Peacock 1 report Friday 2/15/19

Peacock was declared open by the park service this morning, and Tracy and I scampered right over there from Dive Outpost.

First divers to sign in since 12/12/18. Did a 65 minute dive - out Pothole line to the midpoint, and then out the Peanut line to the bottom of the Breakdown Room. We wanted to see both lines.

The basin is mildly tannic, vis about 30 feet. Lots of sticks and algae on the submerged steps. The steps above the water line and the boardwalk have been recently pressure washed. There's a visible boil and a more than usual outflow. Cavern area slightly tannic, dusty, 30 feet of vis.

Pothole line dusty, smoky, vis 30+ feet. Areas of weed and mung on line, but line not obscured.

Peanut line also smoky but better vis, 40+ feet. Less crap on the line.

We had a very enjoyable dive. My guess from the strength of the flow is that the river would have to rise quite a bit to reverse it again.

We didn't look at Orange Grove - the ranger reported 6-8 feet visibility in the basin.


Mike & Tracy

Awesome!!!
You guys should stick around and dive with me this weekend. [emoji12]


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Originally Posted by Diverlee

Awesome!!!
You guys should stick around and dive with me this weekend. [emoji12]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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We should, but we're already in Marianna! See you next time!

Did you notice anything slimey on the walls (bacteria growths, etc.)

Didn't notice any - the walls have silt and dust on them, but I didn't notice any bacteria colonies.

Does it normally have bacteria on the wall? How does it get there? Does plant matter get in there and start to rot?

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Originally Posted by Victoria

Does it normally have bacteria on the wall? How does it get there? Does plant matter get in there and start to rot?

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There is a lot of organic material (mostly dissolved) in river water during reversals. The organic matter can fuel bacterial blooms (natural) that cause the caves to lose all dissolved oxygen and for thin biofilms to grow on the walls (they're not as dramatic as the biofilm in the insulation room or in SW Florida). Reversals during winter tend to be colder, so the bacterial activity is slower. I was wondering if the long duration of this reversal might have allowed some of the biofilms to take hold. At any rate, I'm going to poke around when I'm up there in about two weeks.

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Originally Posted by jason

There is a lot of organic material (mostly dissolved) in river water during reversals. The organic matter can fuel bacterial blooms (natural) that cause the caves to lose all dissolved oxygen and for thin biofilms to grow on the walls (they're not as dramatic as the biofilm in the insulation room or in SW Florida). Reversals during winter tend to be colder, so the bacterial activity is slower. I was wondering if the long duration of this reversal might have allowed some of the biofilms to take hold. At any rate, I'm going to poke around when I'm up there in about two weeks.

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Thanks for explaining.
I saw a video on YouTube where a guy who was doing a cave dive just shoved his hand into a huge pile of bacteria which looked like poop. He seemed real proud of himself in the video for doing that. I just thought he was gross. I was hoping a turtle would bite him.

Thanks, Victoria. I love posts that make me laugh!

Any recent reports as to conditions at peacock and Madison blu

Peacock was 20 ft vis on the Olsen side with a tannic/green haze as of Sunday. Fun dive but you definitely couldnt see wall to wall in places

Dove Peanut Line and headed towards Challenge today. Vis seemed better than on the Olsen side. Definitely not as much particulate on this side but still pretty brown. THere were still areas where my 21w HID would not illuminate wall to wall. Also not as much really light particulate laying on the floor to stir up. Line also much cleaner than Olsen on Sunday.

Did P1 to Crypt via Nicholson/Cisteen on Sunday. Vis wasn't great on Olsen side. Decent amount of particulate in the water, dark walls and floor, light doesn't penetrate very far. Maybe 20-30' of vis on average, less in some areas. Enough to find your way around, but nothing to write home about. Crypt was actually fairly clear. Closer to 40-50' and no particulate. Water is still a bit tannic, but other than that it's nice. Noticeable flow on the way into the crypt as well. The line in the first connecting tunnel to the crypt past cisteen is in really bad shape. It's laying loose on the floor and buried in a lot of places. We ended up running our own line through.