Peacock 1/25/09
Did 3 or 4 dives at PSSP on Sunday. This was not only my first time at Peacock, but my first time in doubles as well. Man...I absolutely fell in love with that system.
The first dive was in OG, and my buddy Ryan and I did S-drills and I made sure I could reach my valves. We then proceeded down into the cavern. Our friends were already down there, and we poked around lower OG for about 20-30 minutes, and then reeled up when we hit our turn pressures. I was incredibley head heavy for the first portion of the dive, but as soon as I got to depth, everything worked itself out.
We went to the surface because my buddy was cold, and I recalculated my gas for another short dive with our other friends who had switched tanks (singles). We looked around upper OG for a bit, and then surfaced after min. deco stops.
We headed back to Dive Outpost for fills, and lunch at the Luraville Country Store. All I can say is...WOW. That place lived up to all the hype. I had a philly on wheat, and it was delicious. We picked up our tanks, and headed back, this time to P1.
I was unsure about doing P1 because I was really enjoying OG, but my buddy Ryan convinced me. I'm glad he did. We arrived there to meet J.J. and Jim Wyatt teaching classes, and met a few other divers. We geared up and headed down for S drills. Ryan ran the line, and I followed, feeling great in my doubles. He ran the line down the right side of the cavern, across infront of the pothole drop off, and over to the sign on the Peanut side. We spent several minutes staring into the abyss at the sign on the Peanut side. On this dive, everything clicked. I had doubles nailed down, my trim was great (I had adjusted my wing slightly), I slowed my breathing WAY down, and I was having a blast. Hovering above the sign on the Peanut side, my 10w shining down the gold line till it disappeared, the "bug" dealt it's final blow. Ever since cavern training, I've always been fascinated with the idea of cave training, but this was it. I had to take Intro.
We surfaced after min. deco, and spent a few minutes on the surface chatting. Several other divers got in the water. Our friends showed up and did a dive while we went to check out P3 and talked with Jim and a student from J.J.'s Cave 2 class. Everyone there (including Cathy at D.O.) was very, very friendly with the "new guys" as Jim said. Our friends got out of the water around 4:15, and Ryan and I wanted to get one more dive in. 2 divers from their party didn't want to dive again, but the third tagged along with us. We did essentially the same dive, except I felt comfortable enough to run the reel. Again, everything was great. I was getting the hang of adding/dumping enough gas, my trim was great, etc.
On the way out of the Peanut side, I remembered something I someone had said here. I covered up my light and motioned for my buddies to do the same. We swam out with just the glow of the midafternoon sun coming down the slope at the P1 entrance, and I had one of those "spiritual" moments. It's hard to describe, but I'll always remember that short swim from the sign to the spot where we did our quick stops.
Things got a little crowded with the 3 of us, and 2 divers doing O2 deco, but we made it work. I spent a few extra minutes at 15 and 10 feet for a little extra safety after a long day of diving. We packed up, and headed back to D.O. to close out our tabs. I got a DELICIOUS chocolate and walnut "deco cookie." I would highly reccomend those to anyone who sees them. We said our goodbyes, and I headed back to Orlando. I ended up getting tired on the drive home, and stayed the night at a friend's house in Alachua and then did the rest of the drive Monday morning.
Sorry it was long. I was trying to convey the excitement of my first real trip to cave country. I absolutely loved it. I'll probably end up staying at D.O. next time to make things a little easier. I did all of these dives in 85s, but I'm going to try some 108s next time. I'd like to get a couple more weekends under my belt in doubles, and then give Intro a shot. I've already been in contact with several instructors. I'm looking forward to many, many more weekends in North Florida.
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Deco Cookies!
Semper Fi, Cameron David Smith, my son, my hero. 11/9/1989 - 11/13/2010 
Originally Posted by chimie007
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