Ginnie- The Ballroom

James Garrett

Dive Time– 56 Minutes.
Breathing Gas– 32%
Max Depth– 102ft
Visibility– 60-70ft
Water Temp– 71(F.)

Notes:
Dove this one with the UCF Dive club.  AJ Brian and myself were in search of a rumored “Grate Bypass” that someone had posted about on line (click here), and we believe we found it.  I’ve included a map with the area pointed out below.  This dive was also interesting because there were no less than 25 open water dives in the ballroom.  It was the first time I’d dove with divers not cavern/cave trained in almost a year.

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.

Peacock Springs – Pothole Line

James Garrett

Dive Time– 42 Minutes.
In Water– 4:13pm
Out Water– 4:55pm
Breathing Gas– 32%
Avg Depth– 48ft
Max Depth– 66ft
Visibility– 3-5ft Basin / 30-50ft in cave
Water Temp– 70(F.)

Notes:
Mainline to around p1000ft.  Swam past double arrows marking the equal distance point between Olsen Sink and Peacock Springs, which are at 700ft.  Viz has cleared up some, to the point that S drills are a LOT easier.

Ginnie Springs

James Garrett

Dive Time– 18 Minutes.
In Water– 2:23pm
Out Water– 2:41pm
Breathing Gas– 32%
Avg Depth– 8ft
Max Depth– 19ft
Visibility– “Ginnie” (200ft+)
Water Temp– 72(F.)

Notes:
Dove with dad in the basin to work on his new LP104 doubles setup.  Had a LP hose (backup 2nd stage) break on him and start free flowing, so we turned the dive and headed to Cave Excursions East to replace it.

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.

Peacock 1- Goldline to Olsen

James Garrett

Dive Time– 77 Minutes.
In Water– 11:13am
Out Water– 12:30pm
Breathing Gas– 32%
Avg Depth– 39ft
Max Depth– 67ft
Visibility– 50ft
Water Temp– 70(F.)

Notes:
First dive with Mike McAuliff.  Mike had posted on CDF that he wanted to get some practice in on his rebreather, and I had nothing to do that Monday, so we agreed to meet up early at Dive Outpost and then head to Peacock Springs State Park.  Used 700psi penetration gas to get all the way to Olsen, the way Peacock ha such low flow, it’s amazing how far you can get and how long you can stay down on just backgas.  I really liked how the cave looks after pothole, it gets much larger, with dome’ed ceilings, and a few swim throughs.  As usual, there was basically no flow, and most of the cave was very silty.

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.