On Friday, 3/5, I made my first trip to Eagle’s Nest. Just another dive site I told myself. Plan the dive and dive the plan. I am not about jumping in and going for broke. Nor am I Tri-mix certified (yet). Tom N., who was diving mix and has been to the Nest numerous times, was looking forward giving me an introduction to this unique site.
We arrived on site around mid day and prepped for the dive, gearing up and reviewing our plan. As I was going to limit myself to 145 feet on my first trip, there are those that would say I barely scratched the surface. However, this turned out to be a pretty significant dive for me.
As we descended through the basin floor and emerged from the ceiling, I immediately took note of how my light was getting swallowed by what seemed an endless darkness. I have experienced this before diving some wrecks, but this was a first for me in a cave. I would guess the vis was somewhere in the 40 foot range. We continued to follow the line down to the top of the debris cone, then on down the upstream line to 145 to begin a circumnavigation. Like I said, this was just to get my feet wet so to speak. Shortly we crossed the downstream line, then back to the upstream and began to work our way back up. Once at the top of the debris cone, I flipped over and saw what appeared to be a green stained glass window way way up on the ceiling Way Cool!
Once I returned to a more proper position, it happened. With the same degree of inflexibility the need to become cave certified attacked me, I now really want to see what is down there. I know the cave isn’t going anywhere, so I will take my time and do this properly. Up next, Tech Cave.
After the dive, hot dogs on the grill to end a great dive. But this was just the beginning of the weekend.
Saturday, Tom and I met with Darrin and Clay for a couple dives at Ginnie. I have been diving wet exclusively for the last ten years. After my last trip to Ginnie, freezing my a$$ off, Clay showed up on scene with a new dry suit for me, and I had no hesitation what-so-ever to reacquaint myself with the benefits of diving dry. (I came here from OR, why would I ever need a dry suit again?) It took one dive and a fin swap and dry diving is back in style until it warms up anyway. As mentioned elsewhere on the forum, things were a bit congested during entry and exit, but with little effort we were able to find solitude and some enjoyable dives.
Sunday Tom N. headed home and the three of us headed over to Manatee, another first for me. There we met with Tom P who was kind enough to provide an excellent, detailed sight briefing prior to our dive. Tom suggested that we try and focus on the cave and not the line as the placement of the line tends to draw your eyes away from a lot of the formations. We suited up, and found everything as described and completed an enjoyable dive to about 1000 feet on the upstream side with a very enjoyable ride out. Very dramatic structure. I know there must be a lot more to see as there was no way to take it all in on one dive. Looking forward to going back maybe when the manatees are gone.
Darrin headed home at that point. Clay and I returned to Ginnie for a relaxing H400, Bats, Rollercoaster circuit to put a wrap on the weekend. Oddly enough, there was no duck weed on the gear after the dive…
Really looking forward to doing it again soon.
