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Yesterday ( and part of today), the WKPP executed an 11,000 foot
penetration into the main conduit at Wakulla Springs, what was known as
the "A" Tunnel. The dive was conducted by sending a rebreather supply
bottle and extra scooter ahead for each diver ( done by Dr. Rose, Wayne
Head and Derek hagler ), followed by the three man dive team of
Joblonski, Scarabin and Irvine. This team picked up the gear and the
8,000 and 9,000 foot safety bottles and moved it all forward, marking
leads and taking survey notes on the way. After placing the safeties in
the area of exploration, we added a reel to the end of the line, putting
the end out 11,000 feet at 285 on the ceiling, and worked our way back
marking every lead in the cave. We found the source of the bad water and
narrowed that down, we found several more conduits, and we found another
huge mega-spring near the back. The whole dive resulted in a three and
one-half hour bottom time at 285 ( 210 minutes ), and we began our first
deco stop at 250 feet . This was all done on the Halcyon rebreather. As
we came in to the deco area, the third team was taking off as planned (
Rick Sankey, Barry Miller and Ted Cole) to pick up the scooters and
bottles. They got back to us while we were still inside the restriction.
Deco took 11.5 hours for a total time of 15 hours. We did not start the
dive until 1:00 am, so were in the water all night. I drove home this
morning. A few of our toughest guys supported this whole dive: Chris
Warner, Keith Suderman, Alex King, Ed Dranbauer, stayed with us all
night in the water, and Barry Miller, Robert Charmichael, Jack Kellon,
Jeff Bentley and Bill Sadler did huge shifts as well.
By 9:00 this morning, you cound not tell we had ever been there, and
very few people ever saw anything going on, other than a dive flag by
the swim area, and we pulled off the biggest cave dive ever done, and a
record rebreather dive, as well as what is the record for distance from
air at depth.
The WKPP is working a steady series of cave explorations in the
Woodville Karst Plain with the curent focus trying to explore and
connect Leon Sinks Cave, Indian Springs, Sally Ward Springs, Wakulla
Springs, Shepherd Springs, Chips Hole, and the adjacent systems. We set
the caves up and rotate through them when the water is clear, which it
is now. We will be back at Sally in a couple of weeks, and then Wakulla,
Leon, etc in rotation so long as they stay clear. WKPP operates under
interlocking permits for reasearch and exploration in WKP.
We have some seriously tough divers in this organization ( guys who
, after they get off work, can pull off an equipment recovery dive
bigger than anything done in the first Walkulla Project and not be late
for dinner), and some seriously dedicated crew to keep it rolling. These
guys get the "dive of choice" next time, and it looks like most want to
do "Numero Uno" .
Thanks to everyone. - G
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