"Oxygen is addictive and deadly. Everyone who uses it will eventually die"
RW Hamilton, PhD 1991
Yesterday was a classroom day. Philosophy, physiology, rules, equations, charts …… total overload. After dinner, I sit and review and come up with the questions I should have asked in class. I work a little bit with some planning software and I read a little more. As a break, I try to put grommets in my dry suit pocket but they are apparently titanium lined or something as I have some nice deep holes in my block of wood, but not a one in the pocket.
I toss and turn in bed as I try to sort out the things I want to ask and imagine trying to drag my hiney through the Ear while dragging an additional O2 bottle. I have found my 1ml gloves and my still sore fingers hope they do the trick.
As I stare at the stars above…. I think ……. Where the hell did the roof go?!! …. And then I remember the glow in the dark plastic stars stuck to the ceiling. This is going to be a long night.
Morning comes and I sit with my cup of coffee and review the dive planning once more. I am about to purposely violate the NDL limits for the first time in my diving career.
We are back at Ginnie Springs as rain north of here has rendered most of the area springs undivable. The swift movement of the water here keeps the cave clear. I fumble with the O2 bottle, but some adjustment of the D-ring and moving my reels to my butt make midwater clipping off of the bottle go much more smoothly. I have moved my computer from my D-ring to my wrist and written out several contingency Deco schedules on my slate and I am trying out double 95’s. All new little tweaks for me.
I swim around a few minutes getting used to the tanks and poking a fish or two before we move on and now we are ready. This 40 cu ft tank seems to weight me like a rock and I am at the bottom of the chimney in no time. I will be second in line this dive and try to get my buoyancy with the bottle down as I wait for Jim to tie the reel in. It isn’t pretty but at least I am not dragging my way through the tunnel. I drop my deco bottle at the beginning of the gold line and we work our way up to the ceiling and pull ourselves into the cave. I am feeling disorganized. I want to check my tank pressure and in doing so I fall behind and fin to keep up instead of frog kick. My long hose is sticking at the back of my neck and I am in perpetual tug of war with it, my ears seem to be in need of clearing more often than usual and to do so I have to either let go of the wall or use the hand with my light, banging the light head off of my forehead more than once. I have to keep my light where the diver in front of me can see it and keep track of the light of the diver behind me. My suit is squeezed and tapping air in is not doing the trick. It seems to just move along my shoulders and out the exhaust valve. I am obviously out of trim and just when I think I will signal for the team to hold up, a corner is turned and I hold off until we are in a better area. These are just little annoyances, not life threatening or dive ending issues, nothing I cannot correct or handle. The right answer was to hold everyone up and get situated but I didn’t. Through the Lips and at the Keyhole I lose my trim while checking my gauges and kick up a bit of sand, not too bad but I shouldn’t have. We reach the 400 Hill and I signal that I want to turn the dive. I am not at my turn pressure but at the end of my comfort level and I would like to regroup and try again. We turn and head back.
I am sure I did not look like I was struggling to the rest of the team, just a bit off on my buoyancy and some improper finning. It always feels worse to you when it happens. The return trip went more smoothly with the current carrying us and at the Lips I am stopped and signaled…. “Where is the line?” My nemesis drill. Even when I find the line I always have something else going on. Black out mask on and I feel for my reel…. Which has been moved to behind me. I little fumbling to find the reel I want and I now have to find a good rock to tie off to. I remember I have to go up a bit to keep from getting bogged down between the rocks and I feel for the direction of the current as I then know that here, the gold line is to my right and along the wall. I set off doing sweeps for the errant line and as I am about to pull out line for my third sweep I feel the gold line, grabbing on and checking for the thickness, making sure I haven’t doubled back on myself again. I tie off my reel and am rewarded with my own mask back. Now I have to just reel in my line and stow it without fouling and I am done.
We are back at the start of the gold line and I pick up my deco bottle and clip off, trying to anticipate the rush of water as I squeeze through the Ear and out into the chimney. The weight of the bottle helps keep me in place and I pull myself onto the log. I have not earned
any deco time this dive and sit for my 3 minute safety stop at least glad the gloves worked out. My hands feel good for a change.
RW Hamilton, PhD 1991
Yesterday was a classroom day. Philosophy, physiology, rules, equations, charts …… total overload. After dinner, I sit and review and come up with the questions I should have asked in class. I work a little bit with some planning software and I read a little more. As a break, I try to put grommets in my dry suit pocket but they are apparently titanium lined or something as I have some nice deep holes in my block of wood, but not a one in the pocket.
I toss and turn in bed as I try to sort out the things I want to ask and imagine trying to drag my hiney through the Ear while dragging an additional O2 bottle. I have found my 1ml gloves and my still sore fingers hope they do the trick.
As I stare at the stars above…. I think ……. Where the hell did the roof go?!! …. And then I remember the glow in the dark plastic stars stuck to the ceiling. This is going to be a long night.
Morning comes and I sit with my cup of coffee and review the dive planning once more. I am about to purposely violate the NDL limits for the first time in my diving career.
We are back at Ginnie Springs as rain north of here has rendered most of the area springs undivable. The swift movement of the water here keeps the cave clear. I fumble with the O2 bottle, but some adjustment of the D-ring and moving my reels to my butt make midwater clipping off of the bottle go much more smoothly. I have moved my computer from my D-ring to my wrist and written out several contingency Deco schedules on my slate and I am trying out double 95’s. All new little tweaks for me.
I swim around a few minutes getting used to the tanks and poking a fish or two before we move on and now we are ready. This 40 cu ft tank seems to weight me like a rock and I am at the bottom of the chimney in no time. I will be second in line this dive and try to get my buoyancy with the bottle down as I wait for Jim to tie the reel in. It isn’t pretty but at least I am not dragging my way through the tunnel. I drop my deco bottle at the beginning of the gold line and we work our way up to the ceiling and pull ourselves into the cave. I am feeling disorganized. I want to check my tank pressure and in doing so I fall behind and fin to keep up instead of frog kick. My long hose is sticking at the back of my neck and I am in perpetual tug of war with it, my ears seem to be in need of clearing more often than usual and to do so I have to either let go of the wall or use the hand with my light, banging the light head off of my forehead more than once. I have to keep my light where the diver in front of me can see it and keep track of the light of the diver behind me. My suit is squeezed and tapping air in is not doing the trick. It seems to just move along my shoulders and out the exhaust valve. I am obviously out of trim and just when I think I will signal for the team to hold up, a corner is turned and I hold off until we are in a better area. These are just little annoyances, not life threatening or dive ending issues, nothing I cannot correct or handle. The right answer was to hold everyone up and get situated but I didn’t. Through the Lips and at the Keyhole I lose my trim while checking my gauges and kick up a bit of sand, not too bad but I shouldn’t have. We reach the 400 Hill and I signal that I want to turn the dive. I am not at my turn pressure but at the end of my comfort level and I would like to regroup and try again. We turn and head back.
I am sure I did not look like I was struggling to the rest of the team, just a bit off on my buoyancy and some improper finning. It always feels worse to you when it happens. The return trip went more smoothly with the current carrying us and at the Lips I am stopped and signaled…. “Where is the line?” My nemesis drill. Even when I find the line I always have something else going on. Black out mask on and I feel for my reel…. Which has been moved to behind me. I little fumbling to find the reel I want and I now have to find a good rock to tie off to. I remember I have to go up a bit to keep from getting bogged down between the rocks and I feel for the direction of the current as I then know that here, the gold line is to my right and along the wall. I set off doing sweeps for the errant line and as I am about to pull out line for my third sweep I feel the gold line, grabbing on and checking for the thickness, making sure I haven’t doubled back on myself again. I tie off my reel and am rewarded with my own mask back. Now I have to just reel in my line and stow it without fouling and I am done.
We are back at the start of the gold line and I pick up my deco bottle and clip off, trying to anticipate the rush of water as I squeeze through the Ear and out into the chimney. The weight of the bottle helps keep me in place and I pull myself onto the log. I have not earned
any deco time this dive and sit for my 3 minute safety stop at least glad the gloves worked out. My hands feel good for a change.After lunch we plan out Dive Two and drop back in the water. I am leading this time and if we reach the Hill 400 tunnel we will tour it. We drop down the chimney and through the Ear, drop our deco bottles at the Grim Reaper sign at the beginning of the gold line and make our way up to the ceiling. I pull along watching for lights behind me and we are soon at the Lips, past the Keyhole, this time leaving it clear, and on we move. The tunnels change shape as we move along, some high and narrow, some hour glass shaped and others like a candy kiss with low ledges. The rocks change shape and amass above or below me as the tunnels change. My light slowly sweeps across and up and down taking it all in as I pull myself along. At the Hill 400 jump we move to the line and continue on our way. It is strange following a white line now but I see the familiar markings for distance and direction and begin to look about. Pieces of rock jut out into the tunnel making pulling along easy in most spots and my light plays along the rock formations, lighting up the white of the limestone and the contrasting black of other areas as the movement of the water cuts its way through.
I have reached my turn pressure and signal the team to turn. As we move back through the tunnel, Jim stops to point out fossils in the hard rock walls that have been uncovered by the springs flow. Several pieces of what looks to be turtle shell and other shells and a small sand dollar perfectly intact. A little farther along he stops and moves me to the side showing me a huge sand dollar embedded in the rock, the size possibly larger than my hand. It looks like you could pick it up off the ledge, the detail is so perfectly preserved.
We move on back through the wending tunnels and passages, the rooms and finally the Lips. No more drills here, just enjoying the scenery.
At the beginning of the line I pick up my bottle and clip it off and wait for Jim to pick up the reel and we make our way back to the tie in and our exit at the slit of rock we call the Devils Ear. I make my way up to the Deco Log, and now I see why it is aptly named. I switch over my gas to the deco bottle and settle into a half nap, half watch the pretty bubbles as I wait for my computer to count down my stop. If I straddle the log and jam my head under the branch I don’t even have to hang on, I just remain perched in place biding my time. Sweet.
I am done and ready to make my way up and to the stairs out and as I make my way, I notice the river water is a bit hazy compared to past days. Nowhere near Jersey hazy, but enough to give me a tinge of home sick.
Dive #204. A success. Play that number…