Indian Springs is Open Again

[gasdiver]

I'm not qualified to dive there, but if I were, I would pay whatever fee they charged should I choose to dive it.

I'm 100% in favor of the owners charging whatever the market will bear, but in my experience, when demand goes up, prices go up. It would seem to me that a smart business owner would charge an initially low price to generate demand and then raise the price until that demand drops off. Something seems odd about the notion of lowering the price if demand goes up. Lower the price if there is not enough demand and raise the price if demand exceeds the 4 teams per day capacity. I'm not an econ major, but it is not rocket science.

[teqdiver]

I'm thrilled this site will remain open. Thank you to those who made it happen! I've done a number of dives there and it is indeed a very special place. I will gladly pay the $40 and go dive without thinking another thing about it. Even though I have no problem using a guide, I would definitely look forward to being able to show up with another qualified diver and just be able to go dive as with most other dives we do.

Ryan Parkevich

[LCF]

I've heard nothing but wonderful things about this site. If I make another trip to Florida to cave dive (and assuming my tech credentials are up to date) I would cheerfully pay $40 to dive there. If that means good parking, good benches, good stairs, and good bathrooms, it works for me. It's like Mexico -- if landowners see cave diving as a revenue stream, they're going to be in favor of it. If not, they're unlikely to keep sites open and maintained out of the goodness of their hearts.

From a liability standpoint, I don't blame a landowner for wanting someone to dive with a guide, either.

All my cave diving starts with the horrendous expense of a plane ticket and car rental. Day fees hardly enter into the equation

[phreaticus]

Don't know if this has been mentioned, but as a safety issue at Indian....
ALL should be aware of the incident when Parker Turner died there, and Bill Gavin almost did as well. It could have been even worse, as there were more divers...all VERY experienced....in the cave minutes before there was a major sediment slide into the cave restriction at 120' (Squaws Restriction)...they had all gotten out into the cavern, except for Gavin and Turner.
The slide was caused by diver bubbles dislodging a large amount of sediment trapped in a solution tube on the ceiling...which collapsed to the cavern floor slope, silting out the cavern and causing a sediment slide into the cave. No one's fault, just a freak occurence. Be aware of what is above you when at deco.....that's all I'm sayin'!
I'm sure descriptions of this incident are available on the Web, I've seen them.....and have spoken to divers present at the time.
Just be careful....forwarned adds safety....if you pay attention.

[chilldive]

I'm a golfer. I can choose to join the country club and pay $10k in fees annually or I can choose to just play the public courses at $15 a round. My choice is based on my financial ability and the priority I place on that activity. No different for cave diving or many other sports for that matter. For what it's worth my last extensive trimix dive cost me several hundred dollars in gas mix...and that was at a free site. If it had cost me $40 to dive there, it really wouldn't have made much more of an impact. I've never dove Indian and don't know much about it, but reading here I get the impression that its gonna cost way more in gas mix than the entry fee (at least until they allow RBs). My 2 cents for the day.

[Kelly Jessop]

Don't know if this has been mentioned, but as a safety issue at Indian....
ALL should be aware of the incident when Parker Turner died there, and Bill Gavin almost did as well. It could have been even worse, as there were more divers...all VERY experienced....in the cave minutes before there was a major sediment slide into the cave restriction at 120' (Squaws Restriction)...they had all gotten out into the cavern, except for Gavin and Turner.
The slide was caused by diver bubbles dislodging a large amount of sediment trapped in a solution tube on the ceiling...which collapsed to the cavern floor slope, silting out the cavern and causing a sediment slide into the cave. No one's fault, just a freak occurence. Be aware of what is above you when at deco.....that's all I'm sayin'!
I'm sure descriptions of this incident are available on the Web, I've seen them.....and have spoken to divers present at the time.
Just be careful....forwarned adds safety....if you pay attention.

I agree Steve. Things have been done in the past to make sure that not more than one team is decoing in the cavern at one time. I did the survey of the cavern on the map,and had to poke around the ceiling quite a bit. That ceiling didn't give me a real good feeling.

[Dsix36]

I agree Steve. Things have been done in the past to make sure that not more than one team is decoing in the cavern at one time. I did the survey of the cavern on the map,and had to poke around the ceiling quite a bit. That ceiling didn't give me a real good feeling.

Sounds like a good arguemnet for the safety of some kind of scuba gear that does not make all those bubbles to endanger the divers. I think they call them rebreathers or something like that.

[SlowDiver]

Sounds like a good arguemnet for the safety of some kind of scuba gear that does not make all those bubbles to endanger the divers. I think they call them rebreathers or something like that.

+1 and won't be wasting all that expensive gas called Helium.

[T. Bix]

Were there restrictions on rebreathers in '91 when the accident occurred? I read as much as I could find on the interwebs and I gotta admit my pulse picked up a bit as I read Gavin's account. Of course it goes without saying that the outcome would be different with CCR equipped divers. I may wait a bit to dive this system but I will look forward to it..... Maybe in OC maybe in CCR.

[Sludge]

I have a pdf file of an article entitled, "The cave resonator and the Parker Turner cave collapse problem" by Doron Nof and Nathan Paldor. I believe I proofed it for some publication. It is extremely scientific in nature. Unfortunately, I am unable to send anyone the file unless I can figure out who it was for and if that owner has published it. Maybe UWS?

If you know about this, let me know, because I'm sure some CDF members would be interested.