Insight to Henleys Castle

[fghray1]

I'm planning a dive to Henleys Castle and wanted some Insite to diving it.
Been in P3 plenty of times. Did the jump to Henleys to 135 ft.
Plan on using 50% travel gas to and from the jump. Then air for the decent to Henleys.
Any insites from someone that has done the dive.
Fred

[WJH]

If you've been to 135 you already did the dive and saw the best part.

WJH

[LiteHedded]

i did it with a stage of 32 on the way in and 50% for deco and the way out.

[DA Aquamaster]

Bottom mix obviously depends on how deep you plan to go once you get there.

32% works fine as a travel gas to get there and there is a large rock maybe 50-70' short of the jump that works well to leave a stage with travel gas.

In my opinion, 50% would not offer much advantage in terms of deco and 50% also pushes the PO2 a bit higher than I'd like for that length of time swimming in and out to a deeper segment in the middle. And 32% is both banked and very usable in NFL for stage dives, while the logistics for 50%are a little more complicated and it is less useful over all.

The passage is low through the sand slide at about 135' and stays low and wide for maybe 50-70' before it opens back up in Henleys castle itself. That portion is easy to silt out if the team is not careful, so stay near or even on the line.

100% works fine in the cavern on the way out.

Depending on how deep you go and how long you stay, I have noted that some GF software applications have fits with the ascent and resulting deco ceiling from 135' to the jump, so you may have to add a minute or two to the ascent at around around 80-90' for planning purposes, but in practice a nice slow ascent from 135' to the jump seems to work well for the computers I have used there.

[icestac]

Then air for the decent to Henleys.

If you are going to the bottom, I'd suggest you get mix.

http://www.youtube.com/jefftindall#p/a/u/1/Mt_JE18XRkY

[LiteHedded]

I did it with 18/45 backgas.
I would rethink the two stages thing if I did it again though. we were overthinking that one.
of course I'm not going back. it's not all that interesting. the room is cool and the bedding plain at 130 is kinda neato. but it's kinda meh

[KarsticGator]

We dove it on air, with a stage. And left 100% in the basin for deco. We dropped the stages well before the jump down to Hendley's Castle, and had a :20-:25 deco.

Like someone else said... I wouldn't want a stage with me through that bedding plane. Especially on the way out. I still had some residual narcosis coming up from 175', and there was a little reduction in visibility from us coming in.

[LiteHedded]

We dove it on air, with a stage. And left 100% in the basin for deco. We dropped the stages well before the jump down to Hendley's Castle, and had a :20-:25 deco.

Like someone else said... I wouldn't want a stage with me through that bedding plane. Especially on the way out. I still had some residual narcosis coming up from 175', and there was a little reduction in visibility from us coming in.

we dropped the stage at the sand slide or maybe the jump, don't remember, and dropped 70 gas at 80'

[KarsticGator]

we dropped the stage at the sand slide or maybe the jump, don't remember, and dropped 70 gas at 80'

Now that you mention it... I think we dropped at the sand slide. I don't recall going through that restriction with a stage.

[sdenney]

The few times I have made the dive, I use mix on the way in (18/50 or thereabouts), 50% EANx on the way out, and then finish it off with O2 for a few minutes in the basin.