Tell me a story about Manatee

[tflaris]

Well conditions at Manatee. Looking to do some scooter diving next week and curious on conditions at Manatee.

Thanks in Advance for your assistance.

[jj1987]

I once swam Manatee. Stupid decision. I promised myself I'd never go back until I had a scooter and stuck to it. There's a reason there's a sign in front of catfish hotel that says "No Swimming".

Good story?

In all seriousness, expect raging flow and lower viz until you're beyond the Milk and Sewer Tunnel, then it clears up a bit, and flow does seem to drop a tad. When the sun is high, expect a beautiful beam of light streaming through Sue sink, one of my favorite parts of the dive. When scootering, you'll want to stay on the throttle and let the scooter control your buoyancy through all the ups and downs.

Here's a bit of history on it-
http://www.iantd.com/articles/95-1jablonski.html

If you have access to Quest, Todd Kincaid wrote a great article on pushing Cathedral Canyon in which they used Manatee Springs for training due to it's long penetration in reasonable but less than perfect conditions. It addresses staging, support divers, setup dives, nutrition concerns, working around poor conditions, etc...one of the best cave diving articles I've read.

[traveler]

I once swam Manatee. Stupid decision. I promised myself I'd never go back until I had a scooter and stuck to it. There's a reason there's a sign in front of catfish hotel that says "No Swimming".
[...]
If you have access to Quest, Todd Kincaid wrote a great article on pushing Cathedral Canyon in which they used Manatee Springs for training due to it's long penetration in reasonable but less than perfect conditions. It addresses staging, support divers, setup dives, nutrition concerns, working around poor conditions, etc...one of the best cave diving articles I've read.

The same article also appeared in the 2005 CDS Members Manual.

Wrong Todd, though... Todd Kincaid did a ton of diving with Jarrod and Casey early on, and was involved in pushing Manatee. Todd Leonard was involved in pushing Cathedral and wrote that article.

FWIW, I enjoy swimming Manatee. Not everybody does, though, and there's nothing wrong with that. I've seen divers push much harder than they should have there and spike their CO2 so high they became barely responsive. I've seen others drift a little downstream from Catfish before realizing how hard they were going to need to work against the siphon to return. Anyway, when the flow is up, the place is definitely worthy of respect and complete attention, but once you learn to work with it it's one of the most amazing caves in the world.

[LiteHedded]

that article on the cathedral exploration is FANTASTIC
amazing work you guys did in there

[jj1987]

The same article also appeared in the 2005 CDS Members Manual.

Wrong Todd, though... Todd Kincaid did a ton of diving with Jarrod and Casey early on, and was involved in pushing Manatee. Todd Leonard was involved in pushing Cathedral and wrote that article.

FWIW, I enjoy swimming Manatee. Not everybody does, though, and there's nothing wrong with that. I've seen divers push much harder than they should have there and spike their CO2 so high they became barely responsive. I've seen others drift a little downstream from Catfish before realizing how hard they were going to need to work against the siphon to return. Anyway, when the flow is up, the place is definitely worthy of respect and complete attention, but once you learn to work with it it's one of the most amazing caves in the world.

They shouldn't allow both of you to hang out in the same group, two Todd's are confusing!

Anyways, thanks for the article. Any chance it's been (or ever will be) released online in public view? Loved how that article described what lead up to the push dive and what you learned along the way, rather than just talking about the push dive alone. Especially interesting for us younger guys, as it gave examples of how to build up experience for the dives currently out of reach, rather than just accepting "you're not ready" as an answer

[billyf]

Last month a few of us headed back past the siphon, once we pushed through the cracks I inhaled some water, I stopped to do a quick check of my breather and regain my composure when I glanced down and saw some bones, taking a closer look and I realized that it was a human femur and the anterior portion of a skull.

[apitkin]

...I glanced down and saw some bones, taking a closer look and I realized that it was a human femur and the anterior portion of a skull.

That's what happens when you

stay on the throttle and let the scooter control your buoyancy through all the ups and downs.

[Rich]

Good one Andy, that cracked me up.....

Safe diving,

Rich

[Jay]

Dove it Friday. Flow seems a little down. 40 feet of vis would be too generous.
Catfish is covered with hydrilla , so the vis in the basin is very good.

[Kelly Jessop]

FWIW, I enjoy swimming Manatee.

I agree,Manatee is a fun swim dive,and with all high flow caves the challange is to read the cave at each area you go,and determine where the best location is to be. Swimming high flow cave is a real cave diving skill,and like all skills deserves to be developed. I hate to see it when a cave that is new to someone is scootered,because it doesn't allow the learning of the cave that is necessary in an emergency.