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I am buying sushi for whoever faked this one! Jeff Brown, Christopher wrote: > > george -- you said: > > >Your opinion > >or the opinion of anyone else means nothing in our world. > > and: > > >You represent the opposite of everything we believe in. > > Thanks for the explanatory missive describing your world but it wasn't > necessary. There are a lot of folks like me who are already familiar with > your world. Let me describe mine. > > Seven of my local buds and I have minimal time and minimal resources to > explore the five caves we've discovered and are currently working in the > Woodville Karst Plain. In these we have nine going leads, counting > up/downstreams, two of which are deeper than 260 but we like the shallow > ones the best. These are virgin caves on private property, three of which > are in hunt club areas, making us probably the only cave divers up here who > have successfully established that kind of access/relationships. These are > virgin caves -- pristine and absolutely gorgeous -- ancient, delicate -- > with deep pits, a circuit, very big and small tunnels, domes, vast rooms, > enormous caverns, a sheer/perfectly verticle crack from 10 to 200ft., > blowing power cave, and sidemount sections -- unexplored but for us. It's > as thrilling and satisfying as cave diving can be. We take them very slow > and easy -- we're cautious because safety is paramount -- and we savor > every bit of the caves. There's no rush since they've been there a long > time and aren't going anywhere. We feel very fortunate to be able to have > no traffic jams, no assholes with cameras trying to demean anyone, no one > trying to force competition with us, and no one telling us what to do, how > to dive, or how to live. We don't use peer pressure to influence each other > except towards conservatism and safety. We do it for fun, adventure, and to > learn about the environment -- and not to prove anything to anyone, put > anyone else down, or make ourselves famous. We support each other, elevate > each other, cooperate with each other, listen to each other, help each > other, watch out for each other, razz each other, enjoy each other, and > respect each other. We are people who would hang together and enjoy each > other's company and values even if we never dived a cave again. We study > and adopt techniques and safety methods from other divers and other > sources. We value and respect each other's judgement, and stay within our > own personal limitations while encouraging each other to grow, and gently > and considerately work with each other when we think one of us is missing > an important consideration about safety, technique, or equipment. We ask > more experienced and knowledgable divers for advice, and experiment with > gear and techniques. We know about and respect those who came before us in > this sport. A few of us have been doing this together for the better part > of a decade. We share the booty with each other and work together as teams. > We don't pretend we are something we're not. We don't cave dive to put > anyone else down, show anyone else up, or put lead in our pencils -- > because we don't need to. We lay line and see nothing but cave that hasn't > been seen by anyone else and hasn't been reamed and bashed to shit by > end-of-the-line obsessives, rude scooter menaces, and newbies who know it > all already. Lots of this stuff is shallow, so we can do wet suit, ankle > finning swims on air and easy as shit decos. We are very aware of the > insidious nature of deep air, have been for a long time, and dive > accordingly. We clean the sinks up, hauling the garbage away, and educate > and share our experiences with the owners. We keep the locations to > ourselves, in agreement with the landowners who want to maintain their > privacy. We're also very fortunate to have such good landowner relations > that they sometimes even bring us hot drinks and munchies when we get out. > When we do share them with other divers, we are very selective and it's > usually with someone from out of town/state/country -- who therefore won't > spill the beans and bring all their friends/students/openwater buds in and > screw the places and the landowners over. Sometimes we'll invite others in > who have skills or experience that we don't, so we can all learn more and > get more accomplished. We do this with people who share our values, respect > us as we are, respect our wishes, and who see cave diving as a means to a > variety of ends rather than an end unto itself or a marketing ploy. We > don't consider them "our" caves because we know they're not -- they're > God's own caves and someone else owns the land over them. We don't trespass > when looking for caves, or to get into any. As resources and time allow, we > survey, take pix and vid, and bring in other researchers who want to sample > or photo the critters. If we find anything of possible value to resource > managers, we bring it to their attention unasked. When stuff goes dark, we > don't bitch -- we go hunting for other stuff -- and find it. We don't envy > anyone else their caves or their diving. We'd love to dive Wakulla, not > becaue it will "make" us, but because it's magnificent. We have enough to > do, through our own hard work and within our abilities, to last us quite > awhile -- including two other places: the monster bore hole that only > clears in long droughts and the ripping clear spring that's choked with > loose rocks and hasn't been poked at all -- yet. > > We enjoy cave diving the way we think it ought to be, in our own way, for > our own personal reasons, no matter what anybody else thinks or says. In > other words, we enjoy cave diving the way it used to be -- before you came > along. > > Christopher A. Brown > The Technical Diving Video Library http://www.aulinc.com/video.htm > ameruwlite@ao*.co*, Fax: 352.669.1256, or Phone: 352.669.5483 > > Life is short -- this is not a rehearsal. -- Jeff Bentley jeffbentley@mi*.co* http://www.mindspring.com/~jeffbentley -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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