An Innocent Goes to Main Land
August 12, 2011 -- I had wanted to see Main Land for a long time. Finally, I recruited instructor and friend Larry Green as partner. I know that no one has ever heard of him, but he seemed as excited as I was to do that dive. Planning was simple: we would ingress to a third of our gas supply, and then turn around and head for the light at the end of the tunnel. Back gas for me was double 85’s with 31% EAN at 3600 psi, or 230 cu. ft. I also carried two aluminum 80’s for a total of 390 cu. ft. of gas. A third of that is 130 cu. ft. I planned to breathe one stage bottle to the jump at 2900’ on the gold line, spending about 60 cu. ft., leaving me with 70 cu. ft. of gas for the rest of the dive down the Main Land tunnel before having to turn. I planned to take the 70 cu. ft. out of my back gas, so that converts to 1100 psi, with my turn pressure being 2500 psi. Larry would run the primary reel into the Ear, and also the jump reel to the Main Land line.
We entered the water at Little Devil’s with about a thousand tubers in the run. At one point, I jammed my scooter into the sand to avoid hitting a whale. I didn’t know it at the time, but the prop pitch switch must have jerked to a slower speed setting of 4 or 5. (I had set it to 7). I hovered at the log in the Ear, waiting for Larry to disappear into the cavern zone before I scootered in. I was nervous: first, about the dive itself, the biggest of my modest career, and second, anxious to perform well in front of my old instructor, mentor, and friend. Oh ****, let’s just say it: He is a legend, of course.
Ingress through the Ear and through the Lips went smoothly, considering I had the scooter and two stage bottles to manipulate. We cruised on up the main line, but I seemed to be going more slowly than usual, and unfortunately didn’t think about checking my prop pitch setting. We still made it to the jump in 25 minutes, according to Larry. I dropped the almost spent stage bottle I had breathed in, parked my scooter on the line, as Larry ran the reel the 20 feet or so to the Main Land line. Less encumbered now, I felt ready to swim for awhile, and we headed into the gorgeous Main Land passage, my heart pounding. I looked at my back gas pressure gauge: 3300 psi. I planned to turn at 2300 psi.
The first part of the Main Land tunnel was crystal clear and followed a beautiful white fissure, kind of a hallway, before the ceiling dropped so low that extreme technique and caution was in order. I concentrated on making sure I maintained control of my buoyancy, relying on my breathing in or out to provide the fine tuning necessary to stay off the bottom, which in many places was a clay disaster waiting to happen. A diver could really make a mess of things there very quickly, well over 3000 feet from the exits.
The passage continued to be low and narrow with a jump here and a jump there, until we entered a small room at about 3350’. I was almost at my turn pressure, and this small room was a good place to turn around. I signaled Larry and we turned easily. On egress, I was pleased to see that I hadn’t mucked things up too badly, but reflected a few times on where I was, and the fact that my face mask was just inches away from the clay bottom. Larry pulled the reel, we picked up our equipment on the main line, and motored out with me in the lead for the first time.
At the convenient alcove just next to the Ear exit, I stopped and checked my computer for the first time: 41 minutes of decompression to do, with 16 minutes due at the 20 foot stop. Larry was pulling the primary reel out. I did what I usually do to exit the Ear: dump all of the air out of my BC, and crawl out on hands and knees. By the time I got to the 20 foot stop on the lower log, my deco obligation had dropped nicely, and I reduced the rest of it further by breathing 100% oxygen at the ten foot stop on top of the log, my legs wrapped around it.
The glow of euphoria was starting to set in as I watched the itsy bitsy teeny weeny bikini bottoms sticking through the tubes floating by overhead. The tubers had absolutely no idea of the incredible beauty that lied beneath them in the fabulous Devil’s Eye/Ear cave.
Conditions had seemed a bit milky in the main tunnel, but cleared up very nicely towards the back of the cave, and Main Land was gin clear. I had 1000 psi left in my back gas, along with the full stage bottle. It had been a wonderful dive, and Larry and I shook hands with big smiles on our faces as I left for the long drive home. Before I departed, Larry graciously offered tips on my back plate rigging to get the stage bottles more parallel to the back tanks to provide a better hydrodynamic profile, and I’ve been working on replicating his rig.
I arrived home and crashed on the couch with a big glass of Chardonnay in hand, and my little feline pal Ginnie on my lap, to end one of those days in life that you will never forget.
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Originally Posted by Rick Palm
Semper Fi, Cameron David Smith, my son, my hero. 11/9/1989 - 11/13/2010 
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