juls64
October 24th, 2005, 08:28 AM
The first rule of Cavern is to drive a truck!
Cavern is done. It was a great time and I learned so much about things I need to practice more! We went to Mine La Motte as RBD had too high a flow rate. Getting in at Mine LaMotte is kind of rough terrain and I advise anyone going there to have truck or high wheelbase. I did not kill my Camry, but came close. We also ended up having to park about 100 feet away from the others so we had to walk our gear a ways.
As for the diving. I don't know the water temp. I'd guess about 50-55 degrees. In a drysuit, it was very comfortable. The vis varied. It was 5 feet in spots then opened up to maybe 15 in others. The water clarity is really poor though so light didn't travel all that well. It was still easy to see each other and was safe and relaxed in that regard. There were 3 students and 2 instructors. The first dive we all went down together and did our 3 man buddy team going into the cavern. One person led with the reel and did all the necessary tie-offs and it went pretty well. We surfaced and discussed the problems we had. We also decided to break into 2 groups. Hubby and I went with one instructor and the other student went with the other instructor. The 3 of us went down again and ran the same drill but as a 2 man team, a different person with the reel. This worked better. And things were not stirred up so much with the smaller group.
To speed up the story, we went on and did several runs into and out of the Cavern. We further developed reel technique, line tending, use of lights and kicks. We also did lights out scenarios. We did not do any OOA in the cavern. Since we are only getting the PADI cert for this, PADI standards say OOA cannot be practiced in the overhead environment. Steve and I will be practicing this on our own next time we go. We didn't do as many dives as we originally planned because I didn't want to kill my car and toting gear that far was kind of rough.
I am really looking forward to getting back down there. The drive was just beautiful with all the fall colors and Mine La Motte was a scenic area. The water is a little foul but nothing serious and the caverns were good. There were a number of places there to go into the Cavern so if we stirred things up doing lights out, we could enter somewhere else the next time in.
Julie
Cavern is done. It was a great time and I learned so much about things I need to practice more! We went to Mine La Motte as RBD had too high a flow rate. Getting in at Mine LaMotte is kind of rough terrain and I advise anyone going there to have truck or high wheelbase. I did not kill my Camry, but came close. We also ended up having to park about 100 feet away from the others so we had to walk our gear a ways.
As for the diving. I don't know the water temp. I'd guess about 50-55 degrees. In a drysuit, it was very comfortable. The vis varied. It was 5 feet in spots then opened up to maybe 15 in others. The water clarity is really poor though so light didn't travel all that well. It was still easy to see each other and was safe and relaxed in that regard. There were 3 students and 2 instructors. The first dive we all went down together and did our 3 man buddy team going into the cavern. One person led with the reel and did all the necessary tie-offs and it went pretty well. We surfaced and discussed the problems we had. We also decided to break into 2 groups. Hubby and I went with one instructor and the other student went with the other instructor. The 3 of us went down again and ran the same drill but as a 2 man team, a different person with the reel. This worked better. And things were not stirred up so much with the smaller group.
To speed up the story, we went on and did several runs into and out of the Cavern. We further developed reel technique, line tending, use of lights and kicks. We also did lights out scenarios. We did not do any OOA in the cavern. Since we are only getting the PADI cert for this, PADI standards say OOA cannot be practiced in the overhead environment. Steve and I will be practicing this on our own next time we go. We didn't do as many dives as we originally planned because I didn't want to kill my car and toting gear that far was kind of rough.
I am really looking forward to getting back down there. The drive was just beautiful with all the fall colors and Mine La Motte was a scenic area. The water is a little foul but nothing serious and the caverns were good. There were a number of places there to go into the Cavern so if we stirred things up doing lights out, we could enter somewhere else the next time in.
Julie