Noob questions re: Peacock

[brianstclair]

I did my first intro dive at Peacock I yesterday. We went in to the right, not through the breakdown to the left, but down the vertical crack. Made it in to 700' to where the line arrows change direction on the mainline.

Two quick questions. First, what exit are the line arrows pointing to when they switch directions? Olsen? Second, if we continue down the mainline towards that exit, is there a change in the current? In other words, if we penetrated further and then turned to return to Peacock I, would we be heading into the current for a little ways? Hope that was clear, and thanks in advance.

Also, I'd be curious to hear from people who dive Peacock frequently and who were there yesterday what you thought of the visibility. I thought it was great, personally, but I don't have any experience in that system and was curious how much it varies there. Thanks again.

Brian

[Jay]

Two quick questions. First, what exit are the line arrows pointing to when they switch directions? Olsen?

700' ? Pothole is at 250 If I remember correctly.



Second, if we continue down the mainline towards that exit, is there a change in the current? In other words, if we penetrated further and then turned to return to Peacock I, would we be heading into the current for a little ways? Hope that was clear, and thanks in advance.

Generally you will not feel any significant change in the flow.


Brian

[Rich]

I did my first intro dive at Peacock I yesterday. We went in to the right, not through the breakdown to the left, but down the vertical crack. Made it in to 700' to where the line arrows change direction on the mainline.

Two quick questions. First, what exit are the line arrows pointing to when they switch directions? Olsen? Second, if we continue down the mainline towards that exit, is there a change in the current? In other words, if we penetrated further and then turned to return to Peacock I, would we be heading into the current for a little ways? Hope that was clear, and thanks in advance.

Also, I'd be curious to hear from people who dive Peacock frequently and who were there yesterday what you thought of the visibility. I thought it was great, personally, but I don't have any experience in that system and was curious how much it varies there. Thanks again.

Brian

Hiya Brian!!

The back to back arrows are at the jump to the Nicholson tunnel and the "other" exit they point to is Olsen sink.

There is an exit to Pothole which used to be a T (which I believe Jay is referring to above) but it's no longer a T and actually about a two foot jump. The reason the back to back arrows are where they are is to indicate the halfway point between exits on a continuous guideline.

There is a change in flow if you pass Olsen (it has both an upstream and downstream side, but not until you actually get there is it noticeable, and Peacock in general is either no or low flow. You probably noticed it was a just a little bit easier to swim out than in....so in answer to your second question, No.

Hope all this helps and hope to see you down at the shop again soon

Safe diving,

Rich

The way they used to be is this: Distance markers counted up to 250', then counted back down as you reached Pothole (which is 500' from the entrance). Then they counted back up to 450', and back down as you reached Olson (which is 900' from Pothole).

They must have changed this, if there is an arrow on the Main Tunnel labeled 700"

Olson and Pothole are inline sinks (not springs), so the flow doesn't change direction in this section of the cave.

Russell

[Rich]

The way they used to be is this: Distance markers counted up to 250', then counted back down as you reached Pothole (which is 500' from the entrance). Then they counted back up to 450', and back down as you reached Olson (which is 900' from Pothole).

They must have changed this, if there is an arrow on the Main Tunnel labeled 700"

Olson and Pothole are inline sinks (not springs), so the flow doesn't change direction in this section of the cave.

Russell

The exit to Pothole is still there, it's just not T'd into the gold line anymore, that's why the back to back are at 700' indicating equal distance between Olsen Sink and Peacock 1.

While Olsen is an inline sink, remember that the water enters in one side (coming from the Challenge/Peanut Restriction area - the upstream side) and exits the other side (heading to Peacock 1 - the downstream side). So if you swim from Olsen up to Challenge, you're swimming upstream, and if you swim towards Peacock 1, you're swimming downstream. Hope this explains it better than my last post

Safe diving,

Rich

[Jason B.]

There is an exit to Pothole which used to be a T (which I believe Jay is referring to above) but it's no longer a T and actually about a two foot jump.

Has this recently been changed (like in the past two weeks)?
There was no gap there 2 weeks ago (or was my line referencing so bad that I did a gap and didn't notice?). The p1 line just continued towards Olsen. There was a line that shoots straight up to Pothole (making a 'T' I guess).

[Rich]

There is an exit to Pothole which used to be a T (which I believe Jay is referring to above) but it's no longer a T and actually about a two foot jump.

Has this recently been changed (like in the past two weeks)?
There was no gap there 2 weeks ago (or was my line referencing so bad that I did a gap and didn't notice?). The p1 line just continued towards Olsen. There was a line that shoots straight up to Pothole (making a 'T' I guess).

There is no gap!! The mainline is continuous to Olsen, the line that shoots straight up to Pothole is about a 2 ft jump to the right of the mainline, right by the corner there.

Safe diving,

Rich

[Jason B.]

Rich, I just re-read your original post, somehow I missed the words written in bold.
Thanks for clearing up the vis!

The exit to Pothole is still there, it's just not T'd into the gold line anymore, that's why the back to back are at 700' indicating equal distance between Olsen Sink and Peacock 1.

Thanks for straightening me out on that. I guess I'm so familiar with the system now I haven't paid attention to what's written on the arrows in a long time.

Several years ago, on the cover of UWS was a picture of the back-to-back 450' arrows.

Russell

[brianstclair]

Thanks a lot guys. Exactly what I was looking for. Can't wait to get back in there - I feel like I could spend five years just getting to know that little 700' stretch of cave. And man... awesome.

Rich, if I wasn't going on a cruise next weekend (stupid cruise is interfering with my cave diving...) I'd see you then, but it'll probably be a few weeks. Nice meeting you - I'm sure I'll see you around, and thanks for the response. Incidentally, we met another nice dude over at the other CE shop who said he knew you. His name was Rob, and apparently he's the scooter racing champion of the world? I'm hoping to get a picture with him and the trophy next time we're over there...

Thanks again, all. Much appreciated.

Brian