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Well all the things you have heard about Buford are true. It is a ##### getting to the water even dry as it has been. But It is well worth the trouble. BTW those are not Cottonmouths that live there. We saw two big snakes but they were Florida Banded Water snakes. No gators,
What a cavern that was the best cavern dive I have ever done.
If you go out there be careful. I would suggest getting a large garden cart with 4 large air tires.
Curt
How far of a walk is it from the beginning of the tram road to where the basin is? We may stop by and check it out on the way home from Wayne's World tomorrow. When I do get to dive it, it'll be with a pumped up LP steel 95 or LP steel 108 with an H-valve and not with a set of doubles.
More commonly know as the tram road to Buford :-D No it's not really that bad I would guess a quarter mile on the tram road. The problem I had was the cart I used had nice big air tires on the back but small wheels on the front and they caught on the Cypress knees in the middle and the sand was very soft in the tire tracks. Like I said the best bet would be a four wheeled garden cart like they sell at Lowes for about $70.
Lonestarfl and I took a drive back there today after diving at Wayne's World. Thanks to John L's directions, it was easy to find. The 1/4 mile walk down the tram road was easy, as long as you kept your eyes on the ground so you didn't trip over anything. Once we got to the swampy area, the trek to that amazing-clear pool of water was a different story. We jumped from one root to the other to avoid stepping ankle-deep in the muck anymore than we had to. I can pretty imagine now how that 200-yard trek with dive gear on would be like. :(
You need to make a trip there with TJ, he's pretty good about finding all the deep holes that you need to avoid going through the swamp.
He knows some good sherpas :wink:
The sherpas I saw a photo of would make the trip difficult as it would be hard to see the ground :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by curtschu
Once I've got my wetsuit and booties on, I can deal with sinking ankle-deep or knee-deep in muck. I'm looking forward to my first dive there. :D
If you do it right you will not sink in the mud..... Unless it starts raining.
Just watch out for the snakes
Thanks! I'll make sure to focus on that during the walk and the dive.
CurtSchu, a few others and I did the Buford Sink last weekend again. That was my third dive there. Only saw a few snakes but got off my usual trail and sank up to my knees in muck on the way back.
We learned from the first dive to improve on our gear truck. This time we had a garden wagon with 14" sides and 6" tires. I'd attach a photo but I've never figured how to do that on this forum.
Anyway, the sink is very beautiful and truly amazing when the light is filtering into the hole.
It's fairly dry now and not too difficult to hop from root to root to get to the water. I'll go back but probably not until late fall after the summer rains. Make sure you take a lot of water with you to rinse the muck off your gear and to cool down in the heat. Single tanks, (I use a 130) are best.
Is one of those two-wheeled hand trucks worth it for getting out there or would that be more trouble than just schlepping everything on your back?
Do you guys just leave the carts out there and hope they don't get ripped off? Hide 'em in the bushes?
I think a few of us are planning on giving Buford a shot next weekend if anyone's interested.
Brian
On all occasions we just left the cart there. At the access road enterance we blocked the road with our vehicles so the only way to the cart was to walk. Its a long way and the only way for a theif to get the cart out. But in hindsight a chain and a padlock could give you the peace of mind when attached to the log at the end of the trail.
It's pretty remote and usually no one is there. I know TJ used a two wheel hand truck, but our four wheel wagon was the ticket. There are a lot of cedar knees in the trail and unless you have about 5" clearance your going to hit and dump the gear.[img][/img]
My girlfriend and I dove there earlier this month (11-Apr). I used a $25 dolly/hand truck from Northern Tool with nice offroad, air filled tires and bungeed everything to it so I wouldn't lose anything. Unfortunately, I still had to make 2 trips both coming and going. A second dolly might have done the trick, but I had to disassemble this one to fit in my small car. It is bright red and when parked at the edge of the tram served as a nice landmark when staggering back through the swamp in full gear. In hindsight, the trek wasn't as bad as I'd imagined it and I'm quite anxious to return. If the drought continues maybe that'll be sooner that I expect.Quote:
Originally Posted by metaldector
BTW, why isn't the access road already blocked by a wire gate???
Dave
kind of but its been driven around enough look as part of the road.
Dove it today. The swamp is pretty much dry. Didn't see any snakes or gators, but I was definately looking out for both. Conditions were pretty much perfect!
Lowes has a great garden/lawn wagon with big rubber off-road tires that I bought online and picked up at the store. $57 including tax. Worked perfectly! Last time I used a hard tire 2 wheel dolly and it was a miserable walk. This time I couldn't believe how fast we made it back there!
With the Two pairs of sneakers? One big and one little? We stopped by on the way out after diving EN. Saw your bubbles but I guess you were still on deco. Glad you had a good dive.
Yep... Mine would be the big ones... We got out around 6:15ish I guess...
That wagon from Lowes is exactly the one we had. It did work great huh. Nice dive when you can make one trip with all of the gear.
And better yet, fit both of our gear in one wagon!! That way we could take turns pulling it (although I kind of got stuck with it...)
Both People's Gear :lifter Take a look at this
http://cavediver.net/photopost/data/...ittledance.jpg