Nice Surprise at Jackson Blue
This week I was diving at Jackson Blue, and decided to swim a couple of the pretty circuits off the left of the main line around p. 2600 feet. First I did a little swim around what I call the Lower Sweet Passage Loop, and then it was up the little dead end tunnel just next to the Lower Loop. My buddy and I first swam this section a couple years ago, and at that time we noticed some obvious continuing passage at the end of the line. So what was there to do but grab a reel and go see what’s in there. After negotiating a simple restriction we were in a low but wide room that was very pretty. The room ran on for about 100 feet and seemed to pinch down. Disappointed that it ended so soon my buddy elected to reel back out of this section. The exit was fun as the ceiling percolation has obliterated the vis. Due to the percolation I hoped my buddy had missed the going passage so I went back a week later by myself. I tied off to the end of the line and swam to the back of the room. It was just as he described. It just sort of pinched off. Oh well I turned around and reeled back out just as my buddy had. Well since I was there again this week I decided to check out this room once more. As I got to the end of the line I was surprise to see it did not end. Someone had run a line to the back of the room. Cool this time I could go back with out having to run my reel. As I swam to the back of the room the new line tied off and took a hard right over a silt mound and onward in a going passage. Holy **** what had we missed? Well I followed this new tunnel past a T until it linked up with the Upper Sweet Passage Loop. The cave was gorgeous; it meandered a little and had awesome rock formations everywhere you looked. Damn man that was a great find. Congratulations to the folks who laid the line, and thanks for one of my most exciting dives in a while…
