Mailing List Archive Mailing List Archive
I guess I have to report since the General was absent. The truth is
I have little or no idea what went on, other than where I was directly
involved.
We ran the mapper at Indian repeatedly on Firday until we settled on
how we wanted it to scan, and how much data we wanted it to collect. I
can tell you I was disappointed at finally seeing the whole downstream
tunnel at Indian in one picture - it is pretty plain, just big - the
mystery was better. What is neat is that you can tell exactly where you
are by watching the mapper play back the runs.
Having settled on how we wanted to do it, we ran it Saturday at
Wakulla. Chris Werner and I did a single stage O/C dive to 4,300 feet,
actually towing the mapper down the bore ( using it as a backup scooter
) with it set to run for 25 minutes to the back of that chamber after
the 3 T's ( I,J,K Tunnels ). We found a note left by Jess Armentrout
that caused us a serious gas consumption problem at 3,000 feet when we
read it. We also found another note that nearly drowned us - we could
not stop laughing - Chris and I could not look at each other without
loosing our gas - I had to get far enough away from him so that I could
not hear or see him laughing.
Changing drives, we ran it again in the cavern , letting it sit for
a while to get the constant image. Jules and Wayne then rode it out to L
Tunnel in A Tunnel for another round of data on that section. That
proved to be good enough and a ton of data, so a third team of Rose,
Armentrout and Mee just went for a ride. One disturbing thing we all
noticed was the the crays are not there, and there are a lot of dead
fish .
We pulled hydrilla while decompressing, and floated it to the
surface. The longest dive was only 45 mintues bottom time, so we did not
get too wrapped up in the deco or support. In fact Chris and I just used
the remaining gas in the same deco bottles we used last dive there two
weeks ago.
Sunday we had everyone at Indian again, and a few of us went to the
Refuge. Wayne , Bill and I walked the swap looking for vents in the
Shepherd run while Rose and Werner did an exploration dive in Shepherd.
They found a good lead past the 240 Pit section, but opted to tag it
later due to too much bottom time already in the dive. Support for that
dive was by Jung Ying ( "Red Baby" ) and Jarrod's "Kid".
Bill and I left early due to the traffic problem , everything
apparently went well.
If the place stays dry, we will start with Big D right away, setting
up the swimthrough from both sides, and then doing it, which will be not
only a new World's record, but a new record "trust me" dive . We also
have two "new" sites which need serious attention, and some old ones. We
will work our way south in the system as and if it clears. Right now ,
it is not really clear enough, which is strange since Wakulla A Tunnel
is as good as I have ever seen it.
I want to work on getting some more gas divers up to speed, and see
who can tolerate what in Leon Sinks before we get to the far south deep
stuff or back to Wakulla. All of the 285-300 foot stuff is long
exposure now, so we need to be sure by trying these people the 150, 200,
250 first, not to mention developing the team skills that are required
for any depth. We need everyone to do their diving within the team and
with some of the more experienced guys.
Brent and I will be meeting with some people in the next two weeks
on access to even more sites, and during those visits I want to get
something going in the upper Leon Sinks .
Thanks to the guys who took the newer guys diving.
Navigate by Author:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Subject Search Index]
[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]
[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]