Cow Upstream
Haven't posted a report in awhile... been diving to much to bother...
J and I had planned to do a night dive with N at Cow. J and I got our gas from the place that lets you run a tab and has this guy that sits outside talking about "the good ol days when cavediving was caveDIVING, and not a political football game". While we were waiting for our hamburgers to finish cooking on our newly filled tanks, N seems to still not have called. I call N and leave a message and J and I decide to just go without him. R at this same shop decides that Cow would be a good spot to "relax" after a "long day of hard work", so J and I decide to wait for him.
R sees the clock tick close to 7 and decides to lock up. We head out and head to Cow. It's still daylight out, but the gnats make it hard to tell. I tap a few squirts of OFF to my legs and start hauling my cylindrical shaped weights down to the sink.
R and J are backmounted scum, but that's a different topic for a different thread...
We get to the water and I finish gearing up. I am leading this dive, so I run my super bright primary line into the rabbits hole. I tie into the mainline and notice that the flow isn't the "normal" level. I drop down and head into the "restriction" they call it... never seem to have a problem with it when sidemount...
J gives it a shot and J sees that since the flow is down that more sand seems to have come down by the entrance. R sees this and decides the by-pass is best. J follows.
We get together in the room and start heading in... The vis is in the 70-80ft range. Not the "best", that I have seen it, but damn good compared to my "normal" caves. The flow is decent, but not enough to make the "poorman's scooter" stay taught, as usual. We "set the pitch to about 6" and cruise into the cave further and further. I always love coming to the nice clay banks in this cave. There are just few caves where it is so nice with as many layers.
Our "poorman's scooters" run of out "battery life", so we let go and start kicking. I love the part of the cave where it drops down and gets nice and black. This is really the reason I come to this cave. The cave is a nice soft black color all the way around, and the line matches. Only a few "finger" scuffs on some of the rocks and those dwindel out the farther you go back.
I look down and I am about 300psi from 1/3rds on each tank and decide we have had enough fun for now (cause I was diving wet and starting to get chills, man I wish I didn't have to send my drysuit back to DUI right at this moment.
We turn and enjoy the slower yet brisk ride out. Vis was only reduced slightly by a slight cloudyness to the water, which is normal here. We breeze by those beautiful clay banks again, and I just love slowing and checking them out. J and R head out the by-pass and I head out the "primary" restriction. I get to my reel and do a stop. Then reel out slowly taking my time. We do our slight amount of deco, and head to the surface.
We all agree at the surface that it was a nice dive and well worth the trip. The noise coming from the frogs and/or other things in those woods was quite a change from the much quieter environment of the cave below. Obviously there were alot of misquitos for them to eat... and to help us with our gear.
We get topside and J and I invite R to join us at redneck kareokee at the Silver Dollar, but R declines. So J and I head back to the trailer to get ready and head out to the Silver Dollar...
8)
Welcome to the Cave Diver's Forum.
Originally Posted by Richard Pyle
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