A Florida trip once again. I just love Florida cave diving. It’s challenging, hard work but the caves are worth it.
Starting off gradually we dropped the RB80’s off to Halcyon for a service. They done a lot of hours now and they recommend a yearly service to swap out o-rings check regs etc. We met Casey McKinlay and caught up. Turned out he’d brought his dive gear and was up for a dive. He asked if we had scooters and when we said no his response was “can you get a couple?”. Luckily Doug from EE was happy to help and with a couple of Doug’s scooters we went off to Ginnie springs. Gear wise we just took 1 bottom stage. Scootering into Ginnie with Casey was good fun. He led the way in and has a degree of comfort scootering that is very noticeable. He’d got some issues with his masking fogging and by the time we got to 3300ft near the berman room he was fed up with it, so swapped it out for a backup. We turned the dive around then and shot out at a huge speed aided by the flow. It was good fun – a very easy 3.
Casey had a really useful extra for Florida – a hand truck!
We also met some members of DIR-X from Florida who’d driven up to do some cave diving. Really nice group of people and we asked them to say hi on the boards.
Following day we are back at Ginnie. We did a double stage swim dive and man that’s hard work! Jumped off to Hill400, then jumped off to double lines. We passed through a silty section where there was much less room and it needed a lot of finese and careful technique. Eventually we dropped 2nd stage jumped again. Our plan was to check out the ice room and thanks to Paul and Bryce’s directions we hit it first time. Reached the end of the cave in a new section of Ginnie which was cool. I was a little cautious on gas due to possible silt we may have stired up so we turned a little early and made our exit. Overall it was 110 min in cave before we got back and started deco.
Given the conditions in Florida we’d already planned to head up to Mariana county and dive the Mill Pond so off we went. We would be diving jackson blue and doing a dpv class with Nick Leone whose wife kelsey joined us as surface cover on the first day.
We were due to be using Silent Sub scooters something I’ve not done before. We dropped in for the first dive and Clare was due to be running the line so made her way forward and picked a good rock just before the overhead. I was hanging back a bit giving her some room and turned round to move back out of the cave and let go of the trigger. To my surprise the scooter stuck on! I’ve dealt with this in the past but as dive one on a cave dpv class it was quite funny. I palmed the rear of the prop dialing it down somewhat however that left me unable to beat the flow to get back to Clare and Nick. After some flashing they exited and I showed Nick the problem. We get to the waters edge and put the scooter out and disconnect the battery. Turned out the relay had welded. Bit a drama but Stacey from Cave Adventures turned up with a spare a N-19 so we could carry on diving. We get sorted and go for a 2nd attempt. We got much further reaching 900ft and then doing some towing exits. On the 2nd entry the mini ran out of battery power requiring us to do a towing exit for real! Already having had two real failures by the end of dive 1 I figured I was getting some value from the class 
. The flow was really up in Jackson and we saw some guys swimming in which looked really hard work!
After lunch I swapped out to scooter number 1 after a repair. Clare’s scooter had the battery swapped over and we set off for another dive. This time Clare’s scooter was really slow. We did get further to around 1100ft or so. However at a fissure Clare couldn’t get through, the scooter was so under powered as she entered the narrow space and the flow picked up it couldn’t move forward. It turned out that Clare rolled off left post on the ceiling while trying but immediately noticed. We gave up and ended up doing a gas sharing exit. All ok, we had a bit of conversation over whether we should tow for air share or scooter side by side and settled on towing. We ended up doing another and the 2nd air share was quicker to get going. Deco easier now I knew what to expect from the flow.
The following day we were back at JB for more scooter class. We tried to do a more complex dive and dropped the scooter at the first T and swam right. The flow required some very careful hiding behind rocks. We completed circuit and picked up the scooters. Once again we did gas sharing exit and tried a few different towing techniques. Essentially we used the leash on the standard body to clip to the leading divers d-ring. This was a much faster way of hooking up for a tow and actually was very comfortable way of towing as the towed diver keeps their scooter in hand. Didn’t work too well for the gas share as the distance involved was too great. However for a non-gas share it was excellent.
After lunch another dive – up main line until we hit 1/4’s. Nick failed the scooters and we started swimming out. We had to contend with multiple light failures and we exited blind. All went cool, been there before on classes and it all worked OK. Nick was good fun and I enjoyed the class. I’ve done a few non-GUE classes and it’s always interesting to get another perspective. While I’ve done lots of scootering it was important to us to have some cert cards in case we were challenged.
Our next dive was at a site called springboard with Edd Sorenson. We’ve used Cave Adventures many times for gas and boats when up at the Mill Pond and Edd and Stacey are just great. Fantastic customer service and they honestly seem like nothing is too much trouble. Springboard is currently on a development site for housing. At present it’s just split into lots. We pass a sign saying “trespassers will be prosecuted” Clare laughs and says “excellent that’s better than shot”. Edd’s reply was “in jackson county that means the same thing”. We grinned but as Edd owns a lot here it’s not an issue.
As we arrived Edd is very careful at checking for Gators, luckily none can be seen! Gearing up I got bitten by fire ants after I stupidly stood on a mound of them while taking photos. We finally get into the water where I’m relieved to cool down. Springboard is a really cool cave. We had excellent vis 20+ metres. The formation of the cave is sort of triangular with a very narrow section by the roof with the lower part of the cave being much broader. We took several different routes through the cave and pretty much managed all of the back mountable part of the system. There is an ongoing passage which Edd is exploring using sidemount.
This is a very pretty cave and was great fun to dive. Edd was telling us how Wes Skiles loves to dive it because it gives such unique photos. I was eaten alive while we were getting out of the water. Geniune florida swamp!
Next day was day off having had a long day driving back from Mariana. We needed to pick up rb’s from Halcyon factory and then assemble gear for the following day. We had lunch with Jarrod which was a nice opportunity to catch up. Having built the rebreather racks and assembled all the bottles for the following day we then end out going out to dinner with Kevin. He’s good fun and it’s always nice to see him. Given our challenges with Diepolder Kevin also offered us an alternative dive. Diepolder is currently a closed shop for NSS-CDS or NACD and being GUE qualified neither Clare or I could dive there. The irony of the situation is not lost on me given some of comments around diving up at Wakulla! Anyway Kevin offers to take us to Eagle’s Nest an offer which we took him up on.
The following day we hit Ginnie with freshly serviced rb-80 and scooters. The plan was to try out the units and also to have some fun. I have to say it was damn hard work. On a scooter in flow the loop flapped aroun in my mouth shredding my gums. The Rb in a frame is like having a huge sail strapped to your back. Clare was clearly as uncomfortable as I was. We progressed further in but my back hurt and we kept stopping. The only nice thing was we had lots of time as the 30/30 seemed to last forever through the breather. We got to hinkel but it took 50 mins, on OC we’ve done it in just under 30! We dropped scooters with a plan to look at mainland, but having run a jump and started in, it looked pretty small. Given how little fun I was having I decided we had done enough time and exited. Clare swapped scooters with me at maple leaf and hers was a Mark Messersmith who was at EE running a class when he got back and he made us feel a lot better. Apparently it happens to everyone!
I should mention that during the trip we met the two cave 1 classes. On one class was one of Clare’s fundamentals students Michael Griffin. We went out to dinner with them and tried to give them some advice about Ginnie. Must have helped a bit we got a nice text from Michael later in the week when he passed cave-1.
Next day and we are at Alachua sink with Bill Main. The Bill Hogarth Main who is credited with the Hogarthian config. He was a really nice guy – southern gentleman was my impression. He is absolutely fascinating to talk to, having started cave diving in 1969 he’d got a wealth of experience. He was also very comfortable in water. The dive went very well its a really nice cave and not commonly dived. We hit 54m max depth before turning although i thought it was a 45 average. Cave was very unmarked from diver traffic with some amazing stratified clay banks which were pristine. The passages were small but kept opening up into larger rooms. The rock itself was very sharp and intricately formed. All too soon we were exiting. Deco in the cave mouth was quite cool as we started our stops right at the base of the cavern. As we moved up I moved my 50% to being hip clipped which was much more comfortable when it was a little lighter. We had one minor issue in that Bill’s computer stuck on 21% and wouldn’t acknowledge the gas switches to the 40 and 80% he carried. That resulted in a very long deco!
The next dive was at Eagles Nest with kevin. We were due to be diving a 4 but Kevin’s buddy Freddie had a dead scooter once he got in so we ended up as a 3. Kevin dives a KISS rebreather but has the right mindset and Clare’s dived with him a couple of times. The basin at Eagle’s nest is quite broad but very pretty. We drop 02 at 6m by a log and start into the system. The cave itself starts almost like a plughole with the basin being a sink. It’s a narrow passage only big enough for one diver and it opens out into the most enormous chamber. The debris mound is vast, truly the scale of the cave is awe inspiring. We descend on 35/25 dropping our 50% bottles in some loops on the line. As we reach the top of the debris cone we plug in the trimix bottom gas and stow the 35/25 on the line. Some big ok’s and off we go.
The cave is absolutely vast. We duck under an broad ledge at 80m and set off down a passage the size of a motorway. It is simply a huge, huge cave running at 75m. The vis is excellent and I get the most amazing view with the 3 of us abreast, I can see Kevin’s light on the right wall, Clare in the middle and me on the left. The Rb80 worked perfectly, truly this is what its for. My gas usage was tiny even at these depths and Doug’s scooter was perfectly weighted. We passed through some enormous chambers large enough to park a plane in and I’m just uttlerly blown away by the raw power of the water that carved away such a cave.
We keep the hammer down and pass gigantic line markers which are about 6 inches long (normal ones are 1 inch) which are needed due to the size of the cave. We end up turning the dive at 2250ft at the end of the upstream line. Kevin’s whooping into his loop and its just one of the most memorable dives I’ve ever done. We begin our exit and while on the way back Kevin comes off the trigger, somewhat surprised I work out he’s stopped to look for fossils! With the deco building up we get going. We do all the deep stops and soon reach the deco gas at 38m. All of the intermediate stops happen in the cave before the chute narrows and we spend our time following kevin around looking at the cave. Kevin is exceptionally solid in the water and follows the floridian cave approach which includes things like a long hose for donation rigged the same way as our rb80. The Deco was long at 145 mins but the dive was worth it. We whiled away time at the 6m stop looking at a catfish which was swimming up and down inside a hollow log and peeking out at us. We finally surface 200 minutes after we left the surface and chill out in the sun for 1/2 hour on the surface.
Next up was hauling all the kit out where we met Curt Bowen, the owner of Rebreatherworld forum. After packing away for Eagle’s Nest we took Kevin to dinner. For me Eagles Nest was the best dive I’ve ever done, so Kevin thank you once again. We did have another diving day planned but after such a good dive decided that we’d done the last one of the trip. When you can’t top it why try!
One of the things that really made our trip wasn’t just the caves but the friends we have out there. Casey took us for a dive and then lent us gear for the week. Paul and Doug at EE sorted out every issue and always made sure we had what we needed. Halcyon, particulary Corey Smith who serviced the rb’s were superb. Edd and Stacey up at cave adventures were incredibly helpful and make it a pleasure to visit and a must stop on any future trip. Then you had the guys who went diving with us Casey, Edd, Nick Leone, Bill Main and caver kevin. So thank you guys we had a blast. Back soon.
