Trip Report: Peacock III

[Unregistered User]

KG and I arrived at Peacock III and placed stage (32%) and deco (100%) bottles in the basin just as some SM divers were exiting. There was a hefty layer of duckweed in the basin and it looked as if someone had built a makeshift weir out of large rocks to keep it from spreading to the run to Peacock II. We began the dive on the stages and dropped them a little before the sand slide. From there on, we breathed air all the way to the end. There were a lot of hairs and suspended debris as well as silt all the way from the entrance to the jump to Hendley's. Visibility never got any better than 30' up to that point. Still, it was enough to be able to see the entire room when I spun around to place the jump reel to the line heading downward. However, when we began the descent to the bedding plane at 130' +/-, the vis increased substantially. It had been a while since our last visit and it was great to pan my lighthead back and forth across that wide plane. Upon reaching Hendley's Castle, I could see the bottom all the way from a depth of 155'. I found the bottom and poked around in the little depression, my body at 188 and reaching my arm (the one with the DC on it!) down to 190. We hung out for a few minutes and looked around the room before beginning an incredibly slow ascent. I neglected to take headache medicine before the dive and thought it would be wise to prevent the "Little River Syndrome Shaft" effect. I followed on the way out and it seemed like the cave was bigger on the exit. I think it had something to do with seeing a diver in front of me for scale. We picked up the stages and made a slow and stress-free exit. We only incurred about :10 of deco and it was nice to see the green hue above us with occasional rays of blue light penetrating the duckweed that our exhaust bubbles had cleared. What a great dive!

[DA Aquamaster]

Thanks for the report. Hendly's Castle is one of my favorite dives.

When we do it, we normally breathe the stage to thirds then leave it on the large rock maybe 50' short of the jump to Hendlys. It leaves you on 32% a bit more and it leaves some reserve gas a little closer to you on the way out. Getting past the sand slide cleanly with a stage is not a problem, even in back mount.

[deanme]

Great input. Thank you.

I've never done Hendley's Castle. Can I ask, how long of a swim is it from the entrance to the jump? Is the jump marked with double arrows?

So I guess the best method to dive Hendley's Castle is to breath a 32% stage to the large rock (can I ask how many minutes to the large rock), and then some sort of air / helium mix for back gas to Hendly's Castle?

dean

[LiteHedded]

Great input. Thank you.

I've never done Hendley's Castle. Can I ask, how long of a swim is it from the entrance to the jump? Is the jump marked with double arrows?

So I guess the best method to dive Hendley's Castle is to breath a 32% stage to the large rock (can I ask how many minutes to the large rock), and then some sort of air / helium mix for back gas to Hendly's Castle?

dean

it's a marked jump. but it's also really obvious. the room it's in it really big and pretty. you can see the line on the floor on the left

[Jim Wyatt]

gator:

How did the line look? We have gotten mixed reports on the condition of that line & if it needs work we will go fix it.

[metaldector]

We were the SM divers (Metaldector & JA) that proceeded you. We didn't make it to Hendley's and it wasn't our goal. That was my first time in that system and as you reported the viz wasn't more than 30 feet most of the time. The lines had some growth on them and the water did have hairs floating throughout. We saw only one broken line that had been repaired with cave line somewhere in the first 300 feet. The line was buried in one place for about 25 feet but could be seen going in and out and so wasn't a problem. The pond surface was completely coverd in duck weed and so were we after our dive.

[Unregistered User]

I believe it took us about 22 minutes to make it to the jump. And, as Litehedded stated, it is easy to find. Once you make it up the hill in the big room, just look down and to your left: you can't miss it. DA's recommendation about leaving the stage at the rock (instead of dropping it where you may hit thirds) makes sense as it gives you a margin for error regarding gas management. I'm an air hog and can't breathe one efficiently enough to make it that far, but there is plenty of room to carry it through the sand slide.
Most would recommend the deep portion of the dive be done on trimix, and I won't argue the merits of that at all. If you are seasoned with breathing air at deep depths and can function safely under the rapture of the deep, you won't have a problem. The castle is huge and you would have to make a concerted effort to silt up the place and get lost.

[Unregistered User]

I forgot to answer Jim's question, though Metaldector partially did. The repair he talked about was right before a left hand bend at approx 275-300' in. The line break/repair hugs the left wall for its entirety. At first glance, it looked as if someone had rigged up a snap-and-gap similar to the Martz line at Madison Blue. But closer inspection revealed it to be a temporary fix. If I had some big yellow braided line at the time, I would have endeavored to repair it, but small nylon line would have just added to the confusion. I would recommend taking a 30' piece of yellow braided line and making double fisherman bends on each side to repair the problem. As it is now, there is smaller line wrapped around the main line and is very unsightly, as I'm sure the person(s) who repaired it were just ensuring a continuous guideline and not making permanent repairs. Also, do run a reel from the entrance to the permanent line. It is further back (over 50' past the stop sign) in the cave than I previously remembered. I had to wait at the end of the line while my buddy went further out to prove our exit. Easily done in decent conditions, but could be a hassle in bad or zero vis.

[deanme]

I believe it took us about 22 minutes to make it to the jump. And, as Litehedded stated, it is easy to find. Once you make it up the hill in the big room, just look down and to your left: you can't miss it. DA's recommendation about leaving the stage at the rock (instead of dropping it where you may hit thirds) makes sense as it gives you a margin for error regarding gas management. I'm an air hog and can't breathe one efficiently enough to make it that far, but there is plenty of room to carry it through the sand slide.
Most would recommend the deep portion of the dive be done on trimix, and I won't argue the merits of that at all. If you are seasoned with breathing air at deep depths and can function safely under the rapture of the deep, you won't have a problem. The castle is huge and you would have to make a concerted effort to silt up the place and get lost.

Wow, great input. Can't wait to make the dive.

thanks,
dean

[DA Aquamaster]

Gator may swim faster than we normally do, and I'd have to check the download from a previous dive there, but I think we get to the jump in 25-28 minutes, but pad the gas plan for 30 minutes.

20/30 or 21/35 would work great for the deep portion of the dive. I am personally not comfortable at an END below 150' and prefer to keep it at or above 120', but I agree it could be done on air if the viz and conditions are good, it just does not leave any cognitive reserve if you have a problem.

The line to Hendlys is about 10' off to the left of the mainline, but once you actually tie in the jump line, given where the arrows are at bewteen placements, the main line will get pulled closer to around 3' from the line to Hendleys. From there it slopes down rapidy to about 90 feet and then drops even faster to the sand slide around 130'. That section is wide, but a little low. The line however is on the bottom so it is easy to follow even if it gets stirred up a bit by the team. Once past that you are there and the large room is obvious, even on air.

Edit: looking at the profiles for the last couple dives there, it seems we are pushing over and descending from the jump right around 30-31 minutes. That would include total run time putting in the primary line, dropping the stage and putting in the jump line.