France - 27 - 28 Nov

[SteveH]

Bonnie and I took advantage of the four day American holiday and go "off island" to France for some diving.

This was our second trip, and we are getting to know the route between LeHavre and Pont du Rhodes as well as we knew I-95 when heading to North Florida from DC.

We arrived in Pont du Rhodes, and Dave at the Lot Cave Diving Centre got us into the cottage he arranged for us for the weekend. After getting a little unpacked we headed to the local cafe for Thanksgiving dinner (steak and French fries) before turning in.

The next morning we topped off our tanks and headed to Emergence du Ressel. We arrived at the same time the backhoe from the village arrived to add a parking area. A little bit of pantomime before we figured out that we were fine to dive, but that one of two paths to the site would be gone by the time we surfaced. A small price to pay for not having to gear up on the road!

We kitted up and swam upstream to the cave. The cave was ~5 degrees (55F) warmer than the river, and was packed with fish! The vis was good - about 35 feet +, minimal flow, vary nice. We went to the T, and took the shallow passage almost to where it Ts back into the deep passage line, and turned the dive. Max depth 62 feet, dive time 54 minutes. Ressell looks like a Florida cave, but colder!

Back to the Dive Center for fills, and back to the cottage.

The next morning we headed to Source de Langdenouse. We brought rope and pulleys to get our gear in and out of the entrance cistern, and we were glad to see a new ladder added, and decking added to the area around the top of the cistern.

The pool in the cistern was really clear - from 25 feet up we could clearly see the cave entrance, and even the line into the cave. After hauling everything from the car, we got into our dry suits, and I lowered our kit to Bonnie in the water. I climbed in to join her, we kitted up, and dove.

Because of the effort to get all the gear in the water, we planned to dive our stages for the first dive, exit, the dive again on back gas.

Langdenouse was milky, but vis was good, again at least 35 feet, and the temp was 55F. There's a small restriction at the entrance, then the cave really opens up- it was really big - not Manatee big, but certainly the size of some of the bigger sections of Peacock.

We dove slightly past the jump to the left, and turned the dive. We did a 44 minute dive to a depth of 62 feet. We surfaced, dropped off the stages, and headed back in.

We headed past the jump, and to the "up and over" where the cave turns back on itself and shallows to about 30 feet, before dropping back to ~70 feet.

By this time we'd been down nearly 70 minutes on air with a minimal surface interval, so deco was racking up. I had 19 minutes, and Bonnie had 17 by the time we got to the entrance, and we hung there for a chilly deco.

As we got the gear out, it was nearly 3:30, so I sent Bonnie into town to buy groceries for dinner, and I moved everything up to the road side.

Naturally, she returned at the same time the farm came by to trim the brush in the meadow, so she had to move the car again, so he could get the tractor by.

The next day we packed up and headed north to catch the ferry to the UK, diverted around the construction on the M25, and got home by 1 am on Monday.

Steve

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Thanks for the report, always great to hear about the caves on that side of the pond.

[Squirrel Girl]

Brrr! But you guys seem to be able to withstand the cold better than I!

Lucky you for getting to dive those historic sites.

[skip]

Thanks for the report. Sounds like a very nice holiday.

-skip