Roubidoux now over 10,000 feet

[WJH]

Nice accomplishments! Stay safe in there.

WJH

[cavermatt]

Wow, great work! Id be interested to hear some of the logistics. How are you staying warm on deco?

[scububa]

Nice work. That's a LOONNNGGGGGGG day, brother.
Think it's heading back to a losing portion of the creek?

[SLIM]

Been without a computer a fwe days, great job to hear Chris. This is getting to go more and more then many ever thought would be possible. As technology keeps advancing, there is so much more that yall can find. I still think just the tip of the ice berg has been found. Itmight be many more years but time will tell.

Remember when Rimbauch did his exploration, then Larid, then as the OCDA was formed how much is learned from each dive and how much more is gained.

Tell everyone good job.

SLIM

[JCGoodwin]

I am thinking heater vest / suit is a good start to handle the temps.
Congrats large passage still going sounds very interesting!
Be safe and keep at it!

JCG

[chilldive]

Wow, great work! Id be interested to hear some of the logistics. How are you staying warm on deco?

Water temp is 57 degrees currently. Viz was about 15'. Current was moderate - made for a good tail wind on the exit, but a little challenging during the survey work.

Staying warm is probably one of the most critical safety factors we work with. Obviously, when you have 9 - 10 hrs of deco ahead of you, a suit failure is of concern. We do many things to mitigate the effects of cold, which in turn helps make the deco process more efficient.

Starting days prior to the dive, hydration becomes a focus - fully hydrated equals warm.
Then at the surface, just prior to diving, high carb, warm meals are eaten - bodies processing carbs equals warmth from within.
Proper garments are required. Each diver has learned what works best for them in this regard.
We place heater batteries at 80', so upon arrival at that level in the deco process, divers can plug in their heater vests.
Also at 80' or 70' we place camelbaks with high carb drinks and lately, we've added candy bars to the mix. All keeps the divers heated from within and gives energy.
At 40' (the sign at Roub), additional heater batteries are placed, as this is about when the previous ones start to loose voltage.
Finally, we have a habitat at 20' for the final portion of the deco. As soon as divers are in the habitat, we bring them hot cooked, high carb food.

We continue to experiment and look for other ways of mitigating the warmth issue. Something we've tried successfully in the past is sending down hot drink in a container, to drink during the in-water deco portion. This worked quite well, but is challenging to keep it warm - you have to drink fast and not burn your mouth!

Chris

[chilldive]

Nice work. That's a LOONNNGGGGGGG day, brother.
Think it's heading back to a losing portion of the creek?

Not sure Jim. We'll have to get the data posted to the map, then lay on Google Earth to get an idea of the general area its at right now.

Two weeks ago, around the 8000' mark, they ran into high viz blue water. There was also scalloped marks in the sand/silt at that same place, indicating some flow from a side tunnel. Ben took a quick peek into that tunnel, but didn't have time to really look hard, due to the survey work they needed to complete. When they were back at this spot last weekend, that clear blue water was gone. We have lots to learn!

[chilldive]

BTW, thanks everyone for all the encouragement. It is greatly appreciated and we enjoy sharing what we learn.

[decostanza]

Congrats to you and the whole team...I really appreciate you sharing the details of what goes into something of this magnitude.

Regards,
Don

[Kostya]

It was a long, cold day but to be a part of somthing like this... well worth it.