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Cave Diving, Jess Zellers (with guest star Greg Kulp!)
Well, the last time I took a week dive vacation I went from Florida to PA to dive, this time I took a 90 mins dive to Ft. White (just north of Gainesville). The best diving in the world right here in my own back yard. Since I'm sure almost all of you use Smokey's exclusively as your one and only dive shop, ya'll probably don't know about Evie Dudas' Florida trips. There's a dive cottage that she rents in Ft. White several times a year, and always the week before Christmas and New Years, to come down here for a cave diving trip. AHhh, a week in the dive cottage that's full of divers -- this time from CA, TX, PA, and FL, with cave maps, dive magazines all over the place all in the heart of cave country, and the closest dive shop fills tanks while in your vehicle to just about any pressure you ask for.... it was torture!!
There were three big highs from this past week:
One, A week diving with Kulp is always great. And the particular dives we did this week were really really great dives. And a couple of meals at the Lauraville Country Store. Two, the last time I was up north I meet a lot of new people. So for those of you who never meet me, or didn't know about the major ear problems I had this point won't mean much. But over two years almost a dozen doctors, including ENT's & dive MD's, couldn't figure out what was wrong or do anything. The only thing they could do was create and supervise the use of drugs to make my ears work under pressure like they're suppose to do. Since I moved to Florida my ears have been virtually problem free. I've been pretty sure that I could get away diving drug-free now, but I haven't done a dive without them for well over three years and have been uneasy about taking the risk. This week I decide to give it a try on the first day, knowing if it didn't work I could start again the next day and still dive the week. And IT WORKED!!!! My first drug-free dive in over three years!!! and my ears worked normally all on their own all week!!! Florida's amazing!!! Three, I'm pretty sure I finally found a new dive shop that I love!! I've found lots of serious shops since I moved to Florida, but none that have that Smokey's "family of divers" feel to them. While Kulp and I were running all over north central Florida we stopped in at the last serious shop I hadn't checked out yet. Liked what I saw. Loved what I heard. Plus they're a block and half away from the Lauraville Country Store!! AHhhh, I think I finally found me a dive shop!! I'll be doing my cave class with them sometime this spring. So those are the highs, on to the dives!!!!
Day One, started with driving from Jacksonville to Ft. White. So I didn't want to drive too far for the first day's dive... we did Ginnie Springs, which is a very short drive from the cottage. Ginnie has several springs on the property, but non-cave certified divers can only have lights at one of them. This spring has a cavern (rock overheard, but the sun is still visible) with a fairly large room and is only about 45-50ft. It's a really great dive to "just sneak a peak" at cave overhead. Other than the no-drug streak, this dive started another reoccurring theme of the week. Everyone else the cottage thought that "nice" temps were "hot" and "cold" was "nice".... I was the only local in the place and didn't think that temps were above normal. The dive at Ginnie... I was in my drysuit get out and put back on my jeans and sweatshirt. Kulp dove in a wetsuit and instead of putting back on jeans dons shorts and T-shirt!!
Day Two, we had planned the insanity "let's empty a cave-fill in doubles at Blue Grotto" dive, but after driving by the house in the middle of road to get back to the springs decided to dive somewhere else. I was there a little over a year ago last, since then their admission fee had nearly doubled!!! Checked out a couple of other things and ended up at Manatee Springs State Park. It's a short spring run from the access point, the head is fairly small and only 35ft deep. But that dive was damn good!!! Manatee Spring is a first magnitude spring meaning a whole hell of a lot of water comes out very rapidly. We spend theentire dive doing what most people consider the worst part of wreck diving.... fighting against the current!!! There's big logs by the cave entrance and dips in the rock. We were having a blast crawling down and getting blown back out or seeing how long we could stay put in any given place. Then he was struck by inspiration and pulled out his Jon line. There's a really fat log sitting horizontally across the entrance directly in the flow of the strongest current. Neither of us were having any luck hanging on and actually getting the whole way across it. Kulp hooks his Jon line around the thing and floats in the current for awhile. After a bit he hands it off to me for a go, I hook it, float for a bit.... realize that the *strongest* current is just to my right. So naturally I pull myself back down and move the Jon line directly into the path of the *strongest* current!!!! That was really cool.
Day Three -- Dive One, Vortex Springs! As if Florida Springs didn't have clear enough water to start with the owner actively pumps out silt from this place. Very good dive site, worth the drive out past Tallahassee. There's also REALLY big fish, lots of them, in this place. Any jokes about fish not getting bent....not true, fish CAN get bent!! There's these guys in there that are pretty big fish, and you always see them in schools. So I'm watching a bunch go by and one fish is swimming oddly. This fish has a dent in him, and is kinda bended in the middle. So fish do get bent!!! The dive is enough of a reason for the drive out there, but the dive shop is stocked by someone with a great sense of humor!! Anyone who saw my "Theory of Evolution" T-shirt in Aug, this is where I got it. The T-shirts are hilarious and twisted enough for divers to proudly wear. AND they have a very large selection of bumper sticker that are equally twisted. Kulp and me both left with a handful of stickers. There's a particular one that we just couldn't help ourselves. It is currently on my can light battery casing, will be on his scoter, and if you want to find out what it says then you need to make your way to Myerstown with your dive gear. Because the third one will be visible in the Lobster shack after Kulp's next dive there.
Day Three -- Dive Two. Excluding days where a boat take you to two different wrecks, this is only the second day ever where I have been diving at two different sites in the same day. On the way back from Vortex you pass by a place that's kinda off the map, but known to a limited group of people. Public access site, meaning no gate telling you when late is too late. We stopped by just to check on conditions. The water was just TOO tempting, we couldn't help ourselves!!! So after driving three hours to Vortex, our dive at Vortex, and almost the whole three hours back -- at about 8pm after a long day... we stood staring at that amazing water. The first thing out of my mouth was "well I still have 2000 pounds left. You?". So shortly after we were gearing up by the side of road!!! There have been many times where I'm driving along somewhere and see water and thing "damn, I should dive that right now". Actually doing that, feels great!!! Carpe Diem!!! ... oopps, this was a night dive.... ahhh.... Carpe Nocturne!!!
On New Years Day, I want to know we thought about ya'll diving at Myerstown, doing the Chilli dive, watching the polar bears, freezing, crappy viz and gathering around the stove to keep warm. We thought about ya'll while diving in near gin-clear water that was 68F, the sun was out, not very many people were there, and we had one hell of dive!!!
Well this has been a novel!! It was a long week of diving. But it wouldn't a dive report without this closing: I have seen the springs, and the springs they are good!!!
Coming Attractions:
I realize that to some people me talking about how close my cave class is to coming up, I might start sounding like a politician.... always promising, never delivering. Well this time I couldn't be more serious!! The travel is no longer a problem, I moved to Florida. Gear is no longer a problem, I recently completed the overhaul of my gear and removed the last bit of it that was not fit to be cave. I found a shop I like and the people there, to do this right. Most importantly from my two most serious attempts of doing this before, I've had two different cave instructors tear apart my gear and one of those critique me in the water to tell me exactly what I was doing wrong. I've make those changes and spend a lot of time changing how I do things in the water. And my last semester of actual classes gives me the flexibility to do this over long weekends. My point is there's nothing left in my way!!!
The next dive report I send Mark is from my cave class!!! My schedule and the shop's class schedule should line sometime about Feb/March.
The Jan 1, 2006 Willow Spring Dive Report
By Bob Hanna, With Pictures By Terry Grogan
The basic facts are that somewhere between 50 and 100 divers primarily from Scuba Venture, Lancaster Scuba, Smokey's Divers Den, and Divers Descent were there. Over 90% were dry suit divers. The air temperature was 43, 44 by 9:30 AM when most of the divers were onsite and getting ready to dive. The water temperature was generally reported as 44. My dive with Gregg Bahney and Ralph Spayd lasted 38 minutes with a max depth of 40'. I dove with 32% Nitrox. and used about 50cf of air plus Argon for the Dry Suit. We started at the Lobster Dock, descended to the platform, took the rope over the torpedo that connected into a rope leading to the Quest. We did not go through the Quest because we did not bring lights. The VIZ through out the dive was in the 3-5' range. We went S off the Quest, around the fire truck, followed the southern wall E to a cabin cruiser, then a rope to the school bus and back to the platform. A 3 minute safety stop concluded the dive, and the fun began.
Next to the Lobster Dock (so named for an unknown reason) is a shack. It has a large cast iron wood stove. I brought Chili and put it on that wonderful stove before diving.
There has never been a formal Chili cook off on Jan 1. But many make a point of sampling all of the Chili's. If you want to get the local story on each recipe, all you have to do is ask or listen. Usually somebody brings meatballs, and somebody brings sauerkraut with dogs or sausages.
Of course there cookies. No one leaves hungry.
There really is a dive community out there. This is one of the few times where the gathering is primarily social. You will meet new people and can talk to those you meet. A lot of the divers come back on a regular basis. It takes a certain amount of nerve to go there the first time, but then you find what a generally nice bunch of people you are with. Subsequent outings are less stressful
Smokey's was well represented and Included: Bill Hockley, Bob Hanna, Ralph Spayd, Mike and Terry Grogran, John Gross, Bill Siwiec, Mark and his wife, Jeff and Kristi Rakos, Gerhard Maree, Hauck, Gregg Bahney, and I am certain others. Also present was the legendary Dive Truck running quite well with a new motor thanks to Mr. Zimmerman, a man of many talents.
And then there were the Polar Bears. They hit the water about noon. They are usually 3-500 in number, and the place is overflowing with polar bear watchers. It is a fun time for everybody and with some money freely donated at the gate that went entirely to an organization in Lebanon.
The Pictures by Terry Grogan in order are:(85) Polar Bears getting ready, (33) Ralph, Scubabob, Gregg and Mike, (24) The Dive Truck, (37) Jeff, Kristi and Bill, (27) Lobster Dock, Shack to the left, Smokey's Dive Truck behind trees, (15) Jeff, Kristi, Bill, John Gross [note the snow], and (88) Polar Bears in the Water
Get Out and Dive -- Live The Adventure!!!
Tom's Dominica Pictures
The Classroom
Hi Jim!!
Hi Mike!!
Checking out the Chili!!
Jeff, Kristy and Wild Bill
Ralph and Bill
Rick, Savannah and Karen
..and people think we're nuts.
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