Vortex Cave question

I dove past the gate at Vortex last night for the first time.
Not a bad cave. I actually liked it.
I am curious about where I made it to.
Any help figuring this out would be appreciated.

I have been looking a a map online from Jason Gulley 2003.
I am guessing on distance but probably at least 300 or more past the gate, there was a T or jump tied in off to the left. I followed it to the left probably less than 60' at best guess. The line ended tied off on the wall on the right side as you go in. This line went through a rather large space as compared to the rest of this portion of the cave. The depth is this room as it was looked to drop down to about 130-135'.
I followed this line back to the main line. Where the main line continues into the cave past this side line the cave and the pipe start to go down a hill. I was at 128' and the hill looked to go down about another 15' or so maybe 20' (I stayed at 128'). At what appeared to be the bottom of the hill, the pipe appeared to stop and there was a black plastic hose the same diameter as the pipe curled up.

From what I can guess from the map on line I think I was either at a place labeled Ferrar Fissure that leads to Backmount Squeeze. There is a passage to the left shown just before the main cave line and pipe go deeper there.
I may have been farther in but I do not think so. The next place I see on the map that drops like that is leading to Champagne Bottleneck.

Max depth on my computer was 130' I hit the deepest point at about 20-22 min into the dive. I was making pretty good time once tied off and in the cave.

Anyone have a good idea where I was, or have a better map?

Thanks

The cave has been changed a lot by dredging and collapse since we mapped it. You were looking down into the champagne bottleneck. What was once a snug, high flow restriction was removed by the dredge pipe.

So there is another line to the left a couple feet before where you would go down. Is the bottle neck where that black hose is?
Why are they dredging ?

If you went through (or perhaps under depending on the amount of sand that's been removed) a vertical crack entirely encased in rock, followed a bedding plane that looks like it would be snug in backmount and popped out into a smallish room that has a T in it (with the line going straight as well as a second line going down a sand slope), then you got to where the bottleneck used to be. Eduardo has been pulling sand out of the cave to make it bigger, so the cave looks a lot different now.

Not sure it definitely looked like a T. To me the pipe went down straight ahead and the T went to the left and the line ended to the left. The passage to the left looked more like traditional fl limestone passage. The reason I thought I may not have made it that far is that your map showed a passage to the left earlier.
Is the dredging simply to push the cave further? That is so different when compared to places like peacock Ginnie little river etc. that has to be expensive I just wander what the funding and motivation are.

That sounds like the area. FYI, the passage off to the left (cave left) on the map is in front of the grate and is not marked. That tunnel is longer and deeper than what is shown on your version of the map. It is lined but I've heard that it has since been grated off. It is a sidemount passage and was fortunately not obvious to most divers.

The passage I went down to the left was well after the grate. From the version of the map on line it is past the grate too. From what you are telling me I guess I was at the drop to the bottle neck. So that is the only T you know of at the bottleneck then?
Jason thanks for all the info it is kind of cool to have the guy that did the map respond to me here. I am not looking to go to some new crazy places just curious to where I was. I rarely get over there. I had an O/W student wrapping up at Vortex and I have always been curious about the cave.

If anyone else knows the reasons behind the dredging I am still very curious.
Thanks,
Dan

There is no reason. It's just Eduardo playing around back there. Also, if he didn't the cave would be filled in with sand by now and now much would be accessible past the gate.

skip

Makes since I was just curious.

Unless Eduardo opened up one in the last year there is no passage to the left past the gate. There is a T to the right about 4-500 ft past the grate and a longish restriction.
Jason, he sucked all the sand away from that fissure so you dont have to go through it now. Im wondering if someone didn't run a line through it and maybe that's the left in question.

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Originally Posted by navycaver

Makes since I was just curious.

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These guys are all part of the conspiracy. Hes dredging to find Ben.

Joke. Probably in bad taste


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Actually Eduardo has stopped dredging since the Dockery's regained Vortex back in October. So a lot of the areas Eduardo has dredged is slowly filling back in. One of the local cave divers has started to survey the system.

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Originally Posted by Kevin Carlisle

Unless Eduardo opened up one in the last year there is no passage to the left past the gate. There is a T to the right about 4-500 ft past the grate and a longish restriction.
Jason, he sucked all the sand away from that fissure so you dont have to go through it now. Im wondering if someone didn't run a line through it and maybe that's the left in question.

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From his description, I thought he was describing the passage as he was looking down the sand slope, which would have the terminal line to his left, even though the passage is to the cave right. I'm glad to hear that they've stopped dredging back there.

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Originally Posted by jason

From his description, I thought he was describing the passage as he was looking down the sand slope, which would have the terminal line to his left, even though the passage is to the cave right. I'm glad to hear that they've stopped dredging back there.

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Ah you may be right. Yes im glad they did too.

Your description sounds like the Blue Room, one line goes down and through a duck under and levels off around 145-150' depth. The other continues(maybe considered to the left?) on to a low bedding plane where it ends, tied off to the right wall. This line is level with the top of the room, after the long sand restriction/crawl/singlefile swim(depending on what state the dredging is in).

I iwish I would have paid more attention to distance from the grate.
There was someone doing survey work. He had been in a couple times earlier in the day. He and I went in at the same time. He started pulling lines just past the grate and handed me the key. He was obviously out when I exited.

To add some clarification to where I was. I swam to the left side of 2 lines that connected. Less than 100' down that path the line is tied off to the wall on the right side pf the passage. The passage I went down was a lot more open that the rest of the cave up to that point. At least 10' floor to top. Depth 122' where the line was tied off. When I swam back i went 5' past the junction of the lines and saw the hill sloapoing down. I was at about 125' and the hill went down what looked like at least 15' more in depth. It looked a little snug at the bottom, but not to bad. Again I was looking form the top. I was very close to turn pressure at that point. This is where the pipe ended and had a black hose coiled up.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SuPrBuGmAn

Your description sounds like the Blue Room, one line goes down and through a duck under and levels off around 145-150' depth. The other continues(maybe considered to the left?) on to a low bedding plane where it ends, tied off to the right wall. This line is level with the top of the room, after the long sand restriction/crawl/singlefile swim(depending on what state the dredging is in).

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You and I were posting at the same time.
This sounds lime exactly where I was.
Do you know where that is on Jason's map? Is it where he called it the Champagen Bottleneck?

Thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by navycaver

You and I were posting at the same time.
This sounds lime exactly where I was.
Do you know where that is on Jason's map? Is it where he called it the Champagen Bottleneck?

Thanks

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That sounds like the same place. I would be keen to see the new survey once it is complete to see how much the dredging changed things.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by navycaver

You and I were posting at the same time.
This sounds lime exactly where I was.
Do you know where that is on Jason's map? Is it where he called it the Champagen Bottleneck?

Thanks

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Yes

Jason, we started surveying two weeks ago. I'll definitely let you know when we're finished so you can see the changes due to dredging and flow.

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Originally Posted by dcainret

Jason, we started surveying two weeks ago. I'll definitely let you know when we're finished so you can see the changes due to dredging and flow.

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Thanks, and good luck.

Jason, so far we have surveyed up to the second restriction. Distance from start of cavern zone to second restriction is 545 feet. After the gate to second restriction depth varies from 115 to 118. We will do a second survey for accuracy so this will take some time but will keep you posted.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jason

Thanks, and good luck.

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I'm no cave explorer but when Brian and I dove it with you guys & the ROV/fiber optic cable deal, I remember a longish, single file nearly sidemount restriction which would seem to be the one marked on the map and we popped out in that larger room and there was a slope going down. We just stopped there and pulled cable through and turned the dive. I'd have to look and see what the max depth was but probably 150-160 ish? I found the cave to be sandy and boring, Edd tells me that it just gets smaller and siltier and scarier from there.