Isolation Room whale Bone Restoration Dive 1

After receiving permission from the land owner and formulation of a restoration plan we did our first dive today. In formulating this plan I sought out the opinions of Forrest Wilson (CDS) and Kelley Jessop (NFSA) as well consultation with the tech department of the epoxy’s manufacturer. I also used before and after pictures of the whale bone. I have never seen the whalebone so I asked my friend Rich Courtney to guide and help me on these dives. After researching several options we believe the best chance for a successful restoration is the recovery the broken pieces of the whale bone and using an epoxy formulated for use underwater repairing ocean and artificial reefs. This epoxy was chosen because it is proven to set and be applied underwater and known to be inert and not harmful to the environment. The objectives of today were to:
A) Conduct a visual survey of the site and determine if a restoration is possible.
B) If a restoration is possible then recover the broken pieces to be worked on, on dry land (if at any point it becomes apparent that the restoration will fail then return the pieces to the Insulation Room). Finally determine if the piece still in the wall is solidly attached or if it is needed to be removed whereas, then reassemble the whole whale bone then reattach it to the wall.
C) Photograph and video to document the effort.
Today’s Dive:
We met at Ginnie where we went over the dive plan, copies of the before and after images. I also carried Tupperware containers in a duffle bag to safely handle the pieces. Rich led the dive where we scootered to about 2200 ft where we dropped both our stages and DPV’s. We swam to the site where I took a quick video of the site. The piece remaining in the wall was solid and not removable. The broken pieces consisted of 3 large pieces and multiple of smaller pieces. I test fitted the large pieces and found they line back up nicely to the piece still in the wall. I then began collecting the 3 large pieces and as many of the small pieces as possible. This process, as well as bubble exhaust, began to reduce visibility. After 20 minutes or so, visibility decreased enough to call the dive. We stowed the pieces and swam to the DPVs and stages and began our exit. Exit and deco were uneventful. Dive time was a little under 2 hours. On the surface, we found the 3 large pieces plus several smaller pieces fitted together nicely and we have high hopes for success. We plan another recovery dive this week to get any pieces missed.
Michael Angelo Gagliardi
NACD Conservation Chair

Bloody well done!!!

Thank you both for your efforts in restoring this piece of history.
Looking forward to seeing the restoration one day.


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Well done, MichaelAngelo.

Great job!!!!

After seeing and examining the pieces, what are your thoughts on how the damage was caused?

Thanks for the time and effort :)

It looked to me like someone lost vis and was pulling or groping along the wall then pulled it off thinking it was a hand hold. There seems to be hand prints along the wall going past it but no tool marks. I am less concerned on how it happened at the juncture then how to solve the problem of restoring.

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Originally Posted by Danseur

Bloody well done!!!

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+ 1

This is amazing.

Nice job and thanks for the update

Thanks so much for your efforts and restoring it but I think the handprints were from leverage trying to dislodge it. Hope you can restore it !!

Awesome, can't wait to see the video and sorry to hear of all this. What a bummer. Hope the restoration goes well and folks are safe at the end of the day.


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Great job guys! Now that the bone is out of the cave I was wondering if you could get it identified. Although that might be hard since it is only one fragment. I figured it was always given the nickname 'whale bone' but nobody actually knew what type of animal it belonged to. Maybe show it to a prof at UF?


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Originally Posted by Boondock

Great job guys! Now that the bone is out of the cave I was wondering if you could get it identified. Although that might be hard since it is only one fragment. I figured it was always given the nickname 'whale bone' but nobody actually knew what type of animal it belonged to. Maybe show it to a prof at UF?


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And dated, that would be really cool

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Originally Posted by Boondock

Great job guys! Now that the bone is out of the cave I was wondering if you could get it identified. Although that might be hard since it is only one fragment. I figured it was always given the nickname 'whale bone' but nobody actually knew what type of animal it belonged to. Maybe show it to a prof at UF?


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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kxm...tailpage#t=154

"We all owe a deep gratitude and thanks to Michael Angelo Gagliardi and the entire team..."
- Wes Skiles (UWS Volume 36 Number 4)

Just an FYI. There is a black gym bag clipped to the line at stage rock in Devils. It's there as a storage bag for the restoration project. It will be removed by the end of the project. Thank you

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Originally Posted by MichaelAngelo

Just an FYI. There is a black gym bag clipped to the line at stage rock in Devils. It's there as a storage bag for the restoration project. It will be removed by the end of the project. Thank you

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I hope you left a note on it. Not everyone reads this forum :-)

Nope was a was a last minute decision but we'll be back in a day or two and leave one.

Nice work folks!!!!!

The bag is still there as of this morning :)

I might have missed it, but is anybody funding this restoration?

I'll be super interested to see before and after pictures as well as any media regarding the actual restoration. The effort is incredible and helps restore some of my faith in humanity. Once again, your restoration work is awesome!

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Originally Posted by victorzamora

The effort is incredible and helps restore some of my faith in humanity.

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My thoughts exactly. Aside from no real media coverage, and all restoration work being funded only by the dedicated members of the cave diving community, this really is a remarkable thing happening here:

Here, we have a 34-56 million year old vertebrae of a 60+ foot Archaeoceti whale. Which has gone 99.999999% of it's "intact life" unbeknownst to humans. Only upon discovery to be immediately marveled by, destroyed by, and subsequently restored by humans. This is such a good example of how much impact we really have on this planet, and the capability that we have to repair it.

IMO, I see a whole lot going on here besides just fixing a broken rock. Like everyone else, upon hearing that this item was destroyed, my personal feelings were just as cynical as the rest. I hated whoever did it, and my blood boiled. I was very tempted to actively seek them out so I could replace this whale bone with one of their own.

Only to find out, someone whom I've never met, Michael Angelo is going to take it upon himself to fix. What does that say about him? While the rest of us gripe and whine about how awful people are, Michael Angelo thinks "Hell, I could fix that. Little glue and tape should be good as new".

There is a valuable lesson to be learned in this, and I feel lucky to have witnessed it.
- Adam

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Originally Posted by victorzamora

I might have missed it, but is anybody funding this restoration?

I'll be super interested to see before and after pictures as well as any media regarding the actual restoration. The effort is incredible and helps restore some of my faith in humanity. Once again, your restoration work is awesome!

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That is a great idea! There are several costs involved. We need something like a PayPal account that people can donate to.

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Originally Posted by FW

That is a great idea! There are several costs involved. We need something like a PayPal account that people can donate to.

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There's also this:
http://caves.org/grants/nss_conservation_home_page.htm

The NSS provides all sorts of cool grants, might as well take advantage of them.

-Jon

Dive #2 didn't happen today as MA was not feeling well.

I still went to the insulation rooms to visit and it was a great dive. Since the bone isn't on the wall I couldn't locate its location. Didn't see anything on the floor either.

Such a fun dive there

As Pat has said I canceled todays due to a chonic back issue going acute. I hope to be able to get back in the water and finish the recovery section later this week. After that it is my hope to restore as much as possible above water then finish the restoration in water on site over several dives. The Epoxy system I am working with was designed to repair but Ocean and Aquarium reefs. The system is designed to work underwater, is non-toxic and intert. It so far gives great promise. We are documenting each step. If it is sucessful here, it means we have a way to restore other formation. Several divers have helped so far on this and both Amigo's and Cave Country Dive have given free gas to support the project. thank you
MA

Outstanding. The world needs more people like MA.

Cave restoration by MA would be a cool specialty class to take.

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Originally Posted by Avs123

Cave restoration by MA would be a cool specialty class to take.

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And it might help fund future restorations ;-)

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Originally Posted by MichaelAngelo

As Pat has said I canceled todays due to a chonic back issue going acute. I hope to be able to get back in the water and finish the recovery section later this week. After that it is my hope to restore as much as possible above water then finish the restoration in water on site over several dives. The Epoxy system I am working with was designed to repair but Ocean and Aquarium reefs. The system is designed to work underwater, is non-toxic and intert. It so far gives great promise. We are documenting each step. If it is sucessful here, it means we have a way to restore other formation. Several divers have helped so far on this and both Amigo's and Cave Country Dive have given free gas to support the project. thank you
MA

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I was wondering what you were going to use and thought of an epoxy actually. My mom used to be huge into salt water aquariums and often used an epoxy to fix coral in place in her systems. I figured that would work! :) Cave Country is happy to supply as much gas as is needed for this. Bravo on the good work you guys are doing!

Thank you for the compliments but please also understand that cave restoration is not a MA thing but a community thing. The NFSA, NACD, CDS, NSS and GUE as well as all the local shops all support it. I am working closely with Forrest and Kelly brain storming ideas. Every time we do this be it Cow, Jug or Devils we learn sometime new so that we add new methods. Kelly and I did a workshop at the Advance Skills Workshop and do it again, however, cave restoration is good but stopping the damage from happening is more important. I think that if we are going to raise money for restoration then we need to include education in the form of pamphlets. Maybe use the fund to have a short video made on cave/spring conservation. Have this video distributed to shops and instructors free of charge so it can be shown as part of cave diving classes.

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Originally Posted by MichaelAngelo

Thank you for the compliments but please also understand that cave restoration is not a MA thing but a community thing. The NFSA, NACD, CDS, NSS and GUE as well as all the local shops all support it. I am working closely with Forrest and Kelly brain storming ideas. Every time we do this be it Cow, Jug or Devils we learn sometime new so that we add new methods. Kelly and I did a workshop at the Advance Skills Workshop and do it again, however, cave restoration is good but stopping the damage from happening is more important. I think that if we are going to raise money for restoration then we need to include education in the form of pamphlets. Maybe use the fund to have a short video made on cave/spring conservation. Have this video distributed to shops and instructors free of charge so it can be shown as part of cave diving classes.

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Great Idea!

Kudos to those involved and to the shops that are supporting this.

I had a couple of thoughts on the conservation work, mostly revolving around keeping the pieces submerged in cave water and not letting them dry out. Is this something you guys have considered, or ruled out as unnecessary effort?

Rusty

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Originally Posted by Rustykfd

Kudos to those involved and to the shops that are supporting this.

I had a couple of thoughts on the conservation work, mostly revolving around keeping the pieces submerged in cave water and not letting them dry out. Is this something you guys have considered, or ruled out as unnecessary effort?

Rusty

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It might make them hard to glue back together, but I see your point.

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Originally Posted by Rustykfd

Kudos to those involved and to the shops that are supporting this.

I had a couple of thoughts on the conservation work, mostly revolving around keeping the pieces submerged in cave water and not letting them dry out. Is this something you guys have considered, or ruled out as unnecessary effort?

Rusty

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The pieces were removed in a Tupperware container and have been kept submerged first in the original water then in rain water. The larger pieces were glued together wet (their going to be very wet when epoxied back to the pieces in the wall). The epoxy so far has worked outstandingly. They will be kept wet thru out to prevent shirking, cracking, crumbling etc. Everything done out of the water will have to be repeated in the cave so every thing is tested underwater. Again everything is being photographed.

Right on anyone involved!

There's a way everyone can help. If you pictures of the whale bone or similar whale showing details of the fossil. It will help when it comes time to fill in the empty spaces when pieces are missing or too damaged to use.

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Originally Posted by MikeT

Outstanding. The world needs more people like MA.

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I wholeheartedly agree with this statement.
It was such an honor to watch MA in action at Cow and photograph that. This past week my wife and I went to his studio and shot some photos of him working there.
Very cool and impressive! I hope our images do it justice.

I did a 178 minute dive to the isolation rooms yesterday and recovered the remaining pieces in the silt. The epoxy so far has had good results we should be ready to begin the in water phase next week. I will need help at that point for safety diver and photographer and assit. You must be deco and scooter certified and be comfortable hovering in an silty environment. PM me with E-mail. I am electing 3-4 21/2 hour dives to finish up the project. All agency welcome.
MA

I'll help if you need it.

Great PM me your e-mail

I'm available too if needed....

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Originally Posted by Jarviz

I'm available too if needed....

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I assume you aren't in Canada at the moment? :-)

MA, let me know what day(s) it will be next week so I can shoot some of you in the water as you return.

If Gene wasn't satisfied with anyone's work he does reserve the right to shoot you on your return trip. I would be very afraid!

MichaelAngelo heading into the Insulation Room with the pre assembled Whale bone

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...%20in%20sm.jpg

What was left of the Whale bone

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...201st%20sm.jpg

It got a little silty in the small alcove while trying to reassemble the bone,

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...silty%20sm.jpg

Looking from below as MichaelAngelo holds the bone in place while the adhesive sets

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...ixing%20sm.jpg

Very Cool....Thanks to the team!!

It was a great first day. I'll post a full report later. We should be finished by Tuesday. I would as a favor if divers can avoid the area till we're done. We have hopes for a 100 percent restoration. Thank you
MA

Congratulations on your success this far!

Well done!

Thank you for doing this.

Great job to everyone involved and thanks also for the pics Jarvis.

I went back today for some closeup shots of the Whale Bone

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...lebone%201.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...lebone%202.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...lebone%203.jpg

Great job, everyone involved!

Whale Bone Restoration In water Phase: Dive 1 report

2-27-15 dive team (if I misspell any names please correct me, all volunteers deserve recognition) :
Michael Angelo Gagliardi (artist/project leader), Peter McCumber (assistant), David Sheard (photographer), Krzysztof Dupel (safety diver 2), Jesse Folker (safety diver 1) and Jeff Rouse (tank Monkey). Please note we had divers from 3 organizations NACD, NSS-CDS and GUE.

Report:
We meet at 10 AM at Ginnie Springs, had a briefing on the day’s dive and how all the tools worked. The tools and fossil container was divided in separate “lobster bags” and divided up amongst the team for transport to site. We scootered directly to stage rock (1800 ft), while Jeff set all our deco tanks for us in predetermined locations. At stage rock, stage bottles were dropped and I retrieved the project area sign from bag. The team, then scootered to 2100 feet where scooters were tied off to the gold line and jump reel deployed. At the site, we located the fossil wall, then safety divers remained on the line while I took the fossil pieces which where preassembled to the fossils wall. Peter was beside me handling the epoxy gun system for me. This involved loading the cartridges into the gun and screwing on the mixing nozzles then handing them to me, then retrieving it back to change nozzles. The epoxy hardens in the nozzle so you go thru a lot of nozzles. Meanwhile, I laid the fossil container on the floor to unpack it. The pre worked fossil pieces were transported in a water filled Tupperware container wrapped in cloth for protection, this was then placed in a lobster bad which was clipped across the butt plate on my Nomad harness. Once unpacked I test fitted the large piece (about 40% of the fossil). This piece was preassembled from 3 larger pieces and 5 smaller fragments. It fit like a glove. I prepped the corresponding piece on the wall by drilling a series of shallow surface holes across the glue surface to match the holes previously drilled in the broken off piece. I used both a pneumatic die grinder and small wood carving chisel. This allows more surface area and creates “epoxy pins” when set. I signaled Pete for the gun then applied the epoxy to both sides. As expected the epoxy was neutrally buoyant had to be forced into the holes. On the surface the epoxy has a 21/2 minute pot life (15 minute full cure) which extended to 3-4 minute underwater. I held the large piece in place for 5 minutes to insure that its weight would not break the bond before the epoxy cures. Next, I pre-fitted the next piece and prepped the area while Pete changed nozzles. This was a smaller piece which involved matching the holes where nerves went thru. This piece was preassembled from 5 small fragments, it was about a 80% fit so I carved it to finish the fit. It was glued and held in place for 4 minutes. At this point, I thought we were at a good stopping point and vis and gas pressure were dropping so I thumbed the dive at about 60 minutes. I repacked the container lid and cloth pieces into the lobster bag and re-clipped it to my butt plate. I left the open container with the rest of the fragments under the fossil. The team left the jump line in and scootered to stage rock where I stored tools in the black bag and we retrieved our stage bottles and began our exit. We located the 50% and O2 bottles where Jeff left them. Jeff met us in the cavern zone and collected used stage bottles for us. The whole dive was documented by David Sheard using still photography. Total dive time was 127 minutes, max depth was 99 ft. Most of the team used 30% while I used 30/20 mix due to the detailed work. We return next week to finish the project. Please do not disturb the area where we are working.

Also, we can use a volunteer or two to act as tank monkey to preset deco bottles on Monday and Tuesday. It allows for more time on site. It’s an easy swim dive. If interested please PM me.

Please note all restoration projects should be done with land owner’s permission and as a coordinated effort.
While it’s great we can come together as a community to repair damage, it is also unfortunate that we have to. Please cave lightly

on a personal note: this last dive was my 500 since finishing intro. No counted but still important at least to me

Thank you MAG, Peter, David, Krzysztof, Jessie, and Jeff. I look forward to diving that part of Ginnie in the future.

Awesome job guys. Thanks for the updates and pics.

Great work! This is a really cool project.

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Please note all restoration projects should be done with land owner’s permission and as a coordinated effort.
While it’s great we can come together as a community to repair damage, it is also unfortunate that we have to. Please cave lightly

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Please explain "land owner". Who actually "owns" the uderwater caves?

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Originally Posted by MichaelAngelo

Please note we had divers from 3 organizations NACD, NSS-CDS and GUE.

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And the IANTD
:)

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Originally Posted by Adler

Please explain "land owner". Who actually "owns" the underwater caves?

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In this case, the citizens of the state of Florida.

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Originally Posted by Superlyte27

And the IANTD
:)

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thanks for letting me know and I should say certified by.
and thanks for your work

Pete working. Two words I would never have put together in a sentence.


Great job everyone!

Thanks for your work and a big congrats on 500!


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Whale Bone Restoration Report
I am sorry this is late but some personal issues took up my time for this last week. On March 2nd and 3rd the restoration team made dives furthering the restoration of the whale bone. On March 2nd the team consisting of Peter McCumber (assistant), David Sheard (photographer and safety diver) and myself – Michael Angelo Gagliardi. We scootered to stage rock where we dropped stage bottles and recovered tools we had stored there. We then scootered to the 2100 line marker where we had left a jump reel on February 27th. Dropping the DPVs we swam to the whalebone. I finished attaching the pieces I had reconstructed in my studio with the Epoxy. The epoxy out of the tube is clear heavy body2 part glue dispensed thru a mixing tip on a dispensing gun. It is similar in look to Aquaseal. When glue the pieces back on I strove to keep the epoxy away from edges of each piece. After attaching all the pieces I did a cleanup of any dripped glue. Peter was excellent as my assistant where we used simple hand signals to pass the epoxy gun back and forth. Peter would hand me the gun then when I past it back he’d change the mixing tip ready to hand back to me. In the studio, I was able to add coloring agents to the epoxy in an attempt to match the color of the fossil. The question became how do we add the color under water in the cave? What we did was put the color in zip lock baggies then put the gun tip into the bag and add the epoxy. Kneading the bag mixed the colorant into the epoxy. I then pulled the bag over my right hand so it was inside out. This allowed me to scrap the epoxy off the bag with an artist palette knife and fill voids and sculpt in missing pieces. At about 60 minutes onsite I thumbed the dive. We returned to the scooters and did our exit as planned. Dive time:165 minutes, Depth 97 feet.
On March 3rd, the work was for all practical purposes the same as March 2nd with the exception that David Sheard did some marco photography documenting the restoration. The team consisted of myself (project leader), Peter McCumber (assistant), David Sheard (photography) and Jesse Folker (safety diver). We reached a point where the fossil is whole again but the epoxy was too soft to carve to match the original pieces. I turned the dive after about 30 – 45 minutes onsite because I felt this was as far as I could go at this point. I will periodically revisit the site to check how the epoxy cures. I believe it will stiffen up enough to finish carving in a few months. The color is also slightly lighter but again I think it will darken with age. If the epoxy system continues to work in the future months then we can consider other repairs. We removed all tools and the storage bags. Dive Time: 125 Minutes. I wish to thank the following volunteers. Advisory - Kelley Jessop, Forrest Wilson. Recovery Phase – Rich Courtney and Stacy Dreher. Studio documentation – Gene Page. In Water Phase – Peter McCumber, David Sheard, Jesse Folker, Krzysztof Dupel, Jeff Rouse. Shops – Amigo’s Dive Center and Cave Country Dive for supplying free gas to the team. I also worked closely with Rose Meadows and Ginnie Springs Resort.

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Originally Posted by Slüdge

In this case, the citizens of the state of Florida.

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Since it was impossible to contact all Florida's Citizens I worked with Ginnie Springs who manages the site.

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Originally Posted by MichaelAngelo

impossible to contact all Florida's Citizens

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I was sitting by the phone, waiting for your call.

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Originally Posted by Slüdge

I was sitting by the phone, waiting for your call.

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I sent a mass e-mail to all the citizens of Florida but a demon bounced it back. I suggest a mass internet exorcism.

No, I think the problem is that I still have a Georgia area code.

that must be it my friend and mine still has a Chicago.