Scared at Peacock

[tflaris]

Went to Luraville for a fun weekend of diving. Parking lot pretty empty and I was pretty surprised. Shortly there after a large group of divers arrived in classes of differnet levels from Cavern to Intro. I do not know how many Instructor there were for the group but the ratios seemed way out of whack.

The scary part was not only did the cavern divers have Open Water gear with no H Valve there were divers performing jumps off the Main Line with Open Water Gear no H valve. One of the students stated that the certifying agency was TDI.

I overheard a conversation from what appeared to be an Instructor to a pair of students:

Instructor "why didn't you take the jump"

Student "well I wasn't sure it was the right spot"

Instructor "Didn't you see the reel"

Student "yes but I still wasn't sure so I continued on the Main Line"

Instructor "well you did the right thing. How far did you go?"

Student "About 800"

Instructor "Which tunnel were you in the one on the left or the one on the right?"

Student "we took the one on the right and I saw 800' written on one of the arrows"

Instructor "you couldn't have because....................(explanation followed)"

Diver "I swore I saw 800'................"

I have seen the face of fear.

Does TDI have a Cert for Divers with Open Water Gear no H Valve to dive cavern and cave?

Does any of this make sense to anyone else?

Am I over reacting"

Thanks
Tony Flaris
904-210-4550

[whodunit68]

I'm a new-ish cave diver but that would scare the heck out of me. I have ZERO interest in going into any cave for any reason without serious redundancy (my instructor queried my use of 6 lights, 2 reels, and 3 spools). Holy cr@#$!.

[Sludge]

By definition, cavern is designed to be taken in open water configuration. Single cylinder, single valve. An H-valve isn't used until Intro (if doubles aren't used).

Of course, the penetration limit is the daylight zone (as long as depth + penetration < 130').

[whodunit68]

By definition, cavern is designed to be taken in open water configuration. Single cylinder, single valve. An H-valve isn't used until Intro (if doubles aren't used).

Of course, the penetration limit is the daylight zone (as long as depth + penetration < 130').

wouldn't it be safe to say that it's designed so that it *may* be taken in open water config?
I've never been in Peacock but is 800' still within daylight zone?
They were also talking jumps...

[Sludge]

The "cavern zone" ends around p80'. 50' depth, 80' penetration.

[whodunit68]

thanks. wonder what was going on.

[Benthic]

I've seen AOW classes in the cavern at Eagle's Nest. Nothing surprises me anymore. It's kinda sad actually.

Brian

[Rich]

What Brian said....

Safe diving,

Rich

[amphipod06]

Did you inform the ranger?
They do take that stuff seriously (or used to...).

Dive safe,

Celia

[Kelly Jessop]

What Brian said....

Safe diving,

Rich

I guarantee you we'll lose Eagles Nest as a site. It is always easier to police a site by closing it,and nobody can seem to bring this under control.