NSS-CDS Workshop 20-22 May 2016, Lake City, FL Trip Report
Disclaimer – these are my own notes and I easily could have missed parts. They are not an official summary.
Many thanks to TJ for the pics! The whole set may be seen here: http://www.divetraining.net/pictures...ay_21workshop/
The Social
The NSS-CDS was held at the Robert B Harkness National Guard Armory on Lake Jeffery Road and began about 7pm. There were six rebreather vendors (someone else can name them), a couple of DPV venors, Rainbow Reef from Key Largo, the North Florida Springs Alliance (http://northfloridaspringsalliance.org/), the International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers (IANTD, http://www.iantd.com/), Shearwater, the ADM Foundation, and of course, the NSS-CDS. (If I missed any, please chime in.) See the full event listing at http://www.cds2016.com/index.html.
There were burgers and chips and cookies, and there was a keg of ?Bud Light? (I’m told.) I brought a case of Kiltlifter beer from Phoenix’ Four Peaks brewery – those who tried it opined it was rather good. I’m not a beer-drinker . . . . Just guessing, there were about 100 in attendance. Thirty were students from Texas A&M, with another five or six staff. There were about twenty-two running vendor booths and such.
There were a core of workers – unsung heroes – that were keeping everything running. Renee was swamped at the front registration; a couple of us stepped in to help her out. The cook out the back was slamming hamburgers as fast as possible but a few people still had to wait for burgers. Some of the old-time divers made it a point to talk to the students, who were quite enthralled with them.
The program: http://www.cds2016.com/program.html
Nathalie Lasselin - China
Nathalie is an accomplished speaker and her passion for exploring deep cave in foreign countries was evident in her briefing. She spoke of China’s courteous locals, who happily lent a bedroom to change, provided a hat for the camera, and were very welcoming. The team had to adapt to the locals for whom the spring was an integral part of life – for example, they would wait for the locals to finish laundry.
The springs were difficult to video due to the dark rocks and lack of visibility. The springs were also fished for the local market – even at 400 ft deep and three feet of vis, there were fishing line and hooks. The caves were very silty, and the fish would stir it up as they started from the lights of the divers.
The local governments really promoted the cave divers. Thousands attended the grand opening with many journalists. When the team returned from the dive, they were informed of a Show ... "a small" show, and how pleased the locals would be for them to attend. It turned out to be a huge show in their honor and was held awaiting their arrival. The team was feted and toasted; it was a trial to try to be polite but you have deep dives very early in the morning!
Daxing Cave- most dived cave with the best visibility and unfortunately the first fatally. The line cut on the sharp rocks and one of the divers panicked. A head impact set his fate. It was very easy to become disoriented. There are many species to ID and the water temperature was 7°C.
Jiu Song Cave- The spring has huge pumps to provide water to the village. They sometimes ask divers to fix pipes. Also a cave of dark rocks and low vis.
Jelly Fish Cave- No connection to Daxing yet. They are looking. There is a large water level differences - 100 feet (Jax’ SWAG from picture). The younger villages try to hide the stories of the elders, because they do not believe them. They would refuse to translate the offers of the elders.
Tun Lie Cave- many boulder s. There were formations never seen elsewhere.
Long G Cave – Divers access the spring by a long stairway. The stairs were previously covered in vegetation; the locals cleared it for the team. In the cave, the line zig-zags due to the very poor vis. Very complex. The cave was not a tunnel, but more of a series of openings hooked together by holes in rocks.
Charles Roberson - Cathedral Sink
Initially named Ghoul’s Sink, Sheck Exley renamed it Cathedral. Charles went through the history of the sink, with all the explorations. They are attempting to show a connection to Falmouth. At 450', Falmouth is the world's shortest river. The dives are intensely deep and the teams incur huge deco obligations. Charles showed a wonderful documentary video.
Curt Bowen’s ADM Foundation showed their newest video "Go No Further". It is a re-enactment of an open water instructor’s death. Unlike the previous “Emergency 911” video, which stretches fifteen minutes of story into an hour, the ADM video is a straight-forward depiction of the difference in the cave divers and the open water divers approach to diving. Short and to the point, it will be a valuable teaching tool. Edit: - Sorry, you have to go watch on vimeo.
Michael Angelo – Archiving our Caves
Michael Angelo discussed the need for a historical and updated archive of all the painstaking work done by the explorers and surveyors of the cave systems around the world. Maps, drawings, photos would document the cave and show changes through the years. Scientists that study the caves could post their papers, as well; the archive could become a source of information for all that are interested. Michael asks for those with ideas to contact him on the best means to do this.
Abe Davis awards were passed to those who attended
Lunch!
TX A&M’s Dr. Thomas Iliffe gave a briefing on cave biology. [Sorry, I couldn't begin to spell all the stuff he talked about.]
Karst Underwater Research played the Weeki-Wachee documentary. This is a difficult cave, with extraordinary flow, taking 160' to reach the cavern, and needing a half-hour for last 30'. The cave, in spite of the “Last Dived 2009”, was dived again in 2012. Also, it is no longer the deepest cave; Phantom Springs in Texas is known deeper. The cave could not be dived earlier than 2012 because the aquifer had not been low enough to get into it.
Twin Dees is now Karst Underwater Research’s concentration. The entrance is a narrow tube, in which people can pass only singly. There is no line, as it would be a hazard. This cave cannot be dived when there is low flow as it is two stagnate and silty. In departure, the people are stacked in the single-person ‘tube’ at each level, and is an important issue to consider in the safety plan. There is no way for safety divers to pass in or out. Cave radio location devices have made surveying much easier. There is also high salinity in the system, for which the divers attached sacrificial anodes to their tanks.
In 2016 – they were back to Twin Dees. They penetrated 7000', including 300 fsw for one hour, leading to significant decompression of a dozen hours. The cave is 360fsw average, 400' max. Lead diver scouts ahead without line; the second diver runs the reels. This reduces backups and silting. The book diver takes readings, azimuths, and notes while lead diver goes ahead.
Within the cave, they saw catfish, so there is an entrance somewhere there. They haven’t found it yet.
Joe Dituri – (From speaker page, the subject was Decompression)
Joe changed the direction of his briefing to discuss his current paper on Decompression Illness (DCI or DCS). The current “Type I, Type II” system lacks detailed specificity, nor does it speak to the tempo or progression of the affliction. Therefore, it is not relevant as a measure. Joe is proposing the following changes to the description and reporting of DCI.
Tier I
- lethargy, nausea, headache common symptoms but may or may not represent a threat
Tier II
- lymphatic obstruction. .. swelling under skin
- musculoskeletal pain- pain in hips, abdomen, or spine
- rash
- subjective sensory - altered skin sensation, prickling, itching
- pain
Tier III - permanent injury or death
- changes in consciousness or obviously confusion
- difficult speech
- sensory loss
- walk or balance disturbed
- sensory loss or perceptions
- weakness or paralysis of limbs
- bladder dysfunction
- sphincter malfunction
- loss of coordination or control of limbs
- shortness of breath
- pain, especially change in the pain and intensity
IMMEDIACY OF CARE TAKES PRECEDENCE
This change to a Tier system provides clear detail and is specific to urgency of care necessary. It has a direct correlate to tempo and progression of the illness, and therefore is immensely relative to the urgency of care.
Side bar: Joe is working on getting a diver’s chamber – nothing concrete yet.
Contact Info: Joe@iantd.com for research on hyperbaric measures.
Christina Zenato – The Zodiac System (Bahamas)
Christina is mapping the cave system for the Bahamas National Trust. The cave system, like the others, is deeper than 300 feet. It has an interesting connection through a lake, where one must swim 300 (meters, I think). She had a picture of her in her rebreather wearing a snorkel. She has connected her exploration line with the line of Ron Palmer. Christina also mentioned she could really use a scooter.
Question: Do these explorations have “GoFundMe” sites for this sort of thing?
Gator’s Dockside: The group had an optional Social at Gator’s Dockside in Lake City Saturday evening. I decided to get a couple of hours of driving under my belt this evening and missed it. Please, if you were there, let us know how it went!
Try Rebreathers / Guided Dives / DPV Demo:
Sunday the 22nd, the divers hit Ginnie Springs to trial some equipment or attend guided dives in caves. I see many happy reports on Facebook, but I was well westbound. I hope someone will talk about his or her experiences there.
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