Jackson Blue, Hole in the Wall, and Twin 5/1/10
So I had my eyes opened up a few times this past weekend. So far all of my cave diving, at least in FL, has been pretty much in the Ginnie, Peacock, LR area. This past weekend changed that and more.
Woke up in Marianna first thing Friday morning and went to Cave Adventurers for some gas. Certainly worth noting how walking into a dive shop that caters to the cave diving community continues to be so very different than walking into the typical OW LDS. Edd was more interested in talking about cave diving than selling us some promotional item. Also nice to meet a few other folks with connections to the Pac NW.
Friday morning I met with Tom N. from ATL , I gassed up and we headed off to do a few dives at Jackson Blue on Friday. Vis was 60 or 70ish, the water temp was around 68, and the sky was overcast. Pretty darn good day for cave diving I’d say. We knocked out a couple of dives going in the mainline roughly 1100 feet each time. No stage, and no scooters. Not really certain why, but I was **really** tired that night. Might have been all the hours I was putting in at work, or the six hour drive to get there, but the flow seemed to be moving pretty good too…
On Saturday we added Clay D., Darin E., and the legendary John T. (all from ATL as well) to our dive party and decided to give one of Edd’s yachts a spin on the pond. You know I hate to bring my camera near the water without a housing, but the Mill Pond was beautiful. Had the sun been out I certainly would have taken a few shots. Our first dive of the day was Twin. Again no scooters or stage work. We split into two teams, and followed the main line to the first tee. Then we went down and worked our way back up at the second tee coming back out up high. Way cool dive, the changes in depth through fissures really stood out for me. I’d guess the vis here was closer to 70 than 60. The water temp again remained about 68.
Second dive was Hole in the wall. Tom N. must have had enough of my head gear and decided to take the rest of the weekend off (Takes a man to wear a beanie). So after lunch at the Riverfront Grill and watching the “big screen entertainment” a.k.a. looking out the window at college kids going tubing, four of us set out for Hole in the Wall. We again split into two teams Clay and John entered first with Darin and I giving them a bit of a head start. Once again we encountered vis in the 60-70 range and temps the high 60’s, to start.
I am not certain of the name but somewhere around 1000 p. there is a white line that goes right and has a tangle of old line on it. Darin stuck his head in asked if I was OK, and I said, “Let’s Go!” I would guess we followed that line for about 500 feet. About the time we passed below 100 feet, there was a rather significant thermo cline that got our attention rather quickly with a bit of cold water. I believe we were getting in the vicinity of the Century tunnel. (Clarification welcome on this). A bit later Darin and I turned the dive and thoroughly enjoyed a leisurely exit.
On Sunday we went back to Jackson Blue for a planned stage dive. The plan was to stage to the first tee and drop our stages just shy of the tee. Then continuing to the left we dropped down as we got to the second tee to float back to the bottles. The dive went off perfectly and we all enjoyed it. Did I mention no scooters? Maybe the flow was up a bit more, maybe I was getting a bit tired, but Darin summed up the flow by saying, ” That was like climbing a rock wall in scuba gear!” I know that my fingers were a bit on the tender side from some very careful application of the techniques known as “pull and pull” or pull and stop”.
You folks up in the panhandle certainly have some beautiful caves, and your hospitality was off the charts. Thanks to everyone and I look forward to coming back.:arrowgreen:arrowgreen
I would also be remiss if I failed to mention how much I appreciate the mentoring of my ATL cave diving buddies (alphabetically listed) Clay D., Darin E., Tom N. and the Legendary John T. You guys are awesome!
Looking forward to doing it again.
Jeff
