The water is your friend. You don’t have to fight with water, just share the same spirit as the water, and it will help you move. ~ Aleksandr Popov
I am in the midst of cattle and dairy farm country, passing by throngs of cows at every curve, and today …. again ….. I saw cow butts …… life is good.
While it is still a bit nippy here, the skies have cleared and we are able to move on to another cave system. Today we are diving Peacock I. At Peacock State Park there are several sinks, which over the course of time, divers have been able to link together through their tunnels. Orange Grove Sink is one and Challenge another. And three others, Peacock I, II, and III. Some time ago, the cave entrance at Peacock II collapsed and the area is no longer divable. Peacock III is an advanced cave with tight restrictions and a silty bottom.
Peacock I is our destination today. Another guided dive, a level above my training, at 1/3 gas supply instead of 1/6. This cave is a no flow cave. The spring water does not rush out and thr
ough these tunnels like a raging river and as such it has its own set of difficulties. In a large portion of these caves, the lack of moving water has allowed a thick layer of fine silky silt to cover the cave floor, and the walls are a crumbly porous rock that breaks at the touch. There is a looong low restriction of hard limestone in the center that most divers pull themselves through along the floor. I …. Am special. Lucky me will be allowed to swim through this restriction without touching the floor or ceiling. I am guessing that this dive is a test for me, especially after my rocky if not inconsistent performances so far, to see if I can handle my buoyancy and not silt out my environment. With no flow, in a silt out, this cave is not forgiving and I need to prove this Jersey diver can do this.
You walk down a wooden boardwalk path to a set of steps and climb down to a narrow ladder leading into the water. Here, you put on your fins and drop below the steps to the cave entrance. There are two gold lines in this cave and I am to follow the one to the left and the renowned, Peanut Tunnel.
My S- Drill goes more smoothly than it has all week, a marked improvement. I collect my buoyancy as I cannot touch the floor for any reason and the walls are very fragile. I will lead this dive and a three man team of myself, Jim my instructor and Marc, the assistant instructor into the cave.
Staying as close to the ceiling as I dare in a large open tunnel with a rock and silt bottom we move along and onto the restriction which I need to navigate without touching anything and still following the line, not getting tangled in the line and keeping awareness of the rest of my team behind me. No guys, I am not nervous. Jeesh….. I am not just a poker ….. I am THE poker. I touch everything!!!! Don’t they know that!
This restriction goes on forever, I want to blast out of there with a few good fin kicks but know I cannot. And so I creep along, looking about every now and then, and not touching anything. It is killing me.
We finally come out in a tunnel that is much smaller than the ones we have previously been in but still roomy enough to move about. The rock walls are carved out in varying formations and indentations and the lights play across the blackness, reflecting off of the white rock walls. There are twists and turns and the gold line moves from one side of the tunnel to the other as it winds its way deeper into the earth.
Crawling across the silty bottom, I occasionally spot small troglobites, mostly crayfish. Troglobites are albino looking cave dwelling animals that have adapted to no light and have no pigmentation or eyesight and often no eyes due to living their lives in total darkness. I remember the silt and know there will be no poking here and move along. I am watching my gauges and keep thinking, good lord we are going a long way, when I get the signal from behind we are turning around.
As the team turns, I am now the last man in line and am now thinking I have to keep up and not loose the line cause there is no one behind me to get me back on target…..and if I silt this place up ….. I could be here a very long time……
We wind our way back along the tunnels and inch our way through the restriction without touching …… lord knows I wish I was not so special and could pull myself along, I am getting a bit tired here.
At a rock outcropping near the tunnel entrance I am handed the blackout mask and another lost line drill is in progress. I have brought a reel and a spool with me today. Spools are so much harder to foul. Although you can do other things to them ….. like drop them ….. please don’t let me ….. please.
I set my buoyancy a little heavy and search for a rock to tie on to. Having been spun in a circle I have no idea where the line is and with no flow I have nothing to acclimate myself to except rocks. My first tie off does not hold and I find another rock and begin to make my sweep. Nothing and I move a bit more, and a bit more and ….. and….. I find a line! As I am tying my spool off to it I feel it again. Something is not right. It is too thin …. It is… hmmm… I think it is my own line. I have gotten tangled and doubled back on myself. I untie to restart my search.
My mask is handed back to me and we are calling it a day. I am not far from the line, but I do appreciate Jim not allowing me to get frustrated here. I realized my mistake and there will be other dives to practice this more. And this dive…… this dive was great.
On the way out I am to pull the reel another dive team had left behind and asked us to retrieve. With no flow, I had no trouble with my buoyancy, and more importantly….. I did not foul the reel.
I am in the midst of cattle and dairy farm country, passing by throngs of cows at every curve, and today …. again ….. I saw cow butts …… life is good.
While it is still a bit nippy here, the skies have cleared and we are able to move on to another cave system. Today we are diving Peacock I. At Peacock State Park there are several sinks, which over the course of time, divers have been able to link together through their tunnels. Orange Grove Sink is one and Challenge another. And three others, Peacock I, II, and III. Some time ago, the cave entrance at Peacock II collapsed and the area is no longer divable. Peacock III is an advanced cave with tight restrictions and a silty bottom.
Peacock I is our destination today. Another guided dive, a level above my training, at 1/3 gas supply instead of 1/6. This cave is a no flow cave. The spring water does not rush out and thr
ough these tunnels like a raging river and as such it has its own set of difficulties. In a large portion of these caves, the lack of moving water has allowed a thick layer of fine silky silt to cover the cave floor, and the walls are a crumbly porous rock that breaks at the touch. There is a looong low restriction of hard limestone in the center that most divers pull themselves through along the floor. I …. Am special. Lucky me will be allowed to swim through this restriction without touching the floor or ceiling. I am guessing that this dive is a test for me, especially after my rocky if not inconsistent performances so far, to see if I can handle my buoyancy and not silt out my environment. With no flow, in a silt out, this cave is not forgiving and I need to prove this Jersey diver can do this.You walk down a wooden boardwalk path to a set of steps and climb down to a narrow ladder leading into the water. Here, you put on your fins and drop below the steps to the cave entrance. There are two gold lines in this cave and I am to follow the one to the left and the renowned, Peanut Tunnel.
My S- Drill goes more smoothly than it has all week, a marked improvement. I collect my buoyancy as I cannot touch the floor for any reason and the walls are very fragile. I will lead this dive and a three man team of myself, Jim my instructor and Marc, the assistant instructor into the cave.
Staying as close to the ceiling as I dare in a large open tunnel with a rock and silt bottom we move along and onto the restriction which I need to navigate without touching anything and still following the line, not getting tangled in the line and keeping awareness of the rest of my team behind me. No guys, I am not nervous. Jeesh….. I am not just a poker ….. I am THE poker. I touch everything!!!! Don’t they know that!
This restriction goes on forever, I want to blast out of there with a few good fin kicks but know I cannot. And so I creep along, looking about every now and then, and not touching anything. It is killing me.
We finally come out in a tunnel that is much smaller than the ones we have previously been in but still roomy enough to move about. The rock walls are carved out in varying formations and indentations and the lights play across the blackness, reflecting off of the white rock walls. There are twists and turns and the gold line moves from one side of the tunnel to the other as it winds its way deeper into the earth.
Crawling across the silty bottom, I occasionally spot small troglobites, mostly crayfish. Troglobites are albino looking cave dwelling animals that have adapted to no light and have no pigmentation or eyesight and often no eyes due to living their lives in total darkness. I remember the silt and know there will be no poking here and move along. I am watching my gauges and keep thinking, good lord we are going a long way, when I get the signal from behind we are turning around.
As the team turns, I am now the last man in line and am now thinking I have to keep up and not loose the line cause there is no one behind me to get me back on target…..and if I silt this place up ….. I could be here a very long time……
We wind our way back along the tunnels and inch our way through the restriction without touching …… lord knows I wish I was not so special and could pull myself along, I am getting a bit tired here.
At a rock outcropping near the tunnel entrance I am handed the blackout mask and another lost line drill is in progress. I have brought a reel and a spool with me today. Spools are so much harder to foul. Although you can do other things to them ….. like drop them ….. please don’t let me ….. please.
I set my buoyancy a little heavy and search for a rock to tie on to. Having been spun in a circle I have no idea where the line is and with no flow I have nothing to acclimate myself to except rocks. My first tie off does not hold and I find another rock and begin to make my sweep. Nothing and I move a bit more, and a bit more and ….. and….. I find a line! As I am tying my spool off to it I feel it again. Something is not right. It is too thin …. It is… hmmm… I think it is my own line. I have gotten tangled and doubled back on myself. I untie to restart my search.
My mask is handed back to me and we are calling it a day. I am not far from the line, but I do appreciate Jim not allowing me to get frustrated here. I realized my mistake and there will be other dives to practice this more. And this dive…… this dive was great.
On the way out I am to pull the reel another dive team had left behind and asked us to retrieve. With no flow, I had no trouble with my buoyancy, and more importantly….. I did not foul the reel.
We exited into the clear sunlit pool of water after 78 minutes of dive time. We had gone about 1500 feet into the system when the dive was called. It was simply time to get back for us. All this time and distance and we never went deeper than 52 feet. And me, I did good. Real good. I did not touch a thing….. well not until we exited. There was one little fish, give a girl a break!