Florida Springs

Devil’s – To the Insulation Room

James Garrett

Breathing Gas– 32% Backgas / 100% Deco
Max Depth–
Avg Depth–
Visibility– 150+ft
Water Temp– 72F
Dive Time:

Notes:
Met up with AJ and Stacey late in the afternoon.  Stacey is quite frankly much better on a scooter than either of us are right now, so we had asked her to give us pointers, and guide us in the right direction to become more proficient on DPV’s.  Since she takes weekly water samples in the Insulation Rooms, we would tag along during this dive.  AJ and I lead during the dive so that Stacey could observe us.  Getting into Devil’s Ear just isn’t fun yet, I’m doing better, but still need work.  We made it to the Insulation Rooms, which was a new experience, as the jump line here is tied off to the ceiling, and scooters are great at floating as well as catching flow at the same time, so once again, as with any new thing in diving, very task loading.  While it’s not the easiest place to run a reel with a safety/stage, please don’t just throw your scooter or stage bottles in the clay where you jump off mainline, the damage is very evident from people doing that at this particular location. Anyways, back to my story….we got the scooters clipped off and headed down the passage, stopping for each of us to cookie the T and then following Stacey to the area where she takes her weekly samples.  On exit, AJ and I had decided to alternate towing each other, which Stacey said we did well.  However, we do need to work on OOA drills, as the additional task loading of the scooter made for a way to eventful drill.  Once again, deco was minimal (I’m starting to love the Gavin for that!).

Troy Springs

James Garrett

Whitney hadn’t been to Troy Springs so we decided to go there since she had the weekend off and I wanted to go diving.  We decided to play with the scooter, and she had some new gear to play with, so Troy Springs was a great place.  One thing that surprised me was that the catfish which used to enjoy hiding under the cavern zone when I came here several years ago were no longer there.  The cave is still pumping as usual, showing off as we look into it frustrated by the fact that it’s all too delicate to explore, with breakdown everywhere.  Steps have also been added, a nice addition for public access, but certainly takes away from the nature of the pristine spring that I was used to seeing.

Royal Springs – It’s just as crappy of a dive as you’ve heard it is…

James Garrett

Breathing Gas– 32%
Max Depth– 46ft
Avg Depth– No idea, I couldn’t see my bottom timer half the dive
Visibility– 0ft after, maybe 30ft to begin
Water Temp– 72F
Dive Time: 39min

Notes:
Dove with Jeff Marchand just to see if this place is as bad as people make it out to be…it is.  The cave looks a lot like Little River in color, without hardly any damage.  The silt is insane, on the floor and ceiling.  There are plenty of other dives in the area to do without resorting to this one.  We got about 200ft into the system and turned because it was small (barely backmount even for good viz), and the extreme silt.

Tubing @ Ichetucknee Springs State Park

James Garrett

Well, I finally got my old car working again…for those of you that don’t know, I recently bought a 2009 Caliber because my old 2003 Stratus had some issues.  The most pressing one (and really the only one I need to fix before the sale), was that the drivers side rear hub assembly needed replacing, as the bearings were completely shot.  Ryan Hennessy came over and helped me with this on Friday night, so after Whitney got off work Sunday, we headed to my parents place to take the car up there so they could help me sell it.

After we woke up Sunday, Whitney, my mom, and I headed to the Ichetuknee River to go tubing.  It was a really hot day, which is always good, because I didn’t freeze while going down the river.   I bought a family state park pass for $86, which was good, because as of July 1st, they’re going up to $125+.  Tubes are still around $5-$8 to rent from roadside vendors, so it’s still a really good deal for a weekend trip!

Little River – Full Cave Class – Shortcut & Mud Tunnels to the Florida Room

James Garrett

Breathing Gas– 32% Travel / 100% Deco
Max Depth– 101ft
Avg Depth– 90ft
Visibility– 75ft+
Water Temp– 72F
Deco Schedule:

Notes:
Third dive of full cave class.  To avoid giving Rich’s class away, I wont go into much detail here.  I placed all the jump spools in, and lead this dive.  I did have a real light failure, and the superbowl was later that night, so we postponed finishing the class until the next weekend.  I hate this cave, and it must hate me back…this was my worst dive in a long time, and it happened during class 🙁

Little River - Dive 3 of Full Cave

Devils- Mainline to p700(ish)

James Garrett

Dive Time– 55min
Breathing Gas– 32%
Max Depth– 97ft
Visibility– 100ft+
Water Temp– 72(F.)

Notes:
Dove with a basic diver.  Entered the Ear, I ran the line.  Continued along mainline until we hit our turn pressure of 3000psi (started with 3600) just after the marked jump off to the right that goes to the mud tunnels area.  I believe this is around p700.

Ginnie Springs- Ballroom

James Garrett

Dive Time– 31min
Breathing Gas– 32%
Max Depth– 50ft
Visibility– 100ft+
Water Temp– 72(F.)

Notes:
Dove with the UCF Club in the ballroom.  Whitney’s first time diving a bp/w which Rich was nice enough to loan her.  After a few attempts at getting the weighting correct, we were off!  Went all around the ballroom, and finally exited once one of the guys hit 1/3rds.

Devils – To the Insulation Room and Double Domes

James Garrett

Dive Time– 154min
Breathing Gas– 32%
Max Depth– 103ft
Visibility– 100ft+
Water Temp– 72(F.)

Notes:
Dove with Jeff to the insulation rooms.  Plan was simple, single stage 1/2+200, reserve 300psi from backgas to make up for a lost stage.  Swam to the insulation rooms, did the circuit and hit 1/3rds.  Turned the dive, grabbed my jump spool on the way out, and then headed back.  Dropped by double domes on the way back since it was so close.