Sixth Sense

[RN]

I think cave diving really focuses these things and makes them more intense.

I'm just a baby cave diver, but I had the experience in Jackson Blue a couple of weeks ago of turning a dive because I just didn't want to be there any more. A lot of little things, nothing major, but I just wanted to go home. It was a surprisingly difficult thing to do -- I kept thinking my buddies were going to be irked with me (and I suspect they were, but they hid it pretty well.)

For those of you who have turned dives on a feeling you couldn't put your finger on, did you get any grief from your companions, or did they understand?

Honestly, it didn't bother me. Those dives were your dives anyway. I get to do my own dives all the time there. BTW, did my 2nd scooter dive in JB today. Called it way before 1/3s because the visibility dropped down to about 10' back at 1600'. I kept going, probably farther than I should have, but Jenn stopped. I have to admit she was right not to go on there. We had a great time scootering back out and playing around in some of the different areas of the cave with out scooters. And we're looking forward to our 3rd scooter dive in there tomorrow!

[LCF]

Rob, I wasn't all that worried about you! You get to dive JB whenever you want. It was my husband I figured was ticked . . .

[jammer]

I have gotten all the way to dive site and opened up gear and put on dry suite and thought it don't feel right and I told team to go without me.

I've got you beat. Several weeks ago I was going to make a day trip to Jackson Blue. I packed all my gear Saturday night, so all I had to do was wake up early Sunday and head south.

I woke up, and was checking the Forum before leaving, and something just didn't feel right. I sat there for a few minutes, staring at the computer screen. Then I changed my mind and didn't go.

I went a week later and had two great dives.

[FW]

RN's post reminded me of a good story. I loaned a scooter to an apprentice diver to try in JB. I made him promise not to go out of the cavern zone, and he agreed. When he got back, he told me that he started to go a little furthur, but was overcome by a nagging feeling that he should turn back. What I hadn't told him was that the previous owner of that scooter died in JB, about where he turned back.

Maybe Wes is right about ghosts....
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5794

[Cindy]

Forrest, My dive buddy and I were just learning and everytime we went past where our instructor advised us to go we could both hear his voice telling us to go back. You guys can throw your voices, don't try to fool us!! Either that or it's the crayfish radio! Cindy

[BgDadddy]

Ok, that's creepy.....

[Cindy]

Maybe Wes is right about ghosts....
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5794

Forrest Wilson

Interesting you brought up this thread. Just an FYI there was a HUGE upswelling of locals and environmentalist to protect the springs. The permit for Blue Springs has been denied on a local level and it looks like the bottling companies will end up losing this one. They only have one more year to try and get the factories in per a state authorization. Among the issues were road use, quality of life, our diminishing water table, low flow and bacteria etc. from the springs.

Cave divers are on both sides of the issue. I hope the next time the divers who support the companies are in those springs they hear a little voice telling them to protect it...

Sorry to Hijack the tread but at least no one is fighting at the end of this one...Cindy

[RN]

Rob, I wasn't all that worried about you! You get to dive JB whenever you want. It was my husband I figured was ticked . . .

LOL! I've lost count of how many times I've had dives called on me. There will always be another day to dive. He couldn't have been too ticked. He did get that extra dive in December.

[BobK]

I once turned a dive because I had to pee really, really, really, really bad. (Semi-dry suit, and trust me, it was as dry as a drysuit.) My friend Robert let me hear about that for a WHILE.

In hindsight, I should have lied and said I was feeling spooked. He wouldn't have had a problem with that at all.

I remember turning that dive with you in Ginnie when you led us up the line past where I thought we were going to jump. I was confused and you were going the right way, but as we kept going I got more and more nervous. Finally decided it was time to turn around. Strange how stuff like that can bother you. It wasn't like we were off the line, or had made a strange jump or anything. I just wasn't sure where we were on the mainline anymore.

[gsulliva]

There was an article Wes Skiles did years ago that had a bunch of good quotes. Here is a good one for the article:

--- Wes Skiles article from Fast Company ---

To evaluate the risks of underwater-cave exploration, Skiles starts by evaluating himself. He does this by leveraging the "theory of pie." A pie is a metaphor for a diver's maximum problem-solving potential. As he preps for a dive and descends into a cave system, the diver loses a slice of pie with each distraction or setback. An O-ring blows while he's gearing up, and he has to stop and change it: Take away a slice. He accidentally sets his tanks down on a dive light and cracks it: There goes another slice. If he loses too many slices, the diver must quit: He must call the dive. If he doesn't -- if he makes the dive with just half a pie -- he won't have all of the mental resources that he needs to deal with a real underwater emergency.

Skiles first put the pie theory into play when he was 19. He was on a dive with Sheck Exley, a cave-diving pioneer who set numerous world records for deep dives. (Exley died in 1994, while diving below 900 feet in Mexico.) Their plan was to dive into the cave system in Florida's Blue Springs, swim 3,000 feet back into the network of tunnels, and lay 1,000 feet of line. (That is, push another 1,000 feet into the unexplored system.)

"It was a hot day, and I felt really rushed as we geared up," Skiles recalls. "When we got into the system, Sheck started swimming really hard, and I had trouble keeping up with him. My pacing wasn't good that day. Then my regulator started to leak. I could still breathe through it, but it was free-flowing pretty hard. So I flashed Sheck down and showed him that my regulator was bubbling. And he looked at me like, '####, all of my regulators bubble.'

"If ever there was a guy who I would blindly follow no matter what, especially at that age, it was Sheck Exley," Skiles continues. "It was a major embarrassment for me to disappoint Sheck. But I knew that I had lost too many slices. I had to call the dive."

And that's exactly what he did. In a way, it would have been easier to keep swimming after Exley; Skiles didn't want his hero to doubt his skill and courage. But looking back on the experience, Skiles realizes that it took even more guts to call the dive. In the long run, quitting gave Skiles the confidence to push on -- to take on even bigger challenges -- because he knew that he had the mental agility to manage the pie.