Lesson learned; On the hairy edge treat ur gas like your money, it's actually more valuable. AND don't give out the booze till the end of the trip.

Lesson learned; When planning exploration trips out to the hairy edge, expect the unexpected, try to budget some extra time when traveling from your first destination to others.


read on to see how we learned these leassons

This past trip was almost two weeks Sep 8 to Sep 21.

First half of trip was Sep 8 to 14. My cave dive buddy Bill M. and I took Discovery cruise over to GBI. I didn't rent a storage bin this time, we took FULL tanks over in our luggage. We had two Samsonite P-flite 250's (hard case luggage) which IMHO are the best volume per pound dive cases. They don't scream 'dive gear' which
more and more attracts attention and extra fees. They
fit twin 95's nicely with room for other gear. I fit 2
alu 40's, a stl 45 and a stl 50 all rigged with
harness and clips. Our 'excessive' luggage attracted
some attention, but a $20.00 tip to the porter and those silly baggage limits were ignored.

Cruise was smooth and fast, $60.00 got all our stuff to UNEXSO. You can tell a dive trip when the first stop is the dive shop not the condo...

Rigged and preped gear, Bill and I had a couple workup dives planned before heading to the boonies of East GBI to go cave hunting. A minor but scarry, non-diving medical problem surfaced with Bill. If he chooses to elaborate on this, he will, in another post otherwise I choose to skip the details in this report. We made one cave dive the evening we arrived and it was later that evening when the problem occoured. We saught and received medical attention, for a mere $30.00 registration fee. Bahamas, a crown country, national healthcare, tourists covered, cool. We did another dive in Mermaids Lair to make sure gear and Bill were functioning properly. Our departure to Sweeting Cay (the boonies) was delayed from Monday to Wednesday, our return was pushed back to Saturday, giving us 4 days in Sweetings.

Lesson learned; When planning exploration trips out to the hairy edge, expect the unexpected, try to budget some extra time when traveling from your first destination to others.

We arrive in Sweetings and unload and gear up for our first dive. We plan our blue hole diving for high tide and inland diving between. Out in the little cays gas is GOLD (5.50/gal, 2stroke oil 6.00qt) we brought 10gal of gas with us from GBI and used it as payment to the locals for our bluehole trips. One of the older fishermen on the island had showed me blue holes before and his reward was a half pint of rum. This time we had gas and rum. We got two trips from him this time, but after giving him 2 half pints of rum and cigg money, he and our gas discopeared. His son told me he didn't forget to showup, he just decided not to come. Thanks... that explains a lot.

Lesson learned; On the hairy edge treat ur gas like your money, it's actually more valuable. AND don't give out the booze till the end of the trip.

Bill and I found several new holes, unfortunatly none decorated but still low, silty, tight places to go and get stuck in zero visibility, FUN...

The crown jewel of Sweetings is Sagatarius which is a totally AWESOME cave. I did 1 dive there, Bill did 3.

Upon return to GBI freeport I found my TerriFish lounging at the pool of the condo I had for the second week. Suffice to say the surface intervals were MUCH more enjoyable... Terri who had arrived the day before had meet these two girls from south africa, the 5 of us had a blast that evening.

Bill the young whippersnapper he is went cave diving the morning of his cruise back. We went to OWL hole, which is a 70ft ladder climb down to the basin. The new ladder is GREAT. Bill solo'ed and Terri and I were on hmmmm surface support. I made a basin dive in my shorts, sandals, mask and a stl 45 of 50%, nothing else, what a sureal experience being in a cavern'ish place no light, almost no gear, the light beaming in from the basin was cool.

Bill split, we downsized our vechile, did OW dives and shark dive and generally vegitated. Trips out for exploration are great fun, but it's also nice lounging by the pool with a pretty girl.

The support UNEXSO provided was excellent, the new ladder Cristina Zenato installed in Owl sink is great. If planning a trip to GBI or outlying cays I can help but Cristina and UNEXSO are the best.

Cliff Sifton
cavecliff@yahoo.com
cristina_zenato@yahoo.com