'Ohio Blue Hole'

I am posting this here in the Dive Reports forum in the hopes this will be the first of many posts for this new thread. Today, in the local paper I saw an article about an undiscovered 'Blue Hole'..This weekend I am going to check it out. I am attaching a scan of the article that was in the paper. I can only imagine going into somewhere where no man has gone before. Just like Captain James T. Kirk exploring uncharted territory. A new "Wakkula"...A huge labrynth of a cave system. A place where even GI lll has not been. Crystal clear water. 100 foot vis. This weekend I will take the fist pics and post the report.

I am pumped!

Brian Kendall aka caver

Don't mean to burst your bubble, but there's virtually no chance that this is going to be a cave.... Any caves that may have existed in Ohio would have been completely filled in by sediments from the Laurentide Ice Sheet.

ya never know...Hey,,,I still am of the belief that my Ohio State Bucs will somehow make it in BCS Championship Game. Hey,,, the Cincinnati Bengals may make it to the SuperBowl,,,one never knows...

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Originally Posted by caver

Today, in the local paper I saw an article about an undiscovered 'Blue Hole'..

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If it's undiscovered, how do they know about it? :smt102

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Originally Posted by Slüdge

If it's undiscovered, how do they know about it? :smt102

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Hummmmm -- good question...

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Originally Posted by Slüdge

If it's undiscovered, how do they know about it? :smt102

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I was going to ask the same question...

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Originally Posted by Marchand

I was going to ask the same question...

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They laughed at Edison. They thought Henry Ford could not replace the horse. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were 'geeks'----my list could go on and on. Let's wait for the pictures and DIVE reports,,,,then let's see who is laughing

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Originally Posted by jason

Don't mean to burst your bubble, but there's virtually no chance that this is going to be a cave.... Any caves that may have existed in Ohio would have been completely filled in by sediments from the Laurentide Ice Sheet.

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Not necessarily true - Where there is limestone there are caves. In my home state (WI) they have caves.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...th.html?cat=16

Likewise, in Ohio there are caves.
http://www.goodearthgraphics.com/showcave/oh.html

So the "Ohio Blue Hole" may go!

anyone hear about a Blue Hole in Northern Ohio? Castilia, Ohio is the town. I tried to put in a link but could not. IT IS REAL !! I read about it on the internet, it must be true.

First pic

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Originally Posted by caver

First pic

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Maybe your definition of blue hole is different than mine. :smt102

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Originally Posted by caver

First pic

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You may want to keep things like this quiet until you have actually accomplished something. Otherwise, gossip starts, people argue over things they know nothing about, and before you know it the state wants you to pay for some kind of permit to access their water !! :roll:

More to come later ..

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Originally Posted by guru caver

Otherwise, gossip starts, people argue over things they know nothing about

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What? THAT would never happen HERE!

Booo Hoooo

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the real question is, does it go?

my last dive in Ohio was 4 years ago at Gilboa. I got smart and moved to Florida. Good luck. My new criteria for diving is temp in ferenheit plus the vis in feet has to be greater than 150 or I don't dive. LOL ken

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I have been involved recently in a project to explore the blue holes of northern Ohio. There are in fact MANY "blue holes", mostly in the Castalia area just south of lake Erie. The famous Castalia Blue Hole is there as well that was explored by Cousteau in the 1960's. A group of central Ohio cave divers did a project there in 1990's and found a shallow bottom that is not really solid and that actually plumbed much deeper than swimable. Recently a small group of Columbus, Ohio cave divers that includes myself did a new exploration project that was directed by an amateur scientist and the owner of Crystal Rock Cave. Crystal rock is in fact in the basement of an ASTOUNDING house. I have been in the house and in the cave, but have not actually dived the cave as of yet. The cave is accessible from an outside courtyard and through the basement of the house down three different levels of stairs and several doors. The house is geothermally heated from the cave. The underwater cave is tiny and sidemount and no-mount. The dry portion is a former show cave with colored lighting and concrete walkway that makes a small traverse between inside an outside entarnces. This place is cool! The cave has been completely explored, lined and mapped. The day I was there for the blue hole project we toured MANY different "blue holes". They varied from small water vents welling out of rock outcroppings and the forest floor to man-made wells that from the flow of water coming out of them have transformed themselves into blue holes. One that we saw had a geyser of water shooting 3-4 feet off the surface of the headpool out of the well. That's a lot of water! Other blue holes that we saw were large placid pools of blue water hidden in the forest of which we would have not had a snowball's chance in hell of finding without the local guide we had. We did dive the largest of these that day. The water although blue on top, quickly below 3 feet of depth turned black and had a foul, stomach-turning smell of hydrogen sulfide. There was NO VIS below three feet. A 10 watt HID disappeared 4 inched in front of your mask. We found the same type of semi-solid bottom others had found in the Castalia Blue Hole. It ate a plumb line, but you could not swim through it. Max depth found was 38 feet with plumb estimated at 50 or so. We spent 2 1/2 hours in the 48 degree water. Needless to say, that is why I did not dive Chrystal Rock that night. There are a couple of other springs in northern Ohio that are more reminiscent of Florida caves though. We are currently making plans on these. There is also Seneca Caverns in northern Ohio which is clearly diveable, but the owner refuses to give permission to go in the water at the bottom of the showcave. There is very clearly though a large amount of flow in sump at the bottom of the cave. Cave divers from columbus have also explored a cave on one of the tourist islands on Lake Erie. I don't recognize the blue hole in the pictures above, but it lokks more like a quarry than any of the blue holes I have seen in northern Ohio. Most of the blue holes were very much round sinkholes with blue water, but almost no vis even from the surface. In the pictures above the water looks more like quarry water. These old pits are also frequently used for dumping unfortunately. I would like to see this particular blue hole. Most of the sites were disappointing for diving possibilities, but we did do a bunch of water sampling while there which went to a couple local universities for testing. Also of note, the following day after I drove home my friends went out on a boat and dove several blue holes actually located under the bay in Lake Erie. This day they were accompanied on the boat by a scientist and two reporters and they made the front page of the local newspaper for their explorations. They again found underwater sinkholes full of black, foul water and a bottom that ate plumb lines (and kept one). Although we have not found any going passage other than Crystal Rock, I'm convinced that there has to be something else out there. I'll see if I can figure out how to find the other article about the springs under the bay.

Ryan Parkevich

Why is Jason busting my chops? I had to teach him how to use a reel. :clapper

Why would you say you wouldn't dive with me, the silt out wasn't my fault.

I am not one of these Ohio Cave Divers like teq is talking about. Believe me, I am not one to go to a 15ft waterhole and think that it is a cave or that I need to act like a so called cave diver. I mean really, who goes to this 15ft hole with all of the open water students, in a dry suit, with doubles, acting all teched out. Help me figure out where the cave is there? the ambulance? or maybe under the bus, or the catamaran?

a little overkill maybe?

Love MUT

Booo Hoooo

Need a tissue

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Originally Posted by everdeeper43015

You know you were not one of the people I was talking about Jason, I was talking about the has beens that hang out and make themselves out like they are tech divers. Staging at a quarry I could free dive in, riding scooters in a quarry that takes 20 minutes to swim around in. Those are the has beens I am talking about, not you!!! Cant wait to push the Henkel this month. See you in a few weeks.

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Evening folks, please try to read open minded. For the most part I lurk here as I don't yet have the credentials to call myself a “cave diver” and for that reason choose not to post often, however I do read CDF regularly, and hope to be able to post about cave dives soon. What I do have is a dream and strong desire to get there – when the time is right.

I’m a diver of nearly ten years, trained to AN/DP (05) and for the most part have all the equipment - and then some to be a full caver. However what I don’t have yet is a single day of cave experience. My disagreement with a few of these post is that many ppl assume you should sit on your keester and not try to improve your skills while you prepare for upcoming classes. I’m just the opposite. I think you should be busting your keester to prepare you for class. Milking every minute of bottom time and experience that time and money allows.

Here’s my story:

Through countless careless spending decisions, I have acquired many thousands of dollars of technical gear. Ten sets of regs, 20 cylinders, two dry suits, four BC’s, and a DPV later I soon discovered I was no more of a technical diver than the first day I arrived at the dive shop with only a handful of wishful thinking. I made many spending mistakes in the past, and had to pay for those by quitting my dream job and going to Iraq for 20 months to pay off my dept. Many of those decisions no amount of money will be able to fix, however about the only good thing that came out of this was that my gear is now paid for. Sadly though, I’m no closer to achieving my dream of being full cave than I was before I left.

This past March I purchased a custom DUI CLX 450 and thinking initially I would be well under my way to start my cavern/intro courses by summer was sadly surprised that many of my diving skills evaporated with time. I quickly found that diving is not like riding a bike, and the skills needed don’t come back just as fast.

Does having the C-cards, and enough equipment for a small dive team make me a technical diver? Not even close. Even though I am trained through deco procedures, I know better to strut around calling myself a technical diver, and although I own a 18 & 26 DPV used for caving do I not call myself a cave diver. So why during the summertime when its 110 degrees do I bust my balls humping DVP’s, Deco bottles and Stages up and down the steps at the quarry after simmering in my dry suit? I do so for one reason, and one reason only and that is to gain experience where I can do so safely – in the confines of a quarry. I always stay within safe run times, utilize proper gas planning, and practice every drill imaginable during every single dive. I constantly strive to achieve the skill sets needed so that I can do well when I start my official training. Do I get some weird looks from other divers? All the time.

As a large diver with my share of biscuit poisoning, I can assure you I’m not trying to win points over with the ladies at the dive sites by attaching every single tank I own to my rig. Lord knows it scares me enough when I see my own image in the mirror. It’s even more embarrassing when I have to explain that no I’m not a caver, nor even an extended range trimix diver, but yet only a diver wishing to accomplish a goal. It is my desire that when I do start my training that the learning curve will be reduced some since issues like dry suit problems, usage of stage bottles affecting trim, and later down the road DPV issues etc. etc will all be more easily manageable. For now I’m nothing more than any other open water diver with a few extra gadgets.

My only reason to post here is to not pose an argument, but to give some insight as to exactly why you may see a diver basting in the sun when a 3 mill would do, or diving with enough gas for a long push when perhaps a single tank would do. On nearly every forum do you hear people saying they need to get the dives in to gain experience. Could it be that perhaps for once this is what’s happening.

Just something to think about is all. I look forward to sharing my cave stories with you guys soon.

Kenny

Oh My

No, no offense ever taken in any way. However I just thought I would put it out there in a way so someone may give the other thought to possibilities. I kinda jumped to fast I suppose and should have re-read the post to how they were written, but I honestly do get some looks like I’m show boating when I spend a good portion of my time setting up my gear for a simple quarry dive.

If I could get points for watching and reading about cave diving, I would have all I could ever need lol. For 20 months it was what kept fuel in the pot, and I can’t tell ya how damn frustrating it is to have had such a setback when I bought this dry suit. I was shell shocked when I seen just how much re-learning I was going to have to do.

Physically I feel I’m now up to par to take the courses, now just comes the issue of saving for them. Fuel cost put a stinger on me this summer with 4.11 gallon fill ups. Now I wait patiently and try to find some way to budget my finances, continue to dive and find some possible ways to save for class. All while the hospital continues to find ways to pull money/hours from our check.

I apologize to the OP if I took this thread into a different path, but again just thought I would share my reasons as to why this fat red-headed fool is muttin around in a 300gram Polertec dry suit, humping doubles, stages, deco cylinders on a hot August day for what would ordinarily be any other recreational extended dive. One thing’s for sure though I’ve yet to find more of a satisfying life than spending it doing exactly what I do.

In closing before I jump back into lurk mode, I do appreciate those on the CDF for being well policed and friendly to the newcomers. I look forward to sharing with you guys my adventures upon the starting of my classes.

Safe diving:diver

Kenny

So what's the difference between the "has been" divers and those who brag about reaching the end of another diver's line? You know the type, the ones who always stay on the line and measure their manhood by how far they went along a line that was already in place and dove by countless thousands before them?

Some folks have the luxury of living next to the caves, others don't. Of those who don't live in FL, many find alternatives. Living in FL and following a gold line to the end twice a day does not make you a cave diver; finding new leads, going where others have not yet been, that's where the real fun lies.

BTW, nothing at all wrong with practicing one's skills in a 15ft deep quarry if that's all that's available.

I'll have to disagree with my friend from Kentucky on this one. By his definition, I'm not, nor have I ever been, nor shall I ever be a real cave diver. I've made over 500 dives in caves, but I'm just a cave tourist. I have no desire to go into caves with no line in them.

On another topic in this thread, there's a guy posting on The Deco Stop about his first dive in doubles. He has made 380 posts. What's up with that?

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Originally Posted by Slüdge

On another topic in this thread, there's a guy posting on The Deco Stop about his first dive in doubles. He has made 380 posts. What's up with that?

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Yeah, I saw that also. I think he is from Florida. I'm not surprised seeing that is where he is from.

Hey! What's wrong with us Native born Floridians! :yawinkle:

ummm. what the heck happened to this thread. Break Break get back to the blue hole in Ohio thing. Did it go or what?

Jason

The word your are looking for isn't "cave diver" it is "explorer." It is irrelevant if it is dry or wet cave, or even cave at all. They guy who climbs Everest may be a mountain climber, but he is NOT an explorer. You can be a cave diver and stay all day long on the gold line. When you lay your own and document it (SURVEY) then you are an explorer. Otherwise, you are a tourist, regardless of how much personal effort it took to get there.

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Originally Posted by rchrds

ummm. what the heck happened to this thread. Break Break get back to the blue hole in Ohio thing. Did it go or what?

Jason

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lol, thats what I am wondering! too much cave drama people..get off the computer and go out and dive...or TDS

I need to retract my smart aleck comment about the diver with 380 posts on a tech forum, just now making his first doubles dive.

I've just been informed he is physically handicapped. If anybody knows this guy, tell him he's an inspiration to all of us.

I have been diving...are you telling me I dont have a right to my own opinion?

The Ohio Blue Hole that I read about in the local paper will be explored one night this week. I talked to a friend of mine who is a cop in the town near where it is located. He tells me it is "off limits". I did not tell him what I had in mind, and he was not asking. So it will have to be a 'sneak dive'. I will have to find someone to drive the get-away car. I will then post what I find.

OO7

What does 007 mean?

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Originally Posted by everdeeper43015

What does 007 mean?

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OO7 is the guy that sneaks into the blue hole to explore, then leaves, taking off his drysuit, still dressed in his tuxedo, going back to the party, no one noticing him and leaving without getting caught by the Russian guards. Driving away in his Aston Martin.

Bond, James Bond ... OO7

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Originally Posted by Slüdge

I need to retract my smart aleck comment about the diver with 380 posts on a tech forum, just now making his first doubles dive.

I've just been informed he is physically handicapped. If anybody knows this guy, tell him he's an inspiration to all of us.

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Big one-armed Mike! LOL He's a great guy actually. He does need to lay off the internet diving a bit and get more water time. He handles his disability incredibly well, definately an inspiration.

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Originally Posted by jac3foley

Cow Bite

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that is a cow bite.

After I dive it, and write up a report, will the Good-Ole-Boys suppress my report?

Cow Tip!!!

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Originally Posted by DogDiver

my last dive in Ohio was 4 years ago at Gilboa. I got smart and moved to Florida. Good luck. My new criteria for diving is temp in ferenheit plus the vis in feet has to be greater than 150 or I don't dive. LOL ken

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mine was in '03 and before that I was there Every weekend and a couple times through the week with students ... i used to be on a first name basis with every rock in the place...lol

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Originally Posted by caver

After I dive it, and write up a report, will the Good-Ole-Boys suppress my report?

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I'll start the petition!!

Looks like the Russians got him...better luck to the cowbutt.com team

told him so