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Thread: Cathedral

  1. #1
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    Default Cathedral

    Hmmm, where to start...

    The planking on the deck is rotting in places. I flagged the worst of in near the steps going down to the water.

    The original deck that Sheck Exley installed is not rotten, but has moved several feet away from shore, and toward the cave entrance. We never found the line from the steps to the cave.

    I ran a line from the steps, but it took me 15 minutes to find the descent line. The original tree it was attached to at the top rotted away a few years ago. Someone had put a red plastic jug in it's place, but that was sunken. I found it down at about 45' into the entrance drop.

    We put a lift bag onto the red jug to hold up our deco bottles. Then we followed the line down to the bottom. It was very slack, so I tied a big knot into it to take up the slack.

    We got to the bottom and dropped our travel gas just a little past the bottom of the cavern wall, where the descent line changes to 1/4" line.

    The viz at the bottom was only 5'. We went ahead in spite of the bad viz, just to see conditions at the bottom. We followed the line a hundred feet or so, and found it buried in sand. I tied a jump reel, and searched for the line past the buried part. It was at least 50' before I found the line again. We swam another 50' and it was buried again. This time only for 15' or so. We swam another 50' or so, and found the line buried again. I didn't want to use my last spool, so my buddy gave me one of his. After 50' more of buried line, and seeing a 40' stop on my computer, we called it and headed back to deco.

    I managed to get some air into the red jug, and finished out deco. Then I removed our lift bag, and reel, and headed back to the surface.

    All in all, not a lot of fun :-(

    Forrest Wilson (with 2 Rs)
    Any opinions are personal.
    Sump Divers

  2. #2
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    Default

    Wow. After reading Sheck's book I have always wondered what Cathedral looks like today.
    It sounds like it needs at least a complete re-lining and some work above the surface too.
    What was the vis like before you turned, was it still around 5'?


  3. #3
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    Default

    Thanks for the report. Sad. Used to be crystal clear.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    roadkill

  4. #4
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    Default

    Forrest
    Let me know when you have some spare time. I have a float, down line and gold line and would be more than happy to lend a hand to help install.

    TF


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    "Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success."

    Earnest Shackleton

  5. #5

    Default

    Sounds somewhat like what Jeff Reeves and I found a handful of years ago, especially with the line buried in numerous spots and poor vis. It was around 15 feet or so though, not five.


  6. #6
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    Default I never saw Cathedral

    As I was part of Forrest's team today and a first timer at Cathedral; I can now say I'd dove the place. I'll never say I "saw" it. It seemed right when we got to the bottom the vis might have opened to 15' for about 30'-40' feet but then as Forrest said it was no more than 10' and mostly in the 5' range till we turned. After giving Forrest a spare spool to bridge another section of buried line, I signaled I was ready to turn when I saw 4 knots wind off and we had no idea where the original line was at.

    Lots of stairs and some expensive fills for a braille dive. We did meet up with a friendly dog. I'll post some topside photos when I get a chance.

    Jeff


  7. #7
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by nakatomi View Post
    Wow. After reading Sheck's book I have always wondered what Cathedral looks like today.
    It sounds like it needs at least a complete re-lining and some work above the surface too.
    What was the vis like before you turned, was it still around 5'?
    Cathedral/Falmouth eats line. I remember a dive where we carried 10 extra reels among the whole team,and that wasn't enough. Silt stakes to get the line off the floor would help,but during flooding,it gets some high flow.

    "Not all change is improvement...but all improvement is change" Donald Berwick

  8. #8
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    Default

    the Mexicain food after was best part of the dive.

    Www.artflowslikewater.com
    Brendan's Law - "Know what you're breathing. Analyze your gas for O2 and Co. Analyze your gas each time, everytime, anywhere."

  9. #9
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by MichaelAngelo View Post
    the Mexicain food after was best part of the dive.
    At Pepe's?


  10. #10
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    I don't remember the name. It was a trust me drive to lunch

    Www.artflowslikewater.com
    Brendan's Law - "Know what you're breathing. Analyze your gas for O2 and Co. Analyze your gas each time, everytime, anywhere."


 

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