If anyone dives there over the weekend, can you advise what the conditions are? There's been a lot of rain in the area, including Thursday night. I have a dive trip scheduled there on Wednesday, the 13th.
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If anyone dives there over the weekend, can you advise what the conditions are? There's been a lot of rain in the area, including Thursday night. I have a dive trip scheduled there on Wednesday, the 13th.
The basin has a slight tannic color to it.Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainSpeleo
Inside the cave you will find tannic water in most of the "fresh" water areas.
The halocline starts early and seems to be hanging out throughout the cave. Vis is "so-so" for WW. (10-15ft)
Don't bother on incoming tide, wait till outgoing tide as the organic matter seems to like to "float" alot on the incoming tide as of late.
Did 2 x 1.5hr dives this weekend, overall not the best i've seen it, and not the worst... somewhere in the middle...
8)
Thanks for your input, Tegg.
I've never planned a dive at WW, based on the time of the tide. I just show up during the mid-morning hours and hope for the best.
Our dive for Wednesday morning is still a "go". If the viz is 15' - 20', I'll be happy. It has to be better than the viz was at Hudson Grotto on Monday.
HAHAQuote:
Originally Posted by CaptainSpeleo
The vis is almost always at least better then there... :lol:
Yeah vis may be bad, but if you don't have to exhale to move why dive.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tegg
You know all about having to exhale in that turtle mount setup you use... :wink:Quote:
Originally Posted by Titen
Tegg:
John LaManna and I made a dive at Wayne's World this morning(04/13). We took the short route to Mainstreet and then proceeded west for 300' - 400'. Visibility never got better than 10' and was closer to 6' - 8' for most of the dive. The halocline layer was at the same depth of the Mainstreet tunnel, which made me feel at times like I was diving on air at 200'+. There was a noticable flow running east, so the tide apparently was still coming in. It's probably going to take a few weeks without rain in that area before that system clears up to its more normal 25 - 30' visibility.
Frank
yep... figured Vis would suck... but your 6'-8' is prolly my 10'-15'... hahaQuote:
Originally Posted by CaptainSpeleo
that system gets you so used to "shitty" vis that you start thinking 10'-15' is great... :lol:
I love the halocline being throughout the whole cave... its cause the hydostatic pressure isn't back for the system yet... it may end up staying like this till after the hurricane season... if so, oh well... still a decent dive to me... lots of work to be done in there still... (just replaced about 1000' of line, got more to do yet...)
We emerged from the short route tunnel into the Mainstreet tunnel and started curving to the right. When I saw a line arrow pointing back towards us and saw that we were heading east, I realized that we were heading in the wrong direction and were on the line to the long route loop. We turned around and headed back to where I had placed a marker light. I then noticed about a 10' gap in the line and realized it was the line that continued west down the Mainstreet tunnel. There used to be a very prominent "T" there. Was it removed for some reason?
In hindsight, I should have put a couple dorf markers indicating the jump. I guess they will re-connect the "T" again, because everything else has them.
I'm still having visions of that little "object" on the bottom of your tanks. :wink:
LOL!! Yeah you and Rich Cortney got a good look at them. Rich is supposed to post a picture of them one of these days.
John:
The next time you're at the dive shop in Lakeland, get with Steve Forman and confirm that he can get me mirrored 300BAR DIN valves for my Genesis HP120's and how much it'll cost me.
Let's give Wayne's World another try in a couple of weeks and hope for better viz.
I will e-mail you the costs of the valves on monday when I find out.
John
Hey, Who is the contact person for the cave now? I did see the photos of the nice new gate. I am guessing it now also has a nice new lock. I am going to be down there and would like to dive it. Nothing is posted on the CDS website about who to contact or what the 'rules' are now. Any info would be appreciated. You can pm me at butler_cynthia@bellsouth.net. Thank you. Cindy Butler
Contact Joe Tegg or you can go by Scuba West which is down the street from waynes world and they will give you the combo.....but PM Tegg on here and he'll let you know everything you need to knowQuote:
Originally Posted by Cindy
Go to "Scuba West" and sign a waiver and show your cave-trained C-card. You'll be given the lock combination at that time(which I've been advised is changed about once a week). This procedure has to be followed every time you dive there.
This is an advanced cave system with tannic water and limited visibility. It is NOT for newly-certified or novice cave divers or for those who have a problem with siltouts and low visibility. Depending on where you are in this system(and as long as you stay out of the deep salt tunnel), depth will vary between 105' - 115'.
OK, directions to Scuba west or an address please. Thank you for the warning about the conditions. I have dived there once or twice but have not been to scuba west since they moved. Cindy :)
I found it on the web. Thanks for the contact info. Cindy :)
call scuba west. I dont have the # but I am sure someone on here does.
I got it, Thank You! I would like to know what the new rules are there. Does anyone know them? Cindy Butler
Hey Cindy,Quote:
Originally Posted by Cindy
All you have to do is go to Scuba West (just off hwy 19 a few blocks north of 52, turn between Bank of America and a Family Funeral Home), show your cave certification, sign the waiver, and get the code to the lock on the gate. It's good edicate to pick up trash and put it in the can after your dive. You have to be CDS and Wakulla or Abe Davis.
I would not recommend diving it in more than 2-person teams, especially if the visibility is bad, because the trailing diver likely won't see much. Decompression stops are also a problem because you have to stack on top of each other until you get to the last stop. A 32% - 34% mix is good for this system and reduces decompression time to just a few minutes, if any.
This is the Access Policy from the NSSCDS:
http://www.nsscds.org/school_sink.htm
I don't know why they have not updated the links on their site for this.
Cindy, if you would like you can PM me for access.
:D