Software developer passionate about all things computer science, nature, and travel
Dive Time– 26min
Breathing Gas– 32%
Max Depth– 27ft
Visibility– 30ft
Water Temp– 72(F.)
Notes:
Rented a pontoon boat for $25/hr or $80/4hrs. Just an easy dive with some of the newer members of the UCF dive club. The viz wasn’t really great, and there’s not a whole lot to see here. There is a cavern in one of the springs, however I didn’t look for it since my dive buddies were new OW divers.
Dive Time– 108 Minutes.
In Water– 6:06pm
Out Water– 7:54pm
Breathing Gas– 32% Travel / 100% Deco
Max Depth– 93ft
Visibility– 150ft+
Water Temp– 72(F.)
Notes:
Last dive of the day.
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.
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.
Dive Time– 70 Minutes.
In Water– 3:49pm
Out Water– 4:59pm
Breathing Gas– 32% Travel / 100% Deco
Max Depth– 69ft
Visibility– 30-50ft
Water Temp– 70(F.)
Notes:
This dive was our graduation dive for apprentice…..nice and relaxing with no drills. I lead the dive, and since we didn’t have a primary (it was on the peanut side), I used a spool to tie into the gold line. We swam up pothole, stopping at pothole to show Ryan and Brian the bones and sink since they hadn’t been in this cave before. We then proceeded up stream, where we found our spool about 100ft from Olsen. Ryan was last, and pulled the spool (since he placed it on the previous dive), and we proceeded down the crossover tunnel, where the viz was still somewhat poor from the breather team earlier. Once we reached our spool leading to the peanut line, Brian pulled it, and we went back down the peanut line, with a somewhat fast pace so we could get out of the water by 5pm.
Dive Time– 118 Minutes.
In Water– 11:29am
Out Water– 1:40pm
Breathing Gas– 32% Travel / 100% Deco
Max Depth– 57ft
Visibility– 50ft+
Water Temp– 69(F.)
Notes:
This dive’s goal was to setup for the circuit on dive 2. It’s a complex circuit, since it takes more than one dive to complete. I lead the dive, Brian followed, and Ryan was after him. I was told to run the primary past the sign before tying in, which is difficult with two gold lines, but I ran under them, and then was off to the sign. After tying in, I lead the dive until we got past the 1000ft arrow, where we would find double arrows (marked jump) to the crossover tunnel on the left. I started to install the jump, but Brian flashed me and reminded me that was his job this dive. he placed the jump, and then Ryan started leading. We made it down the crossover tunnel, and then to gold line (pothole line), where we took a left and headed to Olsen Sink and surfaced for 10 minutes. We then exited, I was in the rear to reel in the spool that I had run to open water from the cave. Ryan was in the lead, Brian followed, I was last. We weren’t going to pull any reels on this dive. At the end of the crossover tunnel, we ran into a rebreather team (class), where we had to exit on the line because one was on his knees tying in the jump, one was flutter kicking down from the ceiling, and one was just sitting on the silt. It was my first no viz exit that wasn’t planned in training. Once we made it back on the peanut line, we each were randomly asked “where’s your buddy” and had to complete a lost buddy drill, where Daniel (who tagged along to assist in these drills) would be waiting….and out of air! Also, at random times, we were each “airgunned” to simulate a right/left post failure. After this, we did a lights out exit through the peanut tunnel, and at one point Jeff made Brain go OOA, having to feel to steal my reg (try that stuffing your long hose!). He only made us do that for a few minutes, before it was back to just plain no lights. Once in the cavern zone, we got our lights back, and could exit the cavern in peace.
Dive Time– 90 Minutes.
In Water– 5:27pm
Out Water– 6:57pm
Breathing Gas– 32% Travel / 100% Deco
Max Depth– 95ft
Visibility– 150ft+
Water Temp– 68(F.)
Notes:
Started this dive with Ryan running the reel, I followed, and Brian was behind me. Brian installed the first jump reel on the exit side, and then we kept moving on the gold line towards the entrance to our circuit. Ryan installed the jump, and from there I would lead. We went to the end of line there, and I installed the jump over to the Young Siphon (since I was the biggest, I lead the team because there was a restriction up ahead). I got to the end of the line, and turned the dive. Ryan was now in the lead, and Brian was in the middle, I was at the back. The two of them had gone through the restriction, and just when i was going through it, Jeff made me go OOA. Fortunately Brian was very alert, and had air to me really fast; so we made it through the restriction. Jeff tapped me on the head, which meant the drill is done. I pulled the jump reel I had installed earlier. We then proceeded to exit, when Jeff got ahead and kicked up a ton of clay, forcing us on the line in touch contact. We did that until we reached the jump spool, where we all got back on the main line after Ryan pulled it. After that, we had to go lights out for a good distance, until we reached the cavern zone. Once in the cavern, we were given our lights back, and proceeded to do the deco we were then obligated to do.
Dive Time– 68 Minutes.
In Water– 2:25pm
Out Water– 3:33pm
Breathing Gas– 32%
Max Depth– 90ft
Visibility– 150ft+
Water Temp– 68(F.)
Notes:
Training dive for NACD Apprentice with Jeff Bauer. Did the simple horseshoe circuit. Installed the jump reel on the close side first, and then went further on the gold line until the far side, when we tied in, and made the circuit back to the gold line. Pulled the reel, and went back up the gold line, just far enough to pull the other jump reel. Jeff commented that I had a fin slip and stir up the bottom. He also killed my light, and had me switch from my primary to a backup. I forgot to swap position from the back of the team to the middle. Fortunatly Ryan and Brian were on top of it, and both noticed my light dissapear, so we had excellent team communication. After turning the dive, we did a lost line drill in the breakdown room (I’ll post video of that later).
Dive Time– 61 Minutes.
Breathing Gas– 32%
Max Depth– 106ft
Visibility– 50ft
Water Temp– 70(F.)
Notes:
Stopped by Cathy’s and joined the nss-cds so I could dive Cow Springs with Brian. Membership was $35, and includes a subscription to the NSS and NSS-CDS magazines, not to mention all of their caves. This was my first time at Cow, so Brian went first, since he had been there before. I was amazed at how pristine this dive was! There are 3 tough restrictions to get through, by far each of them was the tightest I had been in. On the way out, I had my right post roll half way off! There is a tow rope upstream to help preserve the cave, as you can pull with that rather than pulling the rocks, which were nearly all black! The clay banks are BEAUTIFUL, minus a few retards who have vandalized them.
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.
