Diving in Cave
Country

This is a little overdue, but better late then never.  

If you read my previous
post, you know this trip started out painful. 
 After a planes,
trains, and automobiles fiasco we finally arrived in Lake
City, Florida on Friday around 6:00pm.
 After a crappy dinner at Ruby Tuesday’s
I was out like a light
until the next day.

Saturday:

Woke up at 5:30a.m. and  headed out to Live Oak Florida.
 Oh
and BTW just in case you were wondering, this is in the middle of
nowhere…like
buffaloes roaming in fields nowhere.  On our drive
to nowhere…we met up with out instructor Michael O’Leary.
 Check out the link for a bio….I was thoroughly
satisfied with
Micheal as an instructor.  He comes across as very critical,
but I would prefer someone telling me how bad I am,rather
then rubber stamp a certification. 
 Anyway….another 30 min drive or so
through back country roads and we arrived at the Dive Outpost.
 Don’t let the website fool you…this place is
also in
the middle of nowhere..and if there wasn’t a sign out front indicating
it
was a dive shop, I would mistaken it for another country shanty.
 Carl was trying to get a job at this place by the end of the
day.

First half of the day was classroom lecture followed by gear
configuration.  Going down to Florida I had a pretty good idea
of
how my gear should be rigged and at first  thought my gear
would pass inspection, but Michael questioned every last strap, clip,
knot and hose.  Conveniently the Dive Outpost opens a tab for
students..great idea uncontrollable ppurchases.  Lunch was one
room gas station on the corner…and considered to have “fantastic”
food.  I’m lucky I didn’t come down with E-Coli.  In
the afternoon we practiced  line running drills on land.
 Learning different tie offs, how to “ok” the line, and how to
follow the line in lights out.  You’d think this would be
pretty
simple, but it takes practice.

Our first dive was in  Orange
Grove
at Peacock Springs State Park.  Getting into my wet suit for
the
first time in 5 years proved entertaining, I need a diet.  We
geared up and jumped in.  After reviewing the dive plan
Micheal
took us to the cavern entrance, made two tie offs, and off we went.
 I was a little overwhelmed,  first wet suit dive in
5 years,
new gear config…not to mention my first dive into a cavern.  

On the second dive we worked through line drills, pretty basic stuff.
 One of the last tasks was  to follow a line Micheal
had laid
without a mask (conveniently
this line wound  its way through a cluster of sunken trees).
  Trying to control buoyancy while swimming forward with no
sight,
and following a line is bad enough, but the trees put it over the top.
 Forward…stuck….back…forward again…success….stuck
again…back…etc…. Still it was fun.

After we completed diving for the day we drove  back to Lake
City.  Carl was worked up about eating at a disgusting
BBQ house
one of the hotel employees recommend.  I obliged ordered a
steak,
conned him into ordering a full rack of ribs.  The upside to
this
was he never came close to finishing the ribs, the downside is they sat
in our hotel room for the next 3 days.

Sunday:

We were at the Dive Outpost by 8:30am, then off to Peacock
Springs State Park.
 The first two dives would be in the cavern area where the
entire
time was spent on line drills.  Tie offs, lights out -exit on
line,
out of air-exit on line, lights out and out of air-exit on
line.
 Was very eye opening.  These same drills we would
repeat the
following day in our Cave class.  In a lights out scenario you
immediately ok the line and establish buddy contact through a series of
touch communications.  We switched roles so both Bob and I
each
had a turn at running the line, donating air, reeling out etc….
 This
is a shot from inside the cavern…from
this point it goes back about 75 feet before entering the cave zone.
 Although it’s dark when lights go out, it is nothing compared
to what I would encounter the next day.

The remaining two dives we’re in the pothole tunnel of Peacock.
 After you drop down into the entrance of the cavern area you
swim
about 10-15 feet in and a crack opens up in the floor. In
this picture pothole is on the left in the dark area. 
It’s an odd feeling to be skydiving down a crack in the floor where the
walls close in the deeper  you go.  Finally at the
bottom,
just as you’re running out of room, the cave opens up.  This
is
the main tie off area.  The water in these springs is so clear
it’s mind boggling.  I’m used to 20-30 feet on the best day in
the
Puget sound.  Here you can see as far as your light will
shine,
over 100 feet!!

Since we signed up for  Cavern/Intro Cave,  Micheal
took us
on a Cave Dive to end the day.  We dropped down the Pothole
again,
tied off and proceeded up the cave system.  This was by far
the best dive of the vacation.   We turned  after a
500 foot penetration
on Micheal’s signal.  I was laughing into my
regulator the
entire swim…  Shot
swimming up Pothole Cave.

Monday:

Final day of diving was all drills for the Basic Cave Diving class.
 First two dives at Peacock we completed the same drills as
before, but this time we we’re 500-600 feet back when the lights went
out.  Let me tell you, I have never experienced anything so
dark
in my life…it was freakin dark.  When the lights went out I
put
my fingers on the line and waited for Bob to signal me to head out.
 Slowly swimming out…one hand in front waiving around to
prevent
a head on collision with the cave wall, the other on the line.
 A
couple of times through the swim out, the line wrapped around a rock
(or this is what I felt) and we had to stop and feel the entire path
around the line.  The lead diver is the first to perform this
and
once past the wrap, the second team member stops to repeat the same
process (to confirm).  

We switched positions on the next dive and Bob lead the way out.
 On the way out Micheal signaled for light failure, so our
primarys went out.  We flipped on backup lights and made it
about
10 feet before Micheal signaled me as out of air.  I turn to
Bob
and signaled and are now sharing off his tanks…oh and it gets even
better.  Just as we get settled in sharing air and about to
swim
out, complete light failure is signaled.  Now it this point
all
lights go out.  Talk about task loading.  I’m 500
feet back…tunnel has just enough room for for one person to
swim  (called a minor restriction),
I lose my air, my lights go out…and now I need to get out..
 All
of this training does server a purpose.  Becoming comfortable
under highly stressful situations helps condition  divers to
avoid
panic when something does go wrong.  Panic is the last thing
you
want in these situations.  (I’ve also noticed this translates
well at work when my boss is yelling.)

The last two dives of the day we’re at Cow
Springs.
 After we pulled off the highway we passed cow pasture after
cow
pasture before arriving at the dive site, I was hopeful I wouldn’t
have to joust with a heffer to get to the spring.  This spring
is
private and owned by the local Cave community.  Its a bit of a
hike from the parking lot (which really sucks in 80 degree heat).
  These dives focused on losing the line to exit the cave and
losing your buddy..  Again, Micheal made this much more
enjoyable
by turning out the lights.  After a brief swim into the cave
we started the drills.   In a lost line scenario the idea is
to tie off on a fixed object in the cave and conduct a sweeping search
pattern for the line that leads back out of the cave.  
Imagine zero visibility when performing this drill….it’s usually all
by touch.  I completed the drill without much problem.
 The other drill was lost
buddy which involves tieing off to the main line with 1 of the
3 
mandatory reels. 

We finished the day with more lecture and tests, and I received my temp
c card.  I closed out my tab thanked Micheal and we headed out.

Since we’d been diving for 3 days straight we had 24 hours to kill
before we could fly.  The following day we drove to St
Augustine Florida.
 I won’t dive into the history of this city much, but it was
 your typical snap a bunch of pictures of old buildings.
 See
the gallery if you’re really bored  

I’m already planning my next trip for Apprentice Cave and Full Cave
Diver certifications.  Anyone  have family in Florida
or want
to rent a place?

Other links related to trip

Photos
National
Association for Cave Diving
National Speleological
Society Cave Diving Section
Decent site for
Florida Caves