Peacock Springs open to Cave diving

[mikiedfd]

So I've heard from many different people. I've been wanting to cave dive since I left Florida last April! Anyway, I was hoping to come down March 27 - April 3, but have gotten mixed reviews. Some say don't waste my time because the caves JUST came back. Others seem to think life is great, come dive. What's everyone's opinon about coming and diving in two weeks!?

[DA Aquamaster]

We'll be there in two weeks. Personally, I like new post flood cave floors before the poorly skilled show up and cover them with hand, knee and fin prints and I'd prefer to be diving it right now. It's also nice to dive the cave when it is "different" in terms of less than normal viz and some tannic color.

No offense, but you also need to dive a lot more than one trip per year to keep from being one of those people who put all the hand, knee and fin prints in the bottom. Life happens and schedules get pushed back, but I'm just sayin if you are going to be a cave diver, commit do doing it enough to maintain a reasonable level of currency and skill. Pushing an April trip back some more is not going to help much. And there is almost always Ginnie, which is not a bad place to go either if you need some warm up dives.

[Kelly Jessop]

We'll be there in two weeks. Personally, I like new post flood cave floors before the poorly skilled show up and cover them with hand, knee and fin prints and I'd prefer to be diving it right now.

Unfortunately this flood didn't have the high water levels that really flush the system with organic material,but there is a dusting through out the system.

[Benthic]

In your case Brian we'll guide you.

Oh! Well in that case I'll be right over!

(For the record: I realize that neither Kelly, nor Martin are personally responsible for the system of 'inspection' as it exists. They just happened to be the ones making the evaluation dive.)

Brian

[mikiedfd]

Trust me, if I wasn't "under-employed" having to work 3 part-time jobs to make it, I would most certainly be in the caves more often. However I think you should not underestimate the abilities of a diver without knowing them first as I do plenty of diving in quarries and wrecks in Lake Michigan - diving with the same gear and same careful-ness of a cave.

[fixxervi6]

......No offense, but you also need to dive a lot more than one trip per year to keep from being one of those people who put all the hand, knee and fin prints in the bottom. Life happens and schedules get pushed back, but I'm just sayin if you are going to be a cave diver, commit do doing it enough to maintain a reasonable level of currency and skill. Pushing an April trip back some more is not going to help much. And there is almost always Ginnie, which is not a bad place to go either if you need some warm up dives.

What a load of BS, so I guess the only place you can possibly maintain your bouancy skills etc is in a cave? as in other body's of water you can't possibly practice these things.

I make 2 -3 trips a year, does this mean I only semi-suck?

[MORGAN]

So I've heard from many different people. I've been wanting to cave dive since I left Florida last April! Anyway, I was hoping to come down March 27 - April 3, but have gotten mixed reviews. Some say don't waste my time because the caves JUST came back. Others seem to think life is great, come dive. What's everyone's opinon about coming and diving in two weeks!?

I did a caving trip the middle two weeks of February when Peacock, Cow, Little River, Telford, and Madison were all flooded out. Had no problem at all finding plenty of great cave diving to do. Manatee, Ginnie, Jug Hole, Jackson Blue, Twin, Hole in the Wall were all in great shape.

Mike

[LiteHedded]

What a load of BS, so I guess the only place you can possibly maintain your bouancy skills etc is in a cave? as in other body's of water you can't possibly practice these things.

I make 2 -3 trips a year, does this mean I only semi-suck?

certain skills, yea

[DA Aquamaster]

What a load of BS, so I guess the only place you can possibly maintain your bouancy skills etc is in a cave? as in other body's of water you can't possibly practice these things.

I make 2-3 trips a year, does this mean I only semi-suck?

I am far from a local zip code diver and it's a 13 hour drive to N FL on the rare occasions when traffic is good on I-95. Still, I try to get to N FL at least every 3 months and I try to get a minimum of 5 diving days each trip. If I get much beyond the 4 month mark, I perceive the decline in skill level on the first couple of dives. Even with trips every 3 months, I see improvement from day 1 to day 5, which tells me I am losing something skillwise in the 3 month gaps.

And that loss happens despite diving nearly every weekend from May-November to "practice" when I am not cave diving. Some skills are exceptionally hard to really simulate outside a cave environment. Whether we want to admit it or not, Cave diving is a perishable skill and requires a minimum degree of currency to maintain a minimum degree of competency.

YMMV on what that frequency needs to be, but you'll find almost no one who would argue 1 trip a year is enough and damn few who would say 2 is adequate.

The bottom line is that if any cave diver is unable to maintain the neccesary level of proficiency, they need to seriously reconsider whether they should be cave diving and either pick a new hobby or restructure the rest of their life to allow enough currency to maintain adequate proficiency.

[Sludge]

Trust me, if I wasn't "under-employed" having to work 3 part-time jobs to make it, I would most certainly be in the caves more often.

I believe they're hiring at the Hardee's in Branford. And two college degrees notwithstanding, I'm considering it!