Scootering Devils – Mainline to the Insulation Rooms

After getting off work, Jeff Marchand and myself decided to head over to Ginnie Springs for a quick dive and some camping.  Since this was our first scooter dive with the camera, we kept it simple and went mainline to the Insulation Rooms.

Devils Ear to the Insulation Rooms from James Garrett on Vimeo.

Devil’s – River Intrusion and Insulation Rooms

Met with Stacey after I got out of church to get a few photos for her graduate school presentation.  She has been doing research measuring pollutants in the Devil’s system for over 3 years, and is finally getting ready to present it!  The dive plan was to scooter to the insulation rooms, grab a few photos, then scooter back to the river intrusion rooms, take photos, and then exit.

Devil’s – To the Insulation Room

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!).

Devils – To the Insulation Room and Double Domes

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.