Orange grove gold line

[kylejones982]

On one of my first dives into orange grove we penetrated about 850 feet back on the gold line and I noticed about 700 feet in the line runs through a crack in the wall instead of going around a rock. On the way back out I noticed it was possible to go around the rock and get back on the gold line instead of going through this tight crack. What is the reasoning behind running the line the way it is ?


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[cmint]

Probably to show you that awesome crack.

Would you explore it if the gold line didn't go through it?

[kylejones982]

Probably to show you that awesome crack.

Would you explore it if the gold line didn't go through it?

I mean if i had to choose to go around or go through it i would definitely choose to go through it !

[Aquabot]

Just dove there for my first time as well not to long ago. I definitely enjoyed that crack lol.

But I can see where the OP is coming from. In the event of a silt out or miraculously everyone's lights all failed, it would be a faster egress route around the rock instead of trying to navigate the crack.

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[kylejones982]

That was the thought i had. Maybe in the event of a silt out the crack would be partially immune to the silt since it runs off the main passage ? That was the only thing i could think of

[Kelly Jessop]

That line position has been there for decades, and has not been brought up as a problem for egress. But, if the line went to the left versus the fissure, the floor would be beat up in a couple weeks (if you notice other areas of the floor between OG and Challenge). Another place between Olsen and Pothole the line goes through a round opening versus around. Where people feel compelled to touch the natural erosional feature with the wear marks on the bottom of the feature,if it went around, would we see wear on the floor. 6 of one, half dozen of another.

[aquadog196]

Everyone I know call this the ZigZag Canyon

[kensuf]

Because the tight crack is funner. Yeah, I said funner.

[FW]

That line position has been there for decades, and has not been brought up as a problem for egress. But, if the line went to the left versus the fissure, the floor would be beat up in a couple weeks (if you notice other areas of the floor between OG and Challenge). Another place between Olsen and Pothole the line goes through a round opening versus around. Where people feel compelled to touch the natural erosional feature with the wear marks on the bottom of the feature,if it went around, would we see wear on the floor. 6 of one, half dozen of another.

It was originally routed that way because a lot of divers ended up crashing into the silt bypassing the "crack". IIRC, the silt pile was higher back then. It is possible a flood moved some of it.

[Kelly Jessop]

It was originally routed that way because a lot of divers ended up crashing into the silt bypassing the "crack". IIRC, the silt pile was higher back then. It is possible a flood moved some of it.

There used to be silt mounds between OG and Challenge, and it was impossible to complete that traverse without stirring up silt. I think so much dive traffic has stirred up the silt into solution and carried it out of the cave.