations I should be able to do the grand traverse with my 95's pretty hefty before hitting thirds on each stage. Can anyone give any tips to this or other info that would be helpful before attempting it? I think I would be taking a stage, just in case.
Cheers to all,
Andrew

Depending on your pace of swimming I've done it in as fast as 68 minutes and as slow as 100 minutes,typically average is 85 minutes.

When doing the grand traverse it is better to start at the Orange Grove section since that is the longest section without bailout points,so you'd rather have the most gas.

Can you make it on a 95 and a stage? Why not test the traverse to make sure. Go from P1 past Olsen and put in a clothes pin to see where you hit thirds,if you make it from the OG direction to the clothes pin without hitting thirds you are home free. Besides having the gas, it is always a good idea to see both sides of the traverse,and familiarize yourself with the passage if you've never seen those areas. For example during heavy rains the peanut restriction area viz can become very poor,and there is a gold line the stops short and perpendicular to the line you are traveling,good to reference this.

Have fun

What exactly is the grand traverse - from where to where?

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Originally Posted by Serota

What exactly is the grand traverse - from where to where?

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Orange Grove to P1...but there are a half dozen different routes you could take. Most take the gold line all the way out (past Olson & Pot Hole) to P!

There are many routes, but three main ones:

1. Orange Grove to Challenge to Olson to Pothole to Peacock 1 - this is the safest, as it allows more emergency exits near the end of the dive. It's about 4800 feet.

2. Orange Grove to Challenge to the Peanut Restriction, up the Peanut line to Peacock 1. This is about 4600 feet, but you will have NO deco, since the last 500' is shallow.

3. Orange Grove to Challenge to Olson, up the Crossover Tunnel to the Peanut Line, to Peacock1. This is a true mile.

1300 psi on the crossover circuit? You're going to need a stage for the Mile Run.

The first time I did the Grand Traverse, I stuck to the gold line; it took 81mins (including a 3 min. safety stop) with no deco. I was using 108s, started with 3500psi and ended with 1800psi. My buddy and I approached this dive as a recalculation dive at each stage. As long as we didn't hit 1/6ths at the half-way mark for each traverse, we were good to go on to the next one.

Hey guys,
Thanks for the info so far. Ill take the advice and dive from each end to familiarize myself with the tunnels and get a better feeling for the air consumption. I cant wait to do it, Im hoping sometime around my birthday if I can get down there a few times before then (the BIG 23! whoohoo! on Oct 3rd).
Cheers

Andrew:

The traverse between Orange Grove Sink and Challenge Sink is about 1800' and is the first leg of "The Grand Tour". I would suggest making this dive first and then return to Orange Grove Sink. The round trip will take 60 - 70 minutes and will give you a nice 3600' swim to determine how much gas you use and how well you can physically handle a long swim.

I highly recommend doing "The Grand Tour" with someone who's done it before and is familiar with the different routes. It'll take 75 - 90 minutes to complete. Most of the depth will be in the 40' - 50' range.

I've done it on double HP 120's and double LP 95's and had plenty of gas left upon reaching Peacock I.

Frank

My buddy Mark and I set this dive up about 5 weeks ago. We placed up a cookie on the Olsen line after swimming out the Peanut Restriction. Our cookie is about two hundred feet past the equal distance markers towards Challenge. We also, left an arrow on Peanut's main line near the end of the Restriction. I pray they are still there, with all stuff going on. We are looking to due the run soon "when the seas are blown out" Ha ha. The plan is in Orange out the Peanut Restriction. Please let us know if you see our markers. They are both White with my intitials JY aka Semorbugs. Thanks and Good Luck with your Grand Traversee.

Back in the day, I dove OG to P1 on AL 80's with an AL 80 stage carried ... Never touched the stage