Devil’s Ear

Devils- Double Domes via Roller Coaster and Hillier Tunnel

James Garrett

Dive Time– 130 Minutes.
In Water– 12:57pm
Out Water– 3:07pm
Breathing Gas– 32% Travel / 100% Deco
Max Depth– 104ft
Visibility– 150ft in front of cave, slightly under 100 near Double Domes
Water Temp– 72(F.)

Notes:
After not getting to bed until 5am due to our Ice Room Dive, we got off to a late start. We headed to Cave Excursions East to fill our Doubles, Stages, and Deco Gas up.  After a quick fill, we were off to Ginnie.  I was really excited about this dive, as our previous stage dive had gone so well.

Our plan was simple, I ran the reel in, and we dropped our deco gas at the sign.  Then we breathed the stage to 1700psi (half+200) and dropped it in the area of the mud flats where there’s some really nice rock to avoid damaging the clay in that area.  From there, I installed the Roller Coaster jump, and lead until we got to the short cut tunnel, where Daniel placed the jump and lead the rest of the way.  From there, we got to the bats, installed a jump, and took a right towards the Hillier tunnel.  The Hillier tunnel spits you out on the Dome Room line, but the line ends about 1ft away from the Dome Room.  Visual jumps just don’t seem like a great idea to me at this time, so we installed the jump reel, even though it’s only 1ft.  From there, we took a left, and that puts us in the Dome Rooms.  We quickly flushed the dome with air, and got up to talk to each other for a second or two, where we both exclaimed THIS IS AWESOME!  The Dome Rooms are my favorite part of Ginnie to date!  We picked up the pace on the way back, but still had about 20-25minutes of o2 deco.

Devils- To the Ice Room!

James Garrett

Dive Time– 126 Minutes.
In Water– 12:58am
Out Water– 3:04am
Breathing Gas– 32% Travel / 100% Deco
Max Depth– 101ft
Visibility– 150+ft (lower near the Ice Room due to silting
Water Temp– 71(F.)

Notes:
I was planning a weekend of diving with Daniel Jimenez, who I had met while he was helping with drills and such during my Apprentice class with Jeff Bauer.  I got off work at 6pm, had forgotten my computer, and had to run back to the house through heavy traffic to get it.  We didn’t leave Orlando until almost 7:45pm, then we had to head to Ginnie to check in, and Wayne’s (Amigo’s) to get fills.  We both had our doubles and one stage filled with 32% nitrox, and a single AL40 deco bottle of 100% o2.

We then met up with Jeff Marchand at Ginnie, and reviewed our dive plan (that we had discussed via phone several times in detail).  We would go into the Ear, drop our deco gas on our line where we tied in, and then breathe the stage until we hit 1700psi.  We had reserved 100psi out of backgas to ensure we had enough gas to cover a lost stage (or if a buddies stage failed).  The stage lasted until about 100ft into the Hill 400, where there’s a nice rock to set stage bottles on. We all 3 dropped ours, and proceeded down the Hill 400 to the first jump beyond p1000.  We took that jump, and knew that the line would make a sharp left, which meant the ice room line was streight ahead.  We would tie in, and go streight, which would lead us up a little to a ledge, where the line would be just out of sight past the ledge.  From there, the Ice Room is just two T’s away, and to make it easy, you go right at both T’s.  The final 50-100ft of the Ice Room is VERY silty, and you really need to make sure you have the gas to go really slow to avoid a siltout, or damaging the cave.

Dive run time was around 105minutes, and roughly 15 minutes of deco (I lost my wet notes sheet that we calculated deco on).  We had reserved 50% extra deco gas so that any of us could have a failure and share our o2 to deco a buddy out.

Devils- To the Hill 400

James Garrett

Dive Time– 43min
Breathing Gas– 32%
Max Depth– 96ft
Visibility– 60-70ft
Water Temp– 71(F.)

Notes:
The line was already in the ear from a previous dive, so we entered there.  This was my first time carrying a stage in a cave.  I was following AJ, and we were to go slightly down the Hill 400 and drop the stage for AJ and Bryce’s dive the following day.  We used 700psi for penetration gas.

Devils- To the White Room and Wonder Tunnel

James Garrett

Dive Time– 59 Minutes.
Breathing Gas– 32%
Max Depth– 102ft
Visibility– 60-70ft
Water Temp– 71(F.)

Notes:
I lead this dive because I thought I knew where the white room was….I was wrong.  About a month ago, there was a white arrow that said “Steve” on it in red that marked the White Room and Wonder Tunnel.  It’s not there anymore, and we swam a good 200ft+ past it before seeing it.  I whipped out the wet notes and asked Brian if he had seen it, and he said he thought he had, so we headed back.  Don was now in the lead, so once we arrived near the suspected location, he ran a spool towards the wonder tunnel.  Just as he tied in, I had to call the dive on 1/3rds.  We were somewhat rushed on the way out, as we were creeping into deco.  By the time we got to the cove off to the left of the ear (if you’re exiting, it’s on the right), we had 4min of deco.  We stopped at 50ft for 1 min, 40 for 2min, 30 for 2min, 20 for 2min, and 10 for 2min.  My computer hadn’t cleared, but I surfaced anyways, since we had just done 9min of deco when the computer only wanted 4min, but I guess since it wasn’t at 10ft, it didn’t count it.  That locked the computer for 48hours.

Devils- To the Bats

James Garrett

Dive Time– 84 Minutes.
In Water– 10:53pm
Out Water– 12:17am
Breathing Gas– 32%
Avg Depth– 63ft
Max Depth– 101ft
Visibility– 60-70ft
Water Temp– 71(F.)

Notes:
Brian Richardson and I dove late on a friday night the day before the UCF dive club event, and stayed with my parents.  We went to Amigo’s Dive center for fills, and then headed to Ginnie.  We arrived around 10pm, and then got ready to dive.

Our dive plan consisted of entering via the Eye, since there was a tarp out over the ear due to recent floods, and then follow the temporary guideline to the goldline, where we would penetrate around 700-800ft, and then take the jump to the roller coaster.  From there, we would go to the end of the rollercoaster, and take one last jump to the bats.  I have attached the dive profile at the bottom of this post.

Devils – Mainline

James Garrett

Dive Time– 61 Minutes.
In Water– 6:27pm
Out Water– 7:28pm
Breathing Gas– 32%
Avg Depth– 33ft
Max Depth– 89ft
Visibility– “Ginnie” (200ft+)
Water Temp– 72(F.)

Notes:
First time carrying an o2 bottle, trying to get ready for class.  Had some trouble getting that situated, and running the reel was somewhat more difficult with the increased drag, but not really a problem.  Went Mainline Devils (entered/exit via the ear) to around the Hill 400 jump.  Clipping and unclipping need some improvement.  Glad I attempted to carry one before taking apprentice.

Devils – Mainline

James Garrett

Dive Time– 45 Minutes.
In Water– 4:20pm
Out Water– 5:05pm
Breathing Gas– 32%
Avg Depth– 51ft
Max Depth– 95ft
Visibility– “Ginnie” (200ft+)
Water Temp– 72(F.)

Notes:
I ran the reel, Xenia followed me, Tony followed her, and Bobby was on a breather with his own bailout, so he sort of tagged along, but wasn’t really on the team. For some reason I had issues clearing my ears right before the gold line, but I backtracked a little to go up, and they cleared after a minute or so. Tied into goldline and started upstream. We used 700psi penetration gas and got to around the Hill 400 before someone hit turn pressure.

Devils Ear- Tour of the Big Room

James Garrett

Dive Time– 84 Minutes.
In Water– 10:53pm
Out Water– 12:17am
Breathing Gas– 32%
Avg Depth– 63ft
Max Depth– 101ft
Visibility– 60-70ft
Water Temp– 71(F.)

Notes:
Met with Fred Smith at CEE, and we got our tanks topped off.  We then proceeded to Ginnie, and geared up near Turkey Roost.  Fred let me choose where I wanted to go, and that was the big room.  I had seen the tail end of it from the goldline near the maple leaf, but wanted to see the whole thing.  We took the jump right after the Cornflakes, and made it all the way to the maple leaf before we hit 1/3rds.  We could have taken the goldline home, but that wasn’t part of our dive plan, so we took teh longer route and came back via the big/bone room.