Little River
What a difference a month makes.
Last month I took a student there and the visibility was maybe 40', heavy with particulate, and the flow was a fire hydrant.
Today I took a former student there, flow is still higher than at a place like Peacock, but much more manageable and visibility is probably 80-100' with a blue tint in the water. There was also a lot of traffic there, I guess there's some sort of conference going on this weekend.
Ken Sallot
It was nice today.... my first real dive in Little after completing Cave1 (the first was super high flow) We made it down the chimney and maybe 50' past before we had to turn... slowly Little River is becoming my not so favorite dive (like peacock where I can be underwater for more than 30 minutes)....Originally Posted by kensuf
GUE is having their World Conference this week.... maybe its 2 weeks worth... Lot's of divers from all over here for it.
Tim
I'd be willing to bet that the majority of the people who were here for the conference actually attended it today.
little river
I predict that your feelings will change once you hit the well casing.All in good time of course. D.H.
lv2dive,
know there were at least 5 GUE divers at little when we were there.... might just have had a lot of traffic because of reports of the flow being down from what it has been.
What time were you there? I was there from 11-1:30.
The guy I was diving with just completed Intro to Cave with me last month, so we dove to 1/6ths in his double 95's (about 36 cubic feet of penetration gas). He made it about 100' past table rock on both dives. Technique goes far there, go slowly (working hard burns more gas), study where the flow is, and learn to read the cave.
If you can learn to dive at LR, Manatee, and Devil's Ear I would contend you can probably dive anywhere. The flow forces you to learn how to read the cave, and increase your awareness of the environment. Plus the flow can help you get out if you really screw up.
The big downside is that your NDL is greatly reduced due to the depth. And as a cave 1 diver that's one of your limiting factors. Still, I'd contend that once you have buoyancy control and anti-silt techniques under control, you can learn more in a 20 minute dive in Little River than swimming back and forth Peacock to Pothole.
Next time you go there, install the reel on dive 1, leave it in place, pull it at the end of dive 2. That will save you 3-4 minutes at the start of dive 2, and give you a nice slow ascent at the end of dive 2.
Ken Sallot
We tried to dive Peacock on wed. and it was packed.
We chose a lesser traveled route and enjoyed a the dive.
Waiting on the steps was not a normal wed. occurrence.
The short float to P2 for gear down was awesome no waiting there!
JCG
Ken,
We started our dive at 3:05....
However (and I KNOW all the GUE divers are going to love me for this) until I start DECO/Adv Nitriox class you will ALWAYS know when I'm at a dive site.... How you might ask?? I will be the guy diving side mount in shorts and a t-shirt. I blame NetDoc, HE STARTED IT (really that is how I've always dove).
I'm a white water canoeist from way back and it TOTALLY correlates to reading cave passage and reading a white water rapid... read a rapid well and you can have a totally dry run in a canoe... read it bad and well.... you get the idea.
Yeah, being limited to 100' and NDL is a big limitation compared to the other organizations but I would rather have those two limitations and be able to dive 3rds. Instructors always talk about muscle memory and I think it has to be a lot harder transitioning from 6ths to 3rds... Ok.. easier in most ways but when you train your brain one way and then switch it I'm sure a lot of people (my feelings, not fact) have a period of confusion over the transition.... Where I'm always calculating 3rds and don't have to change my thought patterns. And I have to be a LOT more aware of my depth and not sliding into a deco scenario which I would rather be on guard about in the long term anyway.
We've thought about leaving a reel and doing a second dive but on most days we are only going to get one dive in anway. I"m not sure how many agencies use the 140 cu ft to start a dive, but it is definitely a NAUI thing... which means with our tanks (LP 85s) we have to start with 2000 psi in both tanks to meet that requirement (silly I know) and if we do one good dive to 3rds we won't have enough gas to do a second dive.... That and living in Trenton we are spoiled to doing late dives anyway (as you can tell by our 3pm start time) and definitely don't want to be the two LAST DIVERS leaving the park. When we were just cavern diving, that is exactly what we would do though....
Tim
Well, finally a guy that has my usual 3mm wetsuit beat!
hhhhmmm NETDOC DID IT FIRST.... I'm just following his footsteps (fin strokes) into the cave environment with it. I did just upgrade though (again thanks to NetDoc) to 100% polyester t-shirt.... its 100% warmer than cotton.
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