Peacock Open - Dove it today (Sat)

My dive buddy and I were standing on the steps at Peacock at approx 1:15pm thinking about how much fun it would be to dive Peacock. The park ranger walked down the steps and asked how how we were doing....we mentioned that it would be great to be able to dive. She responded with...it just opened!

Well, we couldn't gear up fast enough!

Dove the Peanut line to the end of the line.

Vis 30ft with heavy particulate matter that eats up your light. The walls & ceiling are covered with very loose silt / the gold line is covered with organic matter and was a more brown color than gold...meaning, it looks like it was actually growing. Numerous dead fish & dead white cave crawfish.

All in all, it was a GREAT dive. We were the first ones in (and only today) since the powers that be opened it. Talking with the ranger after the dive they made it open to Full Cave only....this being a good thing in my opinion cause it could silt out VERY easy.

Despite being dark and cruddy, it was pretty cool being inside, no hand prints, body prints, the scape marks on the ceiling / walls were not visable due to the sediment / silt on them.

Would dive it again tomorrow if we didn't have to pull four jumps out of Ginnie.

Nathan

I wish a member of the NACD Bio Team could go in and do a critter count to compare to ones from before the flooding.


[edit] Kelly Jessop said he did a fauna count while fixing the lines, can Kelly and/or Skip compare the data at some point to see how the flooding affected the critters? I'm curious to know why any more cave crayfish would die during flooding and not smart enough to know without asking :)

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Originally Posted by JahJahwarrior

I wish a member of the NACD Bio Team could go in and do a critter count to compare to ones from before the flooding.


[edit] Kelly Jessop said he did a fauna count while fixing the lines, can Kelly and/or Skip compare the data at some point to see how the flooding affected the critters? I'm curious to know why any more cave crayfish would die during flooding and not smart enough to know without asking :)

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I suspect there is something in the river water that they don't do well with, maybe tannin.

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Originally Posted by JahJahwarrior

I wish a member of the NACD Bio Team could go in and do a critter count to compare to ones from before the flooding.


[edit] Kelly Jessop said he did a fauna count while fixing the lines, can Kelly and/or Skip compare the data at some point to see how the flooding affected the critters? I'm curious to know why any more cave crayfish would die during flooding and not smart enough to know without asking :)

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I have been doing this exact same thing for the last 5 years. For the most part you'll see the system is devoid of most life,and we use this opportunity to get baseline counts. Our research has found that it is approx 6 months for rebounding to prior trend levels. What causes the system to be devoid of life? More likely low dissolved oxygen numbers. The big question is where do the species go? It is felt the larger crayfish are several decades old,so we know they just don't die off and regrow a new population;plus the life cycle of the isopods and amphipods. It has been conjectured that they might go into a hibernation in the organic material in the floor.

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Originally Posted by FW

I suspect there is something in the river water that they don't do well with, maybe tannin.

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Actually river water is very rich in dissolved oxygen,but also rich in bacteria. Remember how people would say that oxygen content in a rusting steel tank would lower the oxygen level...same thing more likely.

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Originally Posted by Kelly Jessop

Actually river water is very rich in dissolved oxygen,but also rich in bacteria. Remember how people would say that oxygen content in a rusting steel tank would lower the oxygen level...same thing more likely.

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Then we need to leave a dissolved O2 probe in peacock before, during, and after a flood. If your theory is right, dissolved O2 should spike right after a flood, and drop as bacteria uses it up.

I don't understand the rusting tank analogy can you expand on this?

Thanks.

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Originally Posted by Blackchains

I don't understand the rusting tank analogy can you expand on this?

Thanks.

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This may be something for Mythbusters,but supposedly in the days of steel 72s,a tank corroding would have a lower oxygen content from the oxidation,and there were incidents of people dying from hypoxia. I don't completely believe that story because at depth the lower oxygen content would sustain life,but oxygen percent would decrease.

Y'all enjoy Peacock this weekend! Today at my house it rained three inches in two hours.

The runoff should reach North Florida by Monday. :smt013

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Originally Posted by Kelly Jessop

This may be something for Mythbusters,but supposedly in the days of steel 72s,a tank corroding would have a lower oxygen content from the oxidation,and there were incidents of people dying from hypoxia. I don't completely believe that story because at depth the lower oxygen content would sustain life,but oxygen percent would decrease.

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I did the math on this two years ago. Theory says you would need to form a lot of rust to lower O2 to any dangerous levels.

http://thedecostop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24797

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Originally Posted by Kelly Jessop

This may be something for Mythbusters,but supposedly in the days of steel 72s,a tank corroding would have a lower oxygen content from the oxidation,and there were incidents of people dying from hypoxia. I don't completely believe that story because at depth the lower oxygen content would sustain life,but oxygen percent would decrease.

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If there is large intrusion of organic matter, wouldnt there eventually be hydrogen sulfide produced by the decaying organics, and then sulfer reducing bacteria that should cause a sharp drop in dissolved O2 while flow rates are down? This is how it works on a routine basis here in the Bahamas, but our caves are marine, not artesian. I would like to hear if anyone has done any work on this in springs.

Safe diving,
Brian