What are the conditions like right now at little river?
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Little River
What are the conditions like right now at little river?
I dove it early Monday, tannic water is still in the system, basin is clearing. Didn't seem a whole lot more clear than when we took my intro class there on the 7th of last month, but it has improved a little. Viz was certainly not bad enough to ruin the dive or anything, but it doesn't have that "Ginnie blue" we're all used to seeing in the photos. Hopefully someone who went back in the cave can answer your questions better....
As a newly certified cave diver I would have had to dive the cave.
Had I not failed the class, I would have.Originally Posted by stairman
Last edited by jj1987; 05-27-2008 at 06:16 PM.
Bummer dude.Care to type out your endevor?
I don't think I want to post details of an instructors class on an internet forum, especially since I didn't pass. Lloyd did what any instructor would do and gave me a list of things to work on.....and told me to come back sometime in the future.
Last edited by jj1987; 05-27-2008 at 11:19 PM.
Hey thats cool.Unfortunatly the skills needing more improvement are usually the hardest to practice.Air shareing on the line no mask,no lights and the dreaded lost line drill.I never practiced the lost line.I just picked her brain for any tips I could get and it went well.I think most instructors will lrt you come back and try again with another class at no charge.Youll get it then Im pretty sure,going in knowing what to expect.All classes are stressful,but when your done its alot easier.
Get real comfortable in the dark and become one with your reel.
We did the lost line drill on the first dive of the first day of Basic. I failed. I couldn't even find anything to tie the line to. We were only using AL80s so our time was limited and my instructor ended the drill. My training partner passed.
On the next dive I jammed the reel doing a lost buddy search. I unjammed it and finished the search but had tied a knot instead of slip looping over the arrow. I actually heard my instructor say "How did you do that?" as he grabbed his knife and cut my line so I could untangle it. I ran the line three times over the next four dives, once through the catacombs. In fact I don't think I put the reel down during our surface intervals for the next couple of days. I practiced jamming it (easy) and unjamming it (less easy), making loops, making tie-offs, undoing tie-offs, etc.
On the last dive of Intro I was expecting another lost line drill, as well as just about any other drill we had done over the past few days since we were doing two or three drills per dive. My instructor covered my mask. I closed my eyes, he picked me up and put me down somewhere else. I started feeling for something to tie to and found an outcropping with a 2" diameter hole all the way through it. I went all the way across the floor, up the wall, half way across the ceiling and could feel that I was snagged on something. I dropped down on top of the line. Wow, what a feeling. Then I went the wrong way up the line but found an arrow and turned around.
Over the next year I spent many dives by myself at the King Spring Cavern in Crystal River just doing line drills. Running the line is easy, just practice tying-off to rocks that it doesn't look like you can tie-off to. And practice jamming and unjamming your reel underwater. I would suggest not using a jam-proof reel, you never know what you'll end up with underwater.
On my 5th dive during Apprentice we went in the Eye with a Stage and O2 bottle and dropped them at the Main Line (at the Ear). He said it was for additional task loading. The lost-line drill came up again. This time I easily found something to tie to, ran across the floor and found the line on the floor! I tied on, started up the line and found an arrow pointing the other way. I went the other way and came to the end of the line?!? I went back and forth a couple of times from the arrow to the end of the line before realizing that I had found a line in a side tunnel! I untied from the side line and finished the drill. Then on the way out the Eye, daylight in sight but at the tightest spot, he saw that I was having a little difficulty with the flow, two extra bottles and reeling in the line so he throws an out of air diver at me.
Don't even bother anticipating things, your instructor will know when your not ready for it. Learn to stay calm while your thinking, with your eyes closed, trying to unjam a reel as quickly as you can. I called that Apprentice dive on thirds and still exited with half of my gas. I just hope I can remain that calm when something really goes wrong.
Mark Schroder
The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice. (PV12:15)
jam-proof reel? what's that and where do I get one?
LOL
jam-proof reel? what's that and where do I get one?
LOL
Just have fun reeling it up out of the ear or manatee springs....
Last edited by jj1987; 05-28-2008 at 09:40 AM.
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