November trip to paradise

The maps include all of the dives I did except for the P3 dive. I don't happen to have a softcopy map of the system. I didn't take any pictures, as solo diving with a camera in a cave is not my idea of vacation cave diving. The camera is just to directing, and I don't enjoy the dive nearly as much.

Dive 1:
Well, we arived early afternoon, and after an exhausting 22 hour car ride I figured there was no better way to de-trip than to go do a cave dive. Everyone else with better sense took the afternoon off and rested. A breakdown dive. Lets see how my sidemount rig preforms in Florida. With my last cave dive being a few weeks ago, I knew I didn't need to do a goldline/easy/work out the kinks dive or 3 so I decided to see some new cave I am wanted to see for a long time, but never had a buddy willing to "go small". So, off to the wormhole and then see how much range I have down the hill400 line. I was sidemounting double 104's, and as you can see my range is quite good for my first dive in Floridian caves in 8 months. I turned at the bats just before thirds and very easily proofed the hill400 circute. Ahh, caves, I think to my self sitting on deco. This is defiantly easy cave diving, but its a vacation after all!

Dive 2:
Since I proofed it last dive, I mite as well do it. An easy dive around the hill400 circute with plenty of gas to spare. Which meant I stuck my head in every little hole down the mainline. Of course, this is a Sunday and of course by stick my head in, I mean deploy a line and go in until I'm crawling in mud and unable to go further. Now, on the way out, the whole cave was milky. I was wondering what the heck was wrong because the vis was perfect on the way in. Of course, as I am rubbing the mud of of my gear, out of my belt buckle, off my backup lights and what not it hits me.. -I- did that. On a Sunday morning. During high season. While there are about 20 teams in or preparing to go diving. I blew the first 400 feet of the system down to 20-30 feet of vis for 3 hours. My bad.

Dive 3:
Haven't been to double domes yet this trip, and I have never been down the some of the Hiller Tunnel, so off I go. Besides, I have spools to pick up from yesterday. Its a bit of a push, but I make it with enough gas to gaze around double domes for 5 minutes. Letting the flow push me out, enjoying the scenery. On deco, I find more mud that I missed from last dive. A great start to a great trip.

Dive 4:
Off to Little River. This time I grab a stage and just head down the main line. Moving well, I drop the stage just into the Florida Room and keep on trucking. I cruise passed a few teams exiting in the Flroida Room and go though a very nice, open catacomb section and passed a few jumps. The tunnel gets a bit smaller and the limestone bottom is replaced by a fine bed of silt. Swimming though the last room, up over the silt pile the tunnel pinches down even further. This is where the last death happened, the team keeped scootering passed here. Now, its biggish feeling for me, but I am on sidemount. I know backmounters would be tight, just fitting without killing the vis. I cannot imagine scootering in this tunnel. The cave opens up a touch as I pass the well casting and then pinches down even more, getting lower and siltier. Finally the line ends in a tangled mess of cookies, glory markers and an easter egg which will remain a surprise for you to find out. I chose not to leave a glory marker.. there were enough there without my adding one.

Dive 5 (no map):
Telford, down the main line. Though rocky horror, postripedic and such. Turned some time around 2200 feet. Not much to write home about, but I'd go back. There are lots of side tunnels to explore which look much more interesting than the last 1000 feet of mainline. This is a cave where a scooter would be very nice.

Dive 6:
A nice easy dive in and around the Bone Room. Blew out Harry's Crack and did some side tunnels where they ere. Generally just farted around known ground looking for small stuff I have never been in.

Dive 7:
Up to double lines to check out some new cave. Very beautiful cave. You can tell not many people go up here, but there is still evidence of fin marks and tank damage from backmounters. Especially in the low low spots. But it is cave I recommend anyone with the range go check out. Its your first real taste of "less damaged" cave. You can go 30-40 feet without seeing any damage at all in some sections. That alone is worth the trip, let alone all the nice whoopdydoos and doyamigigies. Since I had a shit load of gas left (droped a stage at the bottom of the hill in hill400) when I hit the hill400 line, I decided to check out Skid Row. When I was rounding the corner of the horseshooe it got low.. like REAL low. Like I was on sidemount and I was starting to get low and tight. Then the line took a right and down into the silt. Someone had left a jump reel over yonder and there was loose line all over the place. My thought was someone tried the jump and since its so low, they freaked, got entangled, broke the line and fled. I'm to low on gas to do anything about it, so I turned it here and had a fantastic exit.

Dive 8:
Another stage dive, this time I am going "deep". But not toward the mythical Hinkle. I don't see why everyone has a hardon to go "see the Hinkle". That aside, about all I can say about this dive is DO IT. Get damn good in low stuff, and DO IT. Just, don't touch a god damn thing. I don't care what you have to do, sitck your hands in your pockets, whatever. The jump off the double lines is low. And its a mess for about 40 feet as people try it out, and then get uncomfortable and turn. But once you get though there, while it stays low it becomes completely untouched. There are intact clay and silt banks, percolation, almost no tank marks, hand marks or anything. This is what it should look like and its fantastic. The further back you go in here the more untouched it gets. P.S. it's all T's, so bring enough markers. This is likely my favourite dive of the trip.

Dive 9:
Having never been down the Wonder Tunnel, I figure a nice easy dive would be cool, so I did a small circute and checked out some more stuff I haven't been down. A nice tunnel, but not worthy of the name. Its beat up a good bit. The side tunnels in here are worth the trip if your on sidemount. They get low, dirty.. just how I like it.

Dive 10+11:
After days of saying "Madison" every 10 minutes, I convinced the gang to head out here. Its a nice cave, for sure. Its just unfortunate that there is no solo diving, as this restricts my exploration tendencies significantly. See, I can't just jump off down the sidemount tunnel to see where it goes, because I have a dive plan, a buddy on backmounts and a buddies comfort level to deal with. Still, its a couple of nice dives. Godzila Room and the gold line. I always love being in a new-to-me system, as it feels sort of like exploration at times. I did manage to sneak down a few side tunnels, but I didn't want to abandon my buddy for long.

At this point, I had to take 2 days off to rest my ears and recover from a minor ear infection which I didn't want to progress any further and wreck the rest of the trip. Two days off, and I was ready for more.

Dive 12+13:
Back to Madison. This time my buddy was more comfortable going a bit further, so we both did a bit more exploration and made it further into the system. The second dive, we/I stuck my head into every little hole I could find in the fount bit of the cave.

Dive 14:
Back to Little River. As you can see, I never did make it very far into the system. See, the thing was I was have WAY to much fun in the sidemount stuff thats not even on the map. The fount half of this cave is riddled with holes, passages and lines. Bypasses, short cuts, long cuts and unlined tunnels. Everything I found that I fit in, I went in.

Dive 15:
Off to cow, what was once my favourite system. But honestly, while the first couple hundred feet are very nice, it gets kind of boring after not-my-fault. Its the same cave, over and over and just keeps going. I'll go back, sure, but I'll be spending more time checking out side passages and upstream.

Dive 16:
Harper Tunnel at Little River. Right to the end, which involved taking off both of my tanks, and crawling though a spot my helmet didn't fit. This tunnel is another example of untouched, fantastic cave. Once you get into it a ways, it just gets amazing. Lots of twists, turns and very technical. This isn't a place to go if your skills aren't top notch. Sidemount suggested, as it gets to small in places.

Dive 17 (no map):
P3 to Henlies Castle jump. Nice cave, dirty and dark. I'll be back, and hopefully make it further. I had a videotographer whit me on this dive, and he is a hoover when he is shooting vid.

Dive 18-21:
This is getting long, so I am going to only talk about one of the dives. The Siphon Tunnel dive. This is another one of those special places in Devils System where no one goes and the cave shows very little wear and tear except in a few low places where there is some tank damage from backmounters. About 100 feet from the end of the line it goes though a sidemount pinch and opens up into a small round chamber. Yet another simple incredible place in paradise.