JB solo stage scooter

[akcaver]

Made my first ever solo stage scooter dive yesterday at JB, turned out pretty good in fact...

Filled up at cave adventurers and then got to JB, was setting up my gear when i noticed i had lost the o-ring out of my stage regulator! I knew i had a couple or-ings somewhere, but couldnt find them. I was about to get pissed cause i would have had to go back to ed's real quick but then i found an o-ring in one of my din-to-yoke conversion kits, which was a blessing. Got in the water right at sunset, and the other team that was there had just got out of the water so i had the whole cave to myself. Turned on my mp3 player to get some nice tunes going for the dive and I started off! Got into the groove of things and was making decent time, even with the flow higher than it has been the past few months. In no time i passed the first T, then the second, then the third... and made it to the stoplight going right on all the T's. I kept scootering up to the trash pile, and then dropped the scooter at 2200' and switched to back-gas after breathing about 1000 psi of the stage. I kept the stage as my redundancy, and started swimming onwards. I was excited to see a bunch of new cave, so jsut decided to stay on the main line. Past the trash room the cave seems to get in better condition, probably cause not as many people get back there. There are so many fossils littering the floor back there it is amazing, some looked to be almost as big as my face! And the cave was pretty nice too I swam up and hit the 4000' mark, swimming another 1800' on backgas using about 1250-1350 psi in my backgas, was right at thirds, liked where i was and turned, at about 70 minutes into the dive. Noticed I was a little chilly, so started to hurry my way out cause i knew i was gonna be freezing at deco. Breathed another 400 off my backgas and switched to my stage for the remainder of the egress. Many, many offshoots that looked tempting for future dives and personal exploration, so more adventures are planned! Got back to the scooter, and then zoomed out of the cave as fast as I could. Finally got to deco and was shivering, switched to oxygen and my deco magically changed from 59 minutes to 25, which was still too long for my liking. The minutes ticked away while i jammed to a hodgepodge of music, then i exited into th starry marianna night. PAcked up and went home in time to meet a girl at the bar and have a drink or two. All in all a good venture!

Stats:
max depth: 98 feet
avg depth: 68 feet (including deco)
total runtime: 143 minutes
deco: 25 minutes on 100%

gas used on ingress:
stage: 1000 psi =26.67 cubitc feet
backgas: 1250 psi= 89.96 cubic feet

total = 116.63 cubic feet

egress:
backgas = 400 psi = 28.79 cubic feet
stage = 1950 psi = 52 cubic feet

total = 80.79 cubic feet

question: which tunnel does the main line go down to 4000'? Looking at the map and my turn depth, it looks to be to the source nouveau passage, but could also be down deloaches delight. Would anyone care to inform me? Also any thoughts, q's or comments are welcome!
8)

[DeWayne]

Which direction did you go at the fourth Tee (~3000ft)? Both lines run up toward Deloach's, but you need to take the left line and then hang another left to get to source nouveau. The right line goes up to the ethereal waters that parallels Deloach's leading into the AL room.

Glad to hear that the flow was up somewhat. I was down the end of Jan and there was no flow to speak of; hell I could hover throughout the cavern and not move at all (I seriously saw more flow coming out of Twin that weekend.)

I won't get into solo scootering (do it myself) but going to thirds on such dives may be pushing things a bit. I usually turn well before thirds myself, and if diving backnount I would always have a full stage that never got touched (that was my dive buddy AL). Diving sm I am not quite as conservative since I have independent air sources, but I still don't push it to thirds on solo scooter excursions. Just something to think about, not trying to say it's wrong or anything.

[akcaver]

Dewayne,
Thanks for the input, its greatly appreciated. I had thought about not touching the AL i carried, but decided to not push it to half +200 psi as i normally do on stage dives. I havent done much soloing, and am learning each time my comfort levels.

I stayed on the main gold line the whole dive, and passed multiple t's that were with the white cave line that offshoots into side passages. I dont recall seeing any other gold line back there; the only gold line t's i recall are at the first t (1000') circuit and the second t circuit (~1900'). Hopefully that helps on knowing which passage i went through.
Thanks again.

Which direction did you go at the fourth Tee (~3000ft)?

First T - p950'.
Second T - p1300'.
Third T - p1900'.
Fourth T - p2100.

Do you mean the fifth T? I'm not familiar with one at p3000', but I haven't been there too many times.

I stayed on the main gold line the whole dive, and passed multiple t's that were with the white cave line that offshoots into side passages. I dont recall seeing any other gold line back there; the only gold line t's i recall are at the first t (1000') circuit and the second t circuit (~1900'). Hopefully that helps on knowing which passage i went through.
Thanks again.

Yea, there's only the two gold line circuits. There was a 5th gold line T just past the trash room, but that only lasted about 20 minutes (hopefully it's not back).

The mainline goes to the right on the map, into the Alabama room, the Banana room, and then curves again to the right into the Terminal room where it's tied off and the line continues with exploration line.

There was a 5th gold line T just past the trash room, but that only lasted about 20 minutes (hopefully it's not back).

The Middle Grounds jump is 300' past the Trash Room - p2650'. Was there a T there at one time?

The Middle Grounds jump is 300' past the Trash Room - p2650'. Was there a T there at one time?

There was a jump there to the right that ran down a passageway parallel to the main passage and T'ed into the first middlegrounds T to the right. Sometime in December a jump reel was set and left there.

The owner of the reel pulled it on New Year's Day. He was just finishing with it when my buddy and I passed and noticed that he replaced the reel and turned the jump into another T... but did it with gold line.

When we were on our way out, I stopped and replaced the gold line with exploration line from a spool, but I left the T.

It becoming a T vs. a jump isn't anything I really had a major opinion about either way. However it being a gold line T, gold line that turns into exploration line a few feet over the crest of the mound... that I had a big problem with; and why I replaced it.

In other words yea.. sometime in December a jump reel was laid and left. Then on January 1 it became a permanent T. I've not been back there since to know if it's still a T or if my line has been pulled out and made back into a jump.

[DeWayne]

Which direction did you go at the fourth Tee (~3000ft)?

First T - p950'.
Second T - p1300'.
Third T - p1900'.
Fourth T - p2100.

Do you mean the fifth T? I'm not familiar with one at p3000', but I haven't been there too many times.

Guess I have been cruising the front half a bit too fast to count anymore. The next Tee past the trash room; the distance marked on the Tee does not jive with the map, but then most of JB is that way.

[DeWayne]

Dewayne,
Thanks for the input, its greatly appreciated. I had thought about not touching the AL i carried, but decided to not push it to half +200 psi as i normally do on stage dives. I havent done much soloing, and am learning each time my comfort levels.

I stayed on the main gold line the whole dive, and passed multiple t's that were with the white cave line that offshoots into side passages. I dont recall seeing any other gold line back there; the only gold line t's i recall are at the first t (1000') circuit and the second t circuit (~1900'). Hopefully that helps on knowing which passage i went through.
Thanks again.

No problem, I did not want to sound like I was criticizing but rather offering what I hoped would be seen as some helpful advice. I love diving solo and my scooter has become a great tool to help me see new cave. A good friend told me when I first got it, to scooter in, clip it off and swim out. This was pratice for when, not if, it quit on me way back in a cave somewhere. Since doing that the first time I have become even more conservative with my gas planning when it is just me and AL back there.

[akcaver]

In other words yea.. sometime in December a jump reel was laid and left. Then on January 1 it became a permanent T. I've not been back there since to know if it's still a T or if my line has been pulled out and made back into a jump.

It seemed most of the 'jumps' back there were T's with the white exploration line attached to an arrow on the mainline, but i do not remember the distances of any of them. I need to go back with a slate and mark off where all the 'jumps' are and distances for my own record keeping.