Madison Blue open for diving

[Kelly Jessop]

The spring is outflowing now. Visibility will be approx 20',but hopefully will be better by the weekend

[stairman]

Wow, that was fast and good news.

[Marc Bryan]

Unexpected, but fantastic news! Thanks Kelly!

[FW]

Kelly, when it is like this, we usually call it "Madison Brown"

[gasdiver]

What's the status of MB this weekend? Looking at diving it on the way home next weekend.

[Jim Wyatt]

3 of us were there Wednesday - Mainline past martz cracking blue .... Godzilla circuit, smoky but very clear. Flow is low.

[harmstrong]

Yay. The cave police decided the spring is safe for the rest of us mere mortals to dive.....

[Jim Wyatt]

Yay. The cave police decided the spring is safe for the rest of us mere mortals to dive.....

Who are they and when was that decision made?

[harmstrong]

Last I checked the Line committee or CSO or some other group had the final say as to whether or not Peacock, etc. had conditions that were "diveable". That irks me. I don't like that others get to make that decision for me. I really don't like that others (the state, the CSO, the line committee, whomever.....) seem to think that cave divers in general are unable to make the dive/don't dive call based on the conditions themselves, but rather think that someone has to "approve" the conditions. In my opinion it's simply another example of the "dumbing down" of cave diving. Whatever happened to the knowledge that you were trained to dive in conditions as good as or better than those in which you were trained, and being able to make that call as an individual?

[Kelly Jessop]

Last I checked the Line committee or CSO or some other group had the final say as to whether or not Peacock, etc. had conditions that were "diveable". That irks me. I don't like that others get to make that decision for me. I really don't like that others (the state, the CSO, the line committee, whomever.....) seem to think that cave divers in general are unable to make the dive/don't dive call based on the conditions themselves, but rather think that someone has to "approve" the conditions. In my opinion it's simply another example of the "dumbing down" of cave diving. Whatever happened to the knowledge that you were trained to dive in conditions as good as or better than those in which you were trained, and being able to make that call as an individual?

You know the line committee stuff would NEVER EVER have happened if cave divers would have played nice,and not caused the state to intervene. Remember when there was a battle between some cave divers about whether the line should be near open water,or near the sign,so it was being changed ever other day. We had PO'd cave diver who moved the line down to the sign while a team was doing the grand traverse,and when they got to the end of the line they didn't have a continuous line to the exit. They were very upset and complained to park management,and Tallahassee. The feeling was that the cave was going to be closed temporarily due to personal safety (and reopened whenever they got a round to it,because the then park manager didn't like cave divers),and the state would manage the probelm-you really don't want that. Out of this incident,a set of protocols were put into place that the state could accept. A group of cave divers have stepped forward to volunteer their time and interact with the state to keep these things under cave diver management,but provided a good relationship with the state,this has worked very well. So in reality,the state wouldn't probably open the place unless it was perfect,but there are people who will do a site assessment at their request to get the place open faster ie minimum viz 20ft,lines in good shape etc. Madison would still be closed if someone didn't stop by,and say,"hey this looks pretty good". State of Florida parks are underfunded,and there are a lot more recreational activities than cave diving,so if there is a group that the state will put confidence in,and work with to facilitate cave diving,then it benefits us because we don't have to wait until they can get a round to it. Know why Ginnie has a line committee,another example of cave divers who can't play well with each other. So we don't need to dumb down cave diving,we need to smarten up cave divers (or at least put the ill behaved ones in time out).