What a Dive!!! That's me dekitting after our fun dive.

Global Underwater Explorers (GUE) Cave Level I training trip report, March 22nd-26th.

March 20th, Colorado Springs: Things did not get off to a good start. Having spent a week in Alaska with someone coughing up a storm, both my wife and I had started coughing and I had been running a low grade temperature on and off for a day or two. However, the cough had not involved my sinuses until today. Called Jarrod Jablonski about whether I should cancel or not and he suggested that I come and they'd skip any diving on the first day (so keep in mind the format I describe may be slightly different from how GUE normally teaches it). So on the 21st I was winging my way to Florida. Tom, my friend from Colorado that I was taking the class with, was out visiting relatives in West Palm Beach. He picked me up at the Orlando airport and off we went to High Springs.

Monday, March 22nd: 9am meeting at Ginnie Springs. There were three students - Myself, Tom and Jeffrey a guy from the Philippines that was over here in the US for a couple of months. Early morning was filling out the usual paperwork and then some. JJ and the other instructor that would be assisting, Ted Cole, got to know us and our level of experience. Most of the day was lecture - rule of thirds, how to calculate thirds with dissimilar tanks, hand signals, touch contact signals, cave formation, etc.

At this point JJ took off and Ted took us outside for line drills in the forest. We all got to practice running the reel, doing primary and secondary tie-offs, lost buddy drills, placing a line arrow on the line and tying off our safety spools (save yourself some aggravation and get a safety spool, not a safety reel) to it and "searching". We then did some zero visibility drills that convinced us that following the rule of thirds would get us killed if it were to drop to zero visibility at maximum penetration (it took us more than twice the time to follow the line with our eyes closed than open). This made us big believers inone of the restrictions of Cave Level I: Penetration is limited to only 1/6 of your air supply, not 1/3.

This was the end of day 1, which was good because I was starting to feel pretty fuzzy and a little chilled. We picked up some supplies from WinnDixie and I grabbed a thermometer from the drugstore next door and learned the bad news: A temperature of 101. I went downhill that evening, getting a splitting headache when I tried to read the GUE textbook (a draft copy, they're almost ready to put it to bed). Last thing I told Tom before I fell asleep was "Tom, it'll be a miracle if I can dive tomorrow."

Tuesday, March 23rd: An overnight miracle occurred. I sweated up a storm most of the night, but by the morning I woke up dry and feeling great! I had never had such an abrupt turn-around from being sick. At 9am we were at Ginnie. We got the tanks we were going to be using for the class, LP 95s (+ rating for a maximum fill pressure of 2640). We brought them into the fill room and put them in the water tank and asked them to fill them. The fill guy asked, "What do you want them filled to?" Having *never* been asked this question in Colorado, I found Ted and asked him what we wanted them filled to. His reply: "3300." I walked back into the fill station and with a straight a face as possible, bracing myself to be the butt of a joke such as asking for a sky hook or a tent stretcher, I said "Fill them to 3300" to which the response was "OK" as the guy cranked open the valve to the low pressure cascade. A few minutes later we were dragging three sets of cold LP 95 doubles out of the tank filled to 3300, for a total 237 cubic feet of air! During the week we never got a fill less than 3300. Our highest fill was 3500.

As an aside, because of the weight of doubles, no shop will handle them for you - you have to put them in the tank and take them out foryourself.

We headed down to Ginnie Spring for our first dives. First dive was in the Ginnie Spring cavern area. We went in, followed the novice line (about a 1" rope) into the first large room at which point Ted demonstrated the modified flutter kick and the frog kick, which we then emulated. Ted then laid a line around the open water area of the spring and we took off our masks, closed our eyes and followed it, practicing our zero-visibility techniques. We then did zero-visibility drills with two divers following the line using touch contact. For those of you that have been following this bulletin board for some time you may remember me talking about rolling to the right because of the weight of the canister light. It seems that with the canister light snugged up tight against the backplate with a second buckle this problem completely disappears. I had no need for a counterweight like I had in Colorado! We got out, topped off our tanks, JJ showed up and we headed over toDevil's Ear.

Before diving Devils Ear we did our distance swim test. We then geared up and practiced OOA and sharing air techniques by swimming across the Devil's Eye run and getting air from someone from the other side. Big lesson 1 - in a cave, don't exhale - you're not ascending to the surface, you're swimming horizontally to a donor! S-drills would continue to be our weak point during the week. GUE is really big on conservation, and though we had no problems getting air to the OOA diver, we usually changed depth when doing the exercise. Old habits die-hard and I have a tendency to start upright when deploying my long hose. I lost track during the week how many times Ted banged on my sknees to get them up.

We then dove Devil's Ear. First dive Tom was #1, Jeffrey #2 and I was #3. Devil's Ear really blows (experienced cave divers, cut me some slack here - we're beginners!) Tom set the reel at which point we turned the dive and came out. The next dive Jeffrey was #1, I was #2 and Tom moved to #3 and we did the same exercise. The third dive I was *supposed* to be #1, but my sinuses had had enough, and I couldn't get down. I could have pushed it, but that would have meant the end of diving for the week if I trashed my sinus, so end of day 1 for me.

The smiles on our face tells it all.

Wednesday, March 24th: JJ had left for Seattle, so Ted taught the rest of the week. Meet at Ginnie, overfill the tanks as usual and head to Peacock. First dive at Peacock was the Pothole Tunnel. I was #1, Jeffrey #2 and Tom #3. This was our first real penetration. At the point the dive was turned our primary lights started failing (well, actually Ted was turning them off :-)). We deployed our backup lights, and started out of the cave. Then the backups "failed" plunging usinto darkness. This is where I made one of my two potentially fatal mistakes. I was floating there, actually enjoying the solitude and darkness when finally the voice of reason finally made it through: "In zero visibility your hand should be on the line!" I started down and to the right where I knew the line was - a flash from Ted trying to figure out where the hell I was let me see that I was heading in the right direction - the line was about 6" from my hand. I latched on, got in touch contact with Jeffrey and gave him a shove to start out. I felt like an idiot - when the backup lights started failing I should have closed on and gotten in touch contact with the line at minimum, and probably grabbed it. We moved along for quite some time, negotiating line wraps, changing which side of the line we were on, stopping and starting, etc. Ted turned on the lights and we continued on. At one point we had finished another drill (by the way, I'm not going to describe all the drills by any means, making stupid mistakes like the one I had just done under controlled conditions is an excellent teacher) and I was facing Jeffrey (#2) and Tom (#3). Tom suddenly was "out of air." Jeffrey was facing away from him so I was aware of the situation first so I gave Tom my long hose and moved immediately behind Tom (donor follows in a OOA situation). Jeffrey, unaware that we were sharing air started moving into the #2 position between the two of us - just as the lights went out again.

Great, I know that Jeffrey's between an OOA diver and the donor, Tom's in front wondering why my long hose is so short and Jeffrey thinks everything's OK because we're all in touch contact. In zero visibility there's no way to communicate with either of them to tell them of the problem. I give Jeffrey a shove and off we go. It worked, barely, and in the briefing we found out how to solve the problem (take the class to discover the fix :-)). Our dubious claim to fame is that Ted said he never saw that happen before (diver between the donor and OOA diver).

We surface, debrief and botch more S drills :-( and dive the Peanut Tunnel. More exercises in the tunnel. We then head to Dive Outpost and get our tanks over filled again and head to Telford. Telford is anasty, low, silty spring that has broken bottles all over the bottom at the entrance that encourages good buoyancy control. I get to run the gap spool over the first sink. At the far side both of my calves cramp for some reason. By the time I solve the problem it's time to turn the dive and we head out amidst more exercises - never did tie off on the line on the other side of the sink :-(.

Thursday, March 25th: Little River. We do a ton of S drills. We're getting better but Ted's disappointment is evident. We thought Devil's Ear blew. Little River is like trying to dive into a hurricane. I'm #1 and struggle big time to get our line run into the main line. Just as I'm tying off one fin strap slips off the buckle (I had been meaning to wire tie them) and I signal Tom, the #2 diver who grabs it. I finish the tie off, Tom rethreads the strap and I pivot around and shove my un-finned foot in his face. I feel the fin get shoved on my foot, I pull on the strap and we continue the dive. Potentially fatal error #2 - I fail to check my air at this point after struggling to put in the line, losing my fin, etc. When someone turns the dive I look at my air - well below my turnaround point. Nothing slips by Ted and I hear about it on the surface. I feel like an idiot and learn another valuable lesson. That night I do all my equipment modifications that I had been putting off - punching holes in my hood to vent air, wire tying my fin straps and tightening my shoulder straps.

Friday, March 26th: The written test in the morning. Multiple choice as well as written answers. This ain't no PADI test. After the test we head back out to the Peacock area and dive Orange Grove sink, otherwise known to us a the duckweed hole :-). More S drills. They're starting to work finally. Tom's #1 and runs the reel in - we almost do the siphon side until Ted gets us on track on the spring side. There's quite a bit of penetration in this cave before hitting the main line. Just as Tom ties off we call the dive and exit leaving the reel in. On the way out Tom's right post blows an O ring (simulated). He closes the right post and switches to his backup regulator and moves to the center of the team, but does not effectively communicate his non-working primary regulator to Jeffrey, now in the #1 position (at the end on the way out). Just inside the cave entrance Jeffrey has an OOA situation and goes to Tom who can't help him. Tom shoves him toward me and flashes his light. I turn, donate my long hose and switch to mybackup. It may not have been a picture perfect OOA donation, but it finally worked - we were in a fairly low area and didn't go up or down or kick up silt. I was a happy camper. On the surface Ted teaches us a hand signal you won't find in any book to communicate that a piece of equipment is screwed up. Jeffrey gets the duckweed king award, coming out with more duckweed than I think the other two of us had on us total:-).

Last instructional dive; Jeff's #1 and leads the dive. When we turn the dive all of us are completely stressed out knowing that this is the last time Ted can hose us over. Ted does the worst possible thing to really mess with us: Absolutely nothing. :-). We complete the dive, the class is over and we all are painfully aware of our weaknesses and what we need to practice.

All in all an excellent class. I was greatly humbled. I did not do as well as I figured I would do and I have lots of stuff to work on. The two potentially fatal mistakes (as well as dozen of less critical ones) make up some painful memories, which make the lessons even more powerfully learned. They will not be forgotten. GUE is not like the kinder, gentler PADI. If you screw up you get told about it in front of all your peers. It smarts but then a cave is not a place for kinder, gentler teaching. As much as it hurt I appreciated it. All of it. I highly recommend GUE for training if you're very serious about your diving.

Which now brings us to Saturday, March 27th, which was the pleasure dive!

Saturday, March 27th: Tom started having an ear ache Friday night so he sat out the Saturday dives, so it was Jeffrey and I. The night before we had talked about the various options and decided to dive Peacock's Peanut tunnel since it was a shallower tunnel with low flow so our dive would be longer. We had also already dived it during the class so we were familiar with it. Showing up at Peacock I had 3300 and Jeffrey 3500 psi. We decided to do two dives. First dive would be to set the reel into the main line. We were hoping to do this on less than 300 psi so we'd have a starting 3000 psi for the actual penetration dive,giving us 500 psi for penetration. We suited up and entered the Peacock Spring and did our S drills, which improve with each exercise. We looked down at the Peanut entrance; the water was not as clear as during the week because there were a number of divers in the system this being the weekend. As I bobbed on the surface I checked out what was 30 feet below me: Two reels lead off to the left toward the Peanut tunnel and one to the right to the deeper Pothole tunnel. We discussed the plan: Set the reel and then back to the surface without any safety stop because the dive was to be very shallow and short. We did our last checks, flipped on our primary lights and... Jeffrey's didn't come on. The bulb had burned out. Fortunately he had a spare in his canister and with Tom's help who was hanging out around the spring we had the bulb replaced and we were ready to go.

While the bulb replacement was going on a team of three scooter divers came out of the Peanut tunnel and started their safety stop/decompression. Since the quarters were a bit cramped with three divers and three scooters, Jeffrey and I waited at the surface. Justas the scooter divers got out of the way another team of two divers showed up and started their safety stop. They were there for only a shorttime before they surfaced. I looked below. The two reels were still in place. If those two teams had run their own reels, like they should have, they had left their reels in place for a later dive and thePeanut tunnel would be all ours! We could only hope.

Jeffrey and I submerged for our reel placement dive. I gently drifted downwards toward the log that we would tie off to. The other two reels lead off to the left side of the tunnel, so I would try taking a direct shot into the main line so I didn't have to cross the existing lines. I was surprised how relaxed I was and how much I was thinking in advance without performance pressure on me in the form of Ted (not that that was bad during the training phase!). I halted my descent just above the tree, helicoptered into a better position and prepared to make our primary tie off. I hung midwater not touching anything perfectly positioned for the tie off. I hung the lighthead around my neck so it illuminated the log. Jeffrey was in an excellent position in front of me and shining his light on the log as well. The primary tie-off area was so completely and well-lighted that the primary tie off was easily accomplished.

I passed the line around the log and passed the reel through the loop and pulled it tight. Two more wraps of the line around the log and the primary was complete. I helicoptered around to face the cave and swam another fifteen feet or so and spotted a good spot for the secondary tie-off. Again hanging mid-water I completed the secondary with my primary light hung over my neck and Jeffrey's illumination. I moved my primary light to the same hand that was holding the reel and continued my swim toward the tunnel entrance, placing the line behind small outcroppings to keep it close to the bottom to avoid entanglement problems if the visibility were to deteriorate. I caught myself holding the reel too close to me and corrected this by holding it out to the side to avoid entangling the line in my equipment. I looked at the other two lines that were to my left. They went beyond a large rock that was directly in front of me and then both took a sharp bend to the right. I guessed the main line started on the other side of the rock. Placing the line at the base of the rock I took a larger-than-normal breath and elevatored to the top of the rock, exhaled and gave a light frog kick. As I cleared the far edge of the rock I was looking down at the main line with two reels tied into it. Choosing the lesser of two evils (we were taught to try to never cross lines and to try to tie into the main line a little ways away from the end) I decided to avoid the crossovers and tie into the very end of the main line. I helicoptered around to face the rock, exhaled and dropped down to tie the reel into the line. Because the main line was in a slight depression surrounded by rocks I allowed myself to lightly rest on the rocks as I tied our reel into the main line, again assisted by Jeffrey's light. With our reel tied in, I looked up at Jeffrey and gave the thumbs-up sign to call the dive and we headed out along the line that I just laid. We surfaced and looked at the good news - the dive took 12 minutes and I had a little more than 3000psi left, Jeffrey about 3200. We had our 500 psi of penetration gas that we wanted! We bobbed at the surface for 10 minutes so our Data +s would consider the second dive a separate dive. We reviewed our dive plan - penetrate as long as we had penetration gas and strive for a unhurried but constant pace. As soon as the computers stared scrolling at the end of ten minutes I asked him "Are you ready?" and with a grin as big as mine he said "Yup!" We put the regulators into our mouths, dumped our wings and submerged.

We descended to our primary tie-off and followed our line to the main line. I found where he was shining his light and circled his illuminated spot with my light "Ok?" His light then circled "Ok" in response. With a good frog kick we were into the tunnel. Visibility was not as good as during the week, after all, at least five divers had already been in and out of the tunnel before we started in, reducing the visibility to a "miserable" 75 feet or so - still more than our lights could illuminate :-). We passed the warning signs that are found at the entrances to many Florida caves. The tunnel starts out about 10 feet high and 20 feet across for the first hundred or so feet, then becomes a bit undecided over what it should be like until it sorts itself out at about 200 to 300 feet in. Our progress was marked by line arrows pointing the way out on the main line that have the distance to the mouth of the cave written on them. In the 200 to 300 foot range the cave finally decides what to settle down into - a crescent shaped passage somewhat like a quarter moon with its points pointing down.This crescent shaped tunnel was the result of the conduit about 20 feet below us collapsing. Occasionally huge cracks were in the floor allowed us to look down to where the original conduit probably was. The height in this section is about 4 feet and the width is about 15-20 feet though only about 5 to 7 feet of that width is usable for the passage of a diver. Both the roof and the floor are rock here with no silt. No matter, Ted had taught us well and Jeffrey and I cruised through this section without touching the floor or ceiling except once: there was an interesting optical illusion in this section tunnel. I could have sworn that it was sloping upwards at about a 20-30 degree angle. Attempting to stay ahead of the expanding air in my BC I started occasionally dumping air. I finally had to put a finger down on the rock and stop my descent, at which point I added air to my BC. I now checked my depth gauge - about 35 feet. I swam "upwards" some more and checked my depth gauge - still 35 feet! We weren't going up, my eyes were playing a trick on me! A little past the 500 foot mark we entered a small breakdown room. This is how far we had gotten during the class. I looked at my air -so far I had only used 200 psi. I gave Jeffrey an Ok? To which he responded Ok. I turned my attention to the short chimney to my right that the main line led down. With an exhale I started my descent. After about 20 feet a puff of air in the dry suit and BC stopped my descent a few feet above a silty floor. In front of me, as far as my light could penetrate was a classic upside-down U shaped tunnel that was the main conduit for Peacock Spring! A fog kick cleared the area for Jeffrey who soon joined me, his light probing forward and into the distance just as I had done at my arrival here just a few seconds before. The silt below us revealed us the evidence of others who did not have the buoyancy control that Ted had demanded from us - hand prints in the silt where people had landed unable to arrest their descent down the chimney as well as scrapes where sloppily stowed equipment had dragged through the mud.

Now at about 55 feet our air consumption would increase, no time to dally. I chose a depth just above the main line so I could look up at the walls and ceiling of the conduit. Jeffrey and I continued forward, passing the 600 foot marker that was located near the bottom of the chimney. The main line zigzags occasionally from one side of the tunnel to the other in this part of the tunnel. Enraptured by the scalloping on the undulating walls and the simple, stark beauty of this section cave I lost track of time for a few moments. I finally came back to my senses to see another line arrow. Checking my air pressure I made a guess: "About 200 feet more. Too bad this is only 700 feet." As I passed the line arrow I was pleasantly surprised to see something I didn't expect: 800 feet! Somewhere while I was lost immersed in the beauty of the cave we had passed the 700 foot arrow! I ever so slightly picked up the pace without increasing my breathing rate. I knew my air was going to be the limiting factor on the dive, Jeffrey was smaller and much younger than I was.

Except for the sounds of my bubbles, the cave slid quietly by. To some I'm sure it would look unchanging. To me the subtle differences inwall formations, conduit size and shape and deposits on the floor kept me riveted to the changing scene. 900 feet. A glance at my gauge neither disappointed me nor gave me reassurance. I still had air, but for how much longer? Up ahead the conduit opened into a larger room with a ledge jutting out from the left. On the line were two arrows. I had not seen two arrows arranged like this before. Nothing was written on them. I cast my light forward and about 15 feet ahead there was a single arrow - could it be? I swam forward and turned the arrow over in my hand - on it was marked "1000." I glanced at my gauge and it told me exactly what I expected - time to turn the dive. I got Jeffrey's attention and showed him the arrow, then gave him the "thumbs-up" to call the dive. I'm sure he could see the grin in my eyes as much as I could see it in his. He gave a thumbs-up in response. As we turned around he flashed me to get my attention and then illuminated a line and arrow under the ledge that had been on my left as we had entered the room right where the two line arrows were located - the jump to the tunnel that lead to the Waterhole III sink. I figured those two arrows meant something!

Now we got to enjoy the "other side" of the cave on the way out. We quickly arrived at the chimney and ascended to the crescent shaped tunnel at 35 feet. Compared to the conduit this part of the cave was no where near as exciting as it had been on the way in. Reaching the end of the main line I unclipped the reel from the line and reeled it in, Jeffrey removing the line from the placements just before I got to them in a textbook manner. A quick stop at the secondary tie-off to exchange Oks and we were at the primary tie-off which was removed without a problem. We then rose to 15 feet for our safety stop. While stopped here we shook hands on our accomplishment. Six minutes later we were on the surface exchanging high fives. Our first "on our own" cave dive had gone without a hitch and, as I had hoped, we had the cave to ourselves for the entire dive! Dive time: 1 hour and 2 minutes. My final pressure was 1800 psi, so I had used 1200 on the dive, 500 in, 700 out that included removing the reel and the safety stop.

Disappointed that it was the last cave dive we were going to be able to do for some time, Jeffrey and I got out of the water and broke down our equipment.

Now I'm back at work trying to figure out how to get out to Florida again without my wife divorcing me :-)

Where to stay: We stayed in High Springs at the High Springs CountryInn (904-454-1565). I *highly* recommend the place. Very clean and caters to divers with a hose to rinse suits and equipment and places to hangit outside your room to dry. About two short blocks East on the otherside of the road is the Parkside Restaurant, a pancake-and-eggs-type place that is very reasonable and quick. We ate breakfast there most mornings. However, because the Parkside is the antithesis of vegetarian, it is not GUE approved J. There's a WinnDixie about three long blocks West of the Country Inn where you can buy sandwich stufffor your lunch as well as other sundry supplies. All in all the HighSprings Country Inn (about $50/night for two people, two beds) was an excellent place to stay.