First dive to well casing in Little River

[aw]

I made a single stage backmount solo swimming dive in Little River today to The Last Room (Well Casing). It was the first time I had ever been there. Kinda cool to see the PVC pipe going from the ceiling into the floor that far back in the cave. Last time I had attempted to even get that far back was when I went just past the Dome room back in November of 2001.

I did notice the flow was up slightly from a week ago. Max penetration was 2,200 ft. It took me 40 minutes to get there via mud tunnel and outer-merry-go-round shortcuts. It took 35 minutes to get out. Bottom time was 75 minutes plus another 15 minutes deco on O2. 90 minute total bottom time. I stayed on backgas all the way out from max penetration and managed to reach O2 on just less than 1/3 of backgas.

I used 1/2 a stage bottle going in plus just short of 1/3 of backgas. I carried the stage bottle with me the entire dive since I wasn't carrying a TRUELY dedicated buddy bottle on this dive. Since flow was still less than normal, I didn't have to switch from my stage to backgas till I reached the beginning of the Florida Room.

Allen, what is the status of distance arrows? I remember when there was one every 100'.

I'm considering diving there New Years' Day, scootering to the Florida Room and swimming to the well casing.

[aw]

Russell,

There are some distance arrows on the line, but I don't recall them every 100 ft. Actually when I did see them I was a little surpised because I didn't remember there being any in the past. I didn't look at every arrow I passed, so my memory may not be completely accurate.

[BradfordNC]

Allen, what is the status of distance arrows? I remember when there was one every 100'.

I'm considering diving there New Years' Day, scootering to the Florida Room and swimming to the well casing.

when i was there in September there were new line arrows with distance markers every 100 feet all the way in to 1500 feet. after that it was just jumps and an occasional unmarked arrow.

not sure how it is now. i'll be down there next weekend (6-7 Jan)

[WJH]

SLIM & I made the same dive last week (though not solo) and remarked on how damaged the line arrows were. Most were mangled and nearly broken--the line is so tight that these little plastic arrows just cannot stand up to the pressure. We stayed on the main line for the whole dive, with the left turn at the "T". Flow was rather gentle.

It was a most enjoyable dive, though!

WJH

[Mike]

Skip & I were in there over Thanksgiving & It looked like there weren't that many distance markers to me, maybe I missed some along the way.
Some were curled up as if somebody had purposely bent them.
We had a great dive back to the Florida room regardless.

Mike M

[Walter Pickel]

Allen, what is the status of distance arrows? I remember when there was one every 100'.

I'm considering diving there New Years' Day, scootering to the Florida Room and swimming to the well casing.

when i was there in September there were new line arrows with distance markers every 100 feet all the way in to 1500 feet. after that it was just jumps and an occasional unmarked arrow.

not sure how it is now. i'll be down there next weekend (6-7 Jan)

The distance markers were every 100' to the well casing but they were removed.