Purple Wing

Wild Pigs of Buenos Aires

2009-12-24T20:20:00.012Z

March 20, 2009Morning came to soon for my head ached and my throat was on fire I desperately needed more rest before facing a day of travel. I put on a happy face and tackled organizing our bags in preparation for three more days of travel before we would be back home again.We had an uneventful flight from Ushuaia to the intense heat of Buenos Aires. It was a relief to return to the Babel Hotel

Return to Ushuaia

2009-11-25T11:37:00.013Z

March 19, 2009 After disembarking from the Professor Molchanov Steve and I piled into a taxi and headed up the hillside to the Bella Visita Hotel. This time our room had a view of the stunning harbor aptly named Tierra del Fuego. The surrounding towering mountains jutting up into the low hanging clouds do look as if they are belching smoke. As I began to relax from the morning’s ordeals the

Return Through The Drake Passage

2009-10-20T16:39:00.008+01:00

March 17-18, 2009 Our captain charted a course back through the notorious Drake Passage to Ushuaia. We had been blessed on first crossing with relatively mild seas therefore we were hoping for an uneventful two days. Steve and I dutifully applied our seasickness patches hours before the obvious rocking of the boat announced we were sailing once again in open water. For next two days always

Melchior Islands Zodiac Cruise

2009-10-11T12:49:00.007+01:00

March 16, 2009 As we approached the tiny cluster of Melchior Islands the sky was beginning to clear and a wonderful blue sky would crown our last zodiac cruise of this incredible polar adventure. The Melchior Islands are situated in a channel between Anvers and Brabant Islands. A picturesque bright red Argentinean research station is situated on the only flat area available. Melchior IslandsThis

Danco Island

2009-09-20T19:10:00.009+01:00

March 16, 2009 Delphine’s lovely voice roused me from sleep. This was going to be our last full day in Antarctica and it was jammed packed. Steve and I decided to forgo diving and instead enjoy one more penguin encounter before heading home. We donned our multilayered land clothes and joined the others in the zodiacs heading to Danco Island. Unfortunately, even though it had stopped snowing the

Snowy Barbecue

2009-09-13T12:43:00.010+01:00

March 15, 2009 A snowstorm was not going to cancel our plans for an outdoor barbecue. After all we were in Antarctica surrounded by snow. We had been looking forward to this treat for days. The intoxicating smells of slow cooking meat filling the air all afternoon reminded me of our ritual after a great cave dive in Florida of chowing down on barbecue at Sonny’s. Hungry after a busy day diving

Diving Paradise Bay

2009-08-31T10:29:00.012+01:00

March 15, 2009 I was so jazzed up from the great dive with the Leopard seal that my mood was contagious enough to convince Steve to go diving again after lunch. Therefore before we got out of our dry suits we went back out into the sleeting snow to prepare our gear for the next dive. Hot showers and warm clothes along with a hearty lunch put me in the perfect mood for a nap. While I snuggled

Lair of the Leopard Seal

2009-08-17T20:39:00.016+01:00

March 15, 2009 Too soon Delphine’s sweet voice roused me for breakfast. It was evident by the somber manner in which we assembled around the table that all of us were still groggy with sleep, but after the first reviving sips of coffee or tea our eager chatter reflected that we were again energized for another great day in the Antarctic. Early in the morning we sailed further north to Petermann

There She Blows!

2009-08-15T17:44:00.012+01:00

March 14, 2009 Steve and I decided after spending most of the day outside in the cold that a sauna would be enjoyable before dinner. It felt wonderful to let the dry heat seep into our tired and chilled bodies. As we were heading back to our cabin the excited cry of “WHALES!” brought everyone including the entire staff outside. Humpback WhalesTwo Humpback whales were about 100 feet (30 meters)

Warm Welcome at Vernadsky Station

2009-08-12T17:39:00.017+01:00

March 14, 2009 Steve and I had made several dive trips to the remote village of Bunaw, Ireland where the pub/inn/post office displays prominently “NO DRY SUITS ALLOWED” on the front door next to a few pegs and a convenient bench. The folks at Vernadsky Research Station shared this philosophy about “drippy” cold divers. We were welcome, but only in our underwear. Therefore we stashed in our dry

Diving at Vernadsky Station

2009-08-07T14:26:00.014+01:00

March 14, 2009 After our morning cruise around beautiful Duchaylard Island Steve and I joined the other passengers for a delicious hot lunch aboard the ship. While we enjoyed our meal we sailed the short distance North to Vernadsky Station operated by the Ukrainians. The ship’s staff was enthusiastically looking forward to the visit since the Ukrainians have proven to be charming hosts and

Duchaylard Island Zodiac Cruise

2009-07-31T17:20:00.010+01:00

March 14, 2009 I awoke from a deep sleep to Delphine’s pleasant voice calling us to an early breakfast. I was energized by the beautiful, clear blue sky and excited about another jammed packed day ahead of me. During the night the captain had turned our ship around and we began the return trip North. Our first stop would be a stunning cruise through an iceberg sculpture gallery near Duchaylard

Detaille Island Zodiac Cruise

2009-07-27T12:10:00.012+01:00

March 13, 2009 Steve and I heard the announcement for the last zodiac cruise around Detaille Island just as we were struggling out of our dry suits from our iceberg dive. We promptly forgot our numb fingers and faces as we hurriedly scrambled out of our diving layers and into the many layers of our landing clothes. Grabbing our camera and life vests we hurried down the ship’s corridors meeting

Evan’s Record-Breaking Antarctic Dive

2009-07-22T18:45:00.004+01:00

March 13, 2009 11-year-old Evan Bozanic was the youngest person on board. He accompanied his father, Jeff, on this incredible adventure to the Antarctic. A year before the scheduled departure date Evan, already an accomplished diver, expressed his desire to dive in the frigid waters to his father. Evan accepted the hard work and dedication required in meeting the challenge of mastering the skills

Diving Around an Iceberg

2009-07-21T16:41:00.009+01:00

March 13, 2009 Icebergs are floating masses of freshwater ice in the ocean. They vary in size from immense sections measuring several miles in diameter to several storied chunks. These humongous ice sculptures are in continuous movement floating at the whim of the ocean’s prevailing wind and current. Bobbing up and down, moving side by side, and at times flipping completely over as they melt

The Polar Circle

2009-07-17T18:17:00.014+01:00

March 13, 2009 Delphine’s cheerful voice roused me out of my warm, comfortable bunk with the announcement that we were fast approaching the polar circle. Steve and I began the routine of climbing into the layers of clothes. Gone were our Florida days of throwing on a tee and a pair of shorts. Still groggy with sleep the cold snapped me to full attention as I joined the others on the bow to

Palmer Station

2009-07-15T17:46:00.018+01:00

March 12, 2009 Palmer Station is the smallest of the three permanent U.S. research stations in Antarctica. The National Science Foundation funds its research in marine, terrestrial and atmospheric science. A visit to this remote station was quite a treat since they allow only 12 ships to visit per year. The smaller boats such as ours can send in zodiacs for land tours of the facilities. The

Port Lockroy at Jougla Point

2009-07-13T10:20:00.020+01:00

March 12, 2009We awoke early to find the boat anchored at Port Lockroy. On hearing Delphine's pleasant call to breakfast we stumbled out of our cabin and joined the others to be briefed on the possibilities of the day. Delphine was pleased to announce that we would indeed visit the Palmer research station. I was extremely excited to visit the smallest American research post in Antarctica funded

Deception Island

2009-07-09T20:58:00.008+01:00

March 11, 2009 During lunch we had sailed to the eastern side of the Shetlands into Deception Island’s Whalers Bay. With jutting rocky edges the bay is formed by an active volcanic crater whose last eruption was in 1967. This protected, tranquil bay with its shore strewn with the remnants of the whalers’ trade was the location of our check out dive. All those not diving went to visit the abundant

Barrientos Island

2009-06-29T16:11:00.033+01:00

March 11, 2009 During the night the boat had dropped anchor near the tiny Aitcho Islands, which are part of the South Shetland Islands. Upon awakening I peered out our porthole to discover our ship was floating serenely in a white cloud. We were completely engulfed in a dense fog. The closest island Barrientos was a ghostly dark smug in the distance. Since the ship had stopped rocking I enjoyed

The Drake Passage

2009-06-18T18:15:00.013+01:00

March 9-10, 2009 First Day at SeaDuring the night our ship sailed smoothly out of the calm seas of the Beagle Channel. By daybreak we were on the rolling ocean of the notorious Drake Passage. I needed no announcement from Delphine that we had entered the Passage for I was instantly awake when my knee slammed into the side of the small confines of my bunk. Our ship would pitch and roll about on

Finally!

2009-06-09T14:16:00.026+01:00

We returned from Antarctica to face another international move. We had only just returned to our hometown, Washington, DC for ten short months after a seven-year absence. It seemed improbable that yet again we were leaving. All moves are not only disruptive but require twice reconciling oneself as to why you own something—when putting it in a box and again when taking it out. Our container had

All Aboard

2009-05-19T09:38:00.019+01:00

March 8, 2009Our excitement was building in direct proportion to our anxiety, as we were finally about to board the ship. Having never been on a cruise I had vague expectations. Steve was extremely anxious about becoming seasick. Unfortunately, as we were checking out of our hotel we met a couple, who had just return from crossing the Drake Passage. The woman went into sickening detail about

A Day in Ushuaia—Hiking Glacier Martial

2009-05-04T13:20:00.007+01:00

March 8, 2009 We discovered that our clocks were still set to Buenos Aires time when we showed up to breakfast an hour early. We were rewarded by our early arrival to breakfast with the stunning view of the harbor at sunrise. Our room was situated on the opposite side of the hotel facing the mountains. Leaving our massive pile of luggage in the hotel lobby we headed off to spend the day hiking

My Special Friday

2009-04-30T00:23:00.016+01:00

I read somewhere, possibly The Washington Post, that 2009 is the year of slow blogging but this particularly long gap in my posts deserves an explanation. Immediately upon our return from Antarctica Steve and I began yet another international move. Yep, that’s right we are leaving Washington, D.C. after a brief 10 months stay to live in St. Neots, England. Although each of these contributed—it

Ushuaia— The End of the World the Beginning of Everything

2009-03-29T18:51:00.008+01:00

March 7, 2009So far there had been only minor glitches in our travel. One expensive mistake was I had packed three heavy bags instead of dividing the weight over four. Delta allows two bags each weighing less than 50 lb or 30 kilo per passenger. The two dive bags each weighed over 50 lbs. This mistake cost us $300 to fly to Buenos Aries on Delta. As usual I came up with a solution to late.

Buenos Aires—Behind Closed Doors

2009-03-23T16:08:00.006Z

March 6, 2009Hungry and tired from our travels we headed off for an early dinner around 8 pm. Night had fallen and the streets took on a different feel. Gone were the press of cars, motorbikes and people rushing past on their errands. Instead everything seemed to have slowed down to a stroll. The rumble of traffic and honking horns were replaced with muted conversations surrounded by music and

A Perfect Fall Day in Buenos Aires

2009-03-06T21:37:00.003Z

March 5, 2009The plane dipped down out of the clouds to a blood red sunrise and a fog covered Buenos Aires. We traversed the airport and customs without incident. The cheerful woman at the information desk supplied us with a general guide and walking map. The hotel I had booked was indeed in a convenient area of the city. We are staying at the Babel Hotel in the San Telmo section of the city. It

Antarctica Expedition Cruise Itinerary

2009-03-05T21:37:00.012Z

My fascination with diving has always been that I get to visit places where humans are aliens. Each dive is a mere glimpse at a world I cannot live in. As a diver I am destined to be forever a tourist. Antarctica is also such a world. All inhabitants are either air or sea based creatures because the Antarctic is to harsh for any creature to not have a means of escape. This mythical and extreme

Preparing for Antarctica

2009-03-04T10:29:00.020Z

As our trip to Antarctica draws near we have been focusing on fine-tuning our equipment and diving skills in frigid water. With each and every dive I wonder what am I thinking traveling to the remote bottom of the world and spending all this money to basically freeze my butt off. This is NUTS! But then I meet someone who has been and see their face instantly light up from the memories. Or I

Mt. Storm—President’s Weekend

2009-03-03T01:41:00.016Z

To get in a few more cold-water dives we headed to Mt. Storm, West Virginia for the three-day President’s weekend. The cooling lake of the Mt. Storm’s power plant is guaranteed to be ice-free with average water temperatures in the winter around 50 degrees. Although warm it is high altitude diving. Mt. Storm is over 3,000 ft in altitude.When diving at higher altitudes the risks of decompression

Hanging by a Rope

2009-02-19T09:59:00.016Z

Somewhere along the line Steve and I crossed over from open water into technical diving. My first certification dive was in the cold waters of the Bainbridge quarry. I was miserable and hated the experience, but not enough to put me off from diving. With less than 20 dives logged Steve and I purchased our dry suits. Protected in a warm dry suit water temperature became a moot point. I guess that

Chilly Willy Dives

2009-01-31T19:43:00.013Z

Until April there will be a brief deviation in this blog from cave diving to polar diving. We are scheduled to dive the Antarctic Peninsula with Oceanwide Expeditions aboard the Professor Molchanov from March 8 through to the 19th. To date we have made three trips to the Bainbridge Quarry in Pennsylvania to prepare for polar diving in 30º to 32º (All temperatures are in Fahrenheit.) water. This

Happy Anniversary

2009-01-10T20:35:00.010Z

A year has passed and I still do not have my Abe Davis. The move to DC from Tampa guaranteed I would not accomplish 100 cave dives in a year. Oh well, every one of the 67 cave dives I did accomplish were a blast. I know I am a better diver than I was a year ago.The original purpose of this blog was to keep a record of our dives to submit with my application for the Abe Davis Award. Over the past

Dive #67 The Grand Traverse

2009-01-07T23:02:00.003Z

Steve decided we had just enough time to do the Grand Traverse before the park closed. I was feeling refreshed after my nap. Sure, why not. BUT! I wanted to be sure he would not continue if his neck seal felt even a tiny bit too tight. Once I extracted a promise from Steve I agreed to the plan. We settled Kee-Wa back into the cabin and dashed off to Peacock Springs.The PlanSteve was going to lead

Dive #66 The Spring Tunnel

2009-01-02T20:33:00.025Z

The next morning, Steve decided to try and fix his leaking, exhaust valve on his new Santi suit. Rick, one of guys staying in the cabin next to us, joined Steve on our porch and the two of them tackled the valve on the suit. Steve started to remove the valve only to find that after three turns he was actually tightening it onto the suit. What a surprise! They took the valve apart, seeing

Dive #65 Peacock Spring III

2008-12-30T20:39:00.012Z

The night before Forrest Wilson transferred onto my flash disk a folder full of cave maps during Christmas dinner. One was an excellent copy of Peacock III. I had spent the morning studying it and wanted to explore some of the side passages ways. We made a dive plan over lunch. We tucking the puppy back into the cabin and headed off to the park.The parking lot was full. Good thing we were

Dive # 64 Back To The Well

2008-12-30T20:25:00.004Z

The next day we trimmed Steve’s neck seal about a quarter of an inch. He said it was still tight but was alright to dive. The neck was extremely tall and rolled over itself several times. Each roll over made the seal tighter and tighter against his neck. He decided to make the dive in the new suit. We still felt we should play it safe and do a short dive. We chose The Well, which is a great

Dive # 63 Merry Christmas

2008-12-30T20:01:00.027Z

We arrived in Luraville, Florida on Christmas day overflowing with excitement to try out our new dry suits and dive back into the caves. Steve had purchased a Santi suit on our last trip here, but had not worn it yet. He had Tim at Splash Dive shop in VA install integrated gloves on it. I had ordered back in October an Otter suit from Martin Robson, who lives in the UK. He had brought my suit

Dive # 62 The Well

2008-12-11T01:17:00.003Z

We wanted to end our trip on an upbeat note so we decided to try to find the entrance to the tunnel to The Well. We attempted this dive on our first day but the reel was too short. We went back into the cave better prepared.The PlanThe tunnel to The Well is in the Peacock I Spring System. The jump is not marked. It is on the main gold line heading to Olsen Sink. The tunnel is on the right within

Dive #61 Manatee Springs

2008-12-11T00:47:00.005Z

The next day was dreary, dark and rainy as we headed off early to Manatee Spring. That morning while I was walking Kee-Wa the wind was picking up and the weather was starting to change. As we were driving to the springs we drove under the clear line of a storm front. Fine clear sky to the left and threatening dark gray clouds to the right. By the time we arrived at the springs it was pouring

Dive #60 Henley’s Castle

2008-12-06T22:19:00.003Z

This was a dive Steve had been planning to make on this trip. To get to Henley’s Castle requires a jump from the main line in the large break down room, which is about 1200 ft back inside Peacock III.The PlanThe depth at Henley’s Castle is 187 ft. We expected the dive to be about 90 min.We prepared 21/33 tri-mix for our back gas and we each had an aluminum 80 tank of 32 nitrox for travel gas

Dives #58-59 Ginny Springs

2008-12-06T20:57:00.014Z

We got up early ready to go diving. I walked Kee-Wa back to the spring behind the Dive Outpost. It is a peaceful way to begin the day. We enjoyed a cup of coffee while we packed up our gear into the car. We were going to dive Ginny SpringsOnce we finally arrived at Ginny Springs the park was busy with an assortment of divers many of whom were taking open water or cavern classes. We had used a

Dive #57 Thanksgiving Day Dive

2008-12-06T20:40:00.005Z

Steve needed to replace the worn out webbing on his harness. We knew this would require some adjustments and reconfiguring once the webbing was wet. Therefore for our first dive we thought we would poke around the entrance to Peacock Springs.We had to be out of the water by 5pm. Our plan was to do timed dive to be sure we were out of the water by 5pm.We thought it would be fun to visit The Well

Over Hill, Over Dale Through Four States We Go

2008-12-06T20:36:00.007Z

Both Steve and I have been working hard for long hours seven days a week since our last trip to cave country. We were desperately looking forward to leaving Washington and all our cares behind for the long holiday weekend of doing nothing but cave diving. We planned to leave straight after work on Wednesday and drive home on Monday.I packed the car and did assorted errands during the day on

Dive #56 Nicholson Tunnel

2008-10-15T19:17:00.004+01:00

We wanted to make one more dive before heading home. We decided a loop from Nicholson to Cisteen back to the mainline would be the perfect final dive of our trip.The PlanThe plan was to go past the Nicholson tunnel put in a reel from Cisteen tunnel to the main line then go back to the Nicholson tunnel put in a reel and then make a visual jump from Nicholson to the Cisteen.The DiveWe got to

Dive #55 The Crypt

2008-10-15T18:47:00.003+01:00

We decided that a fun extended dive with the stage bottles would be to go to the Crypt. We had been past the jump to the Crypt when we did the Cisteen Tunnel with Peter back in July.The PlanOur dive plan was to go up the Peanut line make a visual jump to the Crossover Tunnel. Pick up our reel left from the day before connecting the Crossover tunnel to the mainline. Drop our stage bottles on the

Dive #54 Madison Blue

2008-10-15T16:20:00.004+01:00

We rented stage bottles so that we could make a couple of extended dives. We headed off to Madison Blue for our morning dive. Once there the gauge was not working properly on one of the stage bottles. Therefore we planned a shorter dive.The PlanWe decided to do the Godzilla room circuit.We walked down to the water to see that the flow was strong enough to have just then push a diver past the

Dive #53 Crossover Tunnel

2008-10-15T16:04:00.003+01:00

We needed a decent surface interval after our long morning dive. We had lunch while my tanks drained. We replaced the other burst disk and got another great fill from Cathy.We decided that a shorter dive would be a wise choice. We knew we had to be out of the water by 5pm. We decided that the Crossover Tunnel would be fun.The DiveWe headed up the mainline to about 200 feet short of Olsen Sink.

Dive #52 Waterhole

2008-10-15T01:53:00.006+01:00

The night before my burst disk blew when Cathy was filling my tanks. We replaced the one that blew. I did not want to empty completely my tanks so I decided that on my next fill I was going to replace the burst disk on the other side.The PlanSteve was not able to go on the dive with Peter and I due to the torn neck seal on his dry suit so he wanted to dive the tunnel to Waterhole. We planned to

Dive # 51 Cow Spring

2008-10-15T00:23:00.008+01:00

Our first dive was at Cow Spring owned by the NSS. The spring was clear as a bell and looked like a piece of turquoise tinted glass was covering the surface. We were excited to be back at the caves and quickly geared up to get into the water.I led the dive. It was my first time running a reel into Cow. I made the first turn and then did not make the next turn correctly. I headed into a blind area

Columbus Day Holiday

2008-10-15T00:15:00.006+01:00

Another three-day weekend we stretched into a four-day cave diving trip to North Florida. After work on Thursday night we headed south while listening to NPR spouting doom and gloom financial reports. We were eager to leave the city behind.The Dive Outpost was book solid so we had reservations at the Lafayette house, which was also to maximum capacity due to the town of Mayo celebrating Pioneer

Dive # 50 Waterhole

2008-09-04T19:18:00.005+01:00

We planned on getting to Peacock Springs when it opened at 8 am to fit in one more dive before driving home. We started off fine and headed to the park on time. Then it went down hill from there. I had finally found another set of dry clothes to wear under my leaking suit. But then I forgot our socks on the bed. No worries, I had some band-aids to protect the heals of my

Dive #49 Peanut Circuit

2008-09-04T19:04:00.007+01:00

The guys were pumped up after another great dive. I found more dry clothes while we got our tanks filled. We decided to go back to our old team. Peter, Steve and I decided to do the Peanut Circuit. The seven of us trooped off to Peacock Springs Park. Pattie, Pat’s wife, was a bubble watcher. The park was again oddly empty with divers staying away not knowing the conditions.

Dive # 48 A Drift Cave Dive

2008-09-04T18:56:00.003+01:00

We got up early and were excited about the possibility of making a drift cave dive. The plan was to meet Jean at Manatee Spring park enter at Friedman Sink go up stream on one quarter of our gas return to Friedman and drift through Catfish Hotel out into Manatee Spring. The distance is about 2179 feet from Friedman to Manatee Spring. Jean had two other guys with her Jim and

Dive #47 Cow Spring

2008-09-04T18:44:00.006+01:00

Peter joined the NSS. I dried off and found the third set of dry dive underwear for the day. I too was ready to dive cow. The rain was tapering off and by the time our fills were done it had stopped. What had not stopped were the brigades of attacking mosquitoes. We signed the wavers and got the key to Cow Spring. We bravely battled the mosquitoes and spiders as we walked

Dive # 46 Distance Tunnel

2008-09-04T18:29:00.007+01:00

Back at the Dive Outpost we had lunch and planned our upcoming dives. Cathy confirmed that Jean would lead us in a dive at Manatee Spring entering at Friedman Sink early the next morning. There were still so many options before us as to where to dive that day. We decided to get another dive in the Peacock system. The threat of the park closing due to flooding loomed before

Dive #45 Nicholson Tunnel

2008-09-04T18:20:00.005+01:00

Saturday morning while sitting on the porch at the Dive Outpost enjoying a cup of coffee we heard the great news that Peacock Spring was open to cave divers. We had read the reports that it most likely would be closed this entire weekend. The Suwannee River was expected to crest early Sunday. If the river rose only two more feet then the Peacock cave system would be closed.

Back to Florida

2008-09-04T18:14:00.003+01:00

Last July, sitting in the Dive Outpost we decided to return to Florida for the Labor Day three-day weekend. As the day to leave approached we were beset with doubts and delays. Steve was knee-deep in work. Hurricane Fay had flooded North Florida, Gustav was threatening New Orleans, and Hanna was close on his heels. We were planning to dive again with Peter De Coster from

Fit to Dive

2008-08-15T15:00:00.005+01:00

Tom Mount devoted a entire chapter in the “IANTD Technical Diver Encyclopedia” to the importance of physical and psychological fitness for the technical diver. Today’s blog I focus on my fitness and training as it relates to my diving. Fortunately, I have been dealt a great genetic card giving me a healthy, naturally slim body. I have actively been involved in aerobic

DC Grotto of the NSS

2008-08-08T22:54:00.003+01:00

Last night I attended the informal meeting of the District of Columbia Grotto of the National Speleological Society. As I expected I was the only member of the NSS cave diving division. There were several extremely knowledgeable cavers who could point us to more information on caves in our area. Also there was a good deal of conversation about the upcoming NSS Convention in

Dive #44 Madison Blue

2008-07-11T01:49:00.005+01:00

July 6, 2008 After lunch we decided Madison Blue was going to be our last dive of this trip. Peter was going to buddy up with Scot (I do not know his last name). The two of them were heading to their respective homes North from Madison after the dive. I think Madison Blue is a wonderful dive. The location beside the river is beautiful. It was raining slightly as we pulled

Dive #43 Little River

2008-07-11T00:08:00.017+01:00

July 6, 2008 The night before Steve changed the bulb in my problematic light. We were going to see if the bulb was the problem. Cathy, who is the owner of the Dive Outpost, felt it was possibly the ballast, which would require sending the light off to Dive Rite for repair. We wanted to dive Little River before leaving Florida. We worked hard to get to the spring before the

Dive #42 The Cisteen Circuit

2008-07-10T23:07:00.005+01:00

July 5, 2008 I have never heard anyone else call this dive the Cisteen Circuit. It is the name I have given it. On arriving at Peacock Spring we discussed our plan with John Orlowski. He gave us a detailed briefing of what we should expect. I was the only one of the three of us who had been to Cisteen sink before. Beyond Cisteen sink was all new cave to me. The Cisteen

Dive # 41 The Grand Traverse

2008-07-10T22:29:00.002+01:00

July 5, 2008 We tried to get an early start, but the folks at Le Chateau were slow preparing our breakfast. When we finally pulled into the Dive Outpost Peter was on the porch expectantly waiting for us. While Steve loaded up the car I walked Kee-Wa and Fred down by the springs. It is a delight to walk through the woods with two dogs early in the morning. I would have to

Dive #40 The Olsen Sink Bypass

2008-07-09T04:30:00.004+01:00

July 4, 2008 During lunch we discussed our next dive with Mike McAuliffe at the Dive Outpost. He pointed out the following dive: Begin by heading up the Peanut line jump over to the Crossover tunnel. From there jump over to the Olsen Bypass tunnel. The Olsen Bypass would drop us off about 400 ft above Olsen Sink on the gold, main line between Challenge and Olsen Sinks.

Dive #39 Olsen Sink

2008-07-09T04:25:00.006+01:00

July 4, 2008 To test the repair on Steve's wing and my primary light we decided to make our morning dive at Peacock Spring I up the gold, main line to Olsen Sink. This is a dive we have made many times. We were looking forward to be back to Peacock Spring. After settling the dog in at the Dive Outpost we headed to Peacock to be

Dive # 38 Back To Florida For Some Cave Diving

2008-07-09T04:17:00.007+01:00

July 3, 2008 After moving to Washington DC, Steve wanted to test the feasibility of driving to Florida for a long weekend of cave diving. Google maps estimate each way was 13 hours and 45 minutes. Our first opportunity came over the Independence Day holiday. Our plan was to leave DC after work on Wednesday, July 2 and drive as far

Dives #36-37 Little River

2008-05-07T02:12:00.001+01:00

We decided to go back to Little River for our last day of diving. A week had passed and we had reports that the conditions had improved. Our fear was that it would be crowded with divers since Peacock and Telford were both closed. But we were running out of places to dive. Jean needed a dive partner so she joined us that morning. Kyle and Scott, who were also staying at the

Dives #34-35 Cow Spring

2008-05-07T01:55:00.002+01:00

Cow Spring is own by the NSS and only NSS members are allowed access to dive the system. We joined the NSS and filled out the wavers to be granted the key to the gate. We drove over to Cow Spring to find that four men and an intact male pit pull were roaming about on the property. I was nervous since I reeked of male dog and was holding the key to Cow that would appear to

Dives #32-33 Back to Madison Blue

2008-05-07T01:50:00.004+01:00

With Peacock Springs still closed for an undetermined time until the roadwork, which by the way is not even started yet, is completed we headed back to Madison Blue. Harry Cardinale from New Jersey joined us. We got there early and were one of two teams entering the water. The other team was there to clean out the Cross Under Tunnel of the flood debris and dig out the buried

Dives #30-31 Madison Blue

2008-05-03T18:28:00.002+01:00

Our first day of diving was at Madison Blue. We were at the park first thing in the morning being greeted by a brand new ranger starting her first day. Interestingly she was not briefed on her job. We filled her in on the dive forms and went off to dive. We decided to go up the main line. We made it about 100ft past the half hitch. The flow was up and the visibility was

The Move Out of Tampa

2008-05-03T02:00:00.001+01:00

Monday morning the movers arrived like a swarm of bees. It was one long day of continuous commotion. Finally around 6pm the movers had emptied our house of everything that was going into storage. We were left with the few boxes, and bins of stuff we were going to need for the next month in DC. We camped out in what used to be our old bedroom for the night. The next day we

Dives # 28-29 Little River Weekend

2008-05-03T01:56:00.004+01:00

Upon Steve’s return from two weeks of training at Ft. Dix we had only one week left in Tampa before the movers arrived to haul off our household goods to our home in DC. We decided to mix in some fun with the packing. We took in a ball game between the Thashers and the Sarasota Reds and we spent an afternoon at Busch Gardens riding the roller coasters. Last but not least was

Dive #27 Night at The Nest

2008-04-02T22:25:00.006+01:00

Steve is leaving for Ft. Dix on Friday for two weeks of Army Reserve duty. To get one more dive in we headed out after work yesterday for a night dive at Eagle’s Nest. During the day the dive site is remote and desolate. At night it is noisy with wild life and a bug's paradise. We bounced along the dirt road heading to the dive site with the setting sun casting long shadows

Dives #22-26 Back to Ginnie Springs

2008-04-01T13:24:00.006+01:00

We headed back to the Devil’s system this past weekend. Saturday started off slowly with a painfully slow traffic jam on I275. We finally rolled into Cave Excursions East for our fills around 11 am. It was a beautiful day and Ginnie Springs was filled to over flowing with tubers and campers. A humongous RV stretched across five parking spaces hogging our favorite spot to

Dives #17-21 Devil’s Eye Cave System

2008-03-27T19:19:00.007Z

Spring break brought diversity to Ginnie springs. The park was filled with partying college students floating on tubes, open water and cave divers sharing picnic tables with camping families. The park was crowded with cave divers desperate to find an open system in northern Florida. The joke going around was a traffic light was needed. Dive #17 Up the Main Line We decided

Update to Blog

2008-03-27T19:15:00.002Z

In response to requests for maps of the cave systems there are now linked pdfs and jpgs of maps of the various systems mentioned in this blog.I also added links to the places we have stayed.Let me know what else you would like to see linked here.

Dives #15-16 Through the Duckweed

2008-03-21T00:18:00.012Z

A week ago Wednesday, we got the bittersweet news that the puppy I had raised, as a guide dog candidate, was career changed due to air bourn allergies. I was thrilled to get my beloved Kee-Wa back yet sadden he did not become a guide dog. He is exceptionally well-trained, sweet natured and laid back—my kind of dog. Therefore we got a late start on

Dives #12-14 Ginnie Spring

2008-03-12T02:06:00.012Z

We headed off to High Spring after Manatee. We got our tanks, which were close to empty, filled at Cave Excursions down the road from Ginnie Springs. We stayed at the Alamo. All anyone ever says of the Alamo is it is clean. I will add it also has hot water. We tried to eat at the new Great Outdoors Restaurant. Sorry, an hour wait was not what we had in mind. We went to Floyd

Dives #10-11 Manatee Spring

2008-03-12T00:22:00.010Z

The prayed for rains have raised the rivers and closed many of our favorite dive locations. Thursday, the Cave Diver’s Forum reported that Manatee Spring’s flow was down significantly, making it an easy choice. We drove up on Saturday morning to discover we practically had the cave to ourselves. A group of over 50 open water marine biology students had forced the rangers to

Dives #7-9 President’s Day Holiday

2008-02-18T22:39:00.011Z

Steve and I headed off right after work on Friday for an early start of an ambitious dive trip planed for the three day holiday weekend. We arrived at Le Chateau in Mayo about 9:30 pm and tucked in for an early start the next day. Steve had outlined close to five dives but both weather and our own physical limitations played a part in the number of dives we actually

Dive #6 Eagle's Nest

2008-02-07T21:58:00.003Z

Steve and I spent the better part of the day diving Eagle’s Nest. First is the packing up the gear a snack and actually getting out of the house. The drive from Tampa to the Chassahowizka Wildlife Area takes about one and a half hours. And the drive from the hunter’s check in to the dive site takes about another half an hour. On our way in at 9:58 am we spotted (90% sure)

Dives #2-5 Peacock Springs

2008-01-28T23:02:00.002Z

MLK weekend found us back at Peacock Springs. We stopped on our way up from Tampa at Steve Gamble’s house in Gainesville to yet again pick up my dry suit. Gamble had replaced the worn out cuffs. We dropped in at Le Chateau de Lafayette in Mayo to make sure Donna got the message we were coming up for the weekend. Finally we pulled into Peacock Spring Park where Janet, the

Dive # 1 Eagle's Nest

2008-01-23T22:27:00.002Z

My first dive certified as a full cave was with my husband and Scott Frisk at Eagle's Nest on January 9, 2008. This is an advance dive! Steve and I completed our Normoxic training with Scott on this dive. This is an incredible dive site for the following reasons: The site is remote and extremely humbling. Remote Site Eagle's Nest is located in the Chassahowizka Wildlife

One Size Does Not Fit All

2008-01-19T17:18:00.005Z

This posting is going to put me at odds with some people. But I am willing to boldly go into the fray to explain my personal experience. My husband and I had many safe dives in cold, dark and deep water prior to moving to Florida. Once here we quickly discovered no matter what the weather we could cave dive. Being a neophyte to cave diving I trusted the owner of the tech

The Abe Davis Award

2008-01-19T00:07:00.001Z

The Abe Davis Safe Cave Diving Award is given by the National Speleological Society (NSS) to Full Cave certified divers who have completed 100 safe cave dives in 10 different systems. NSSCD Awards.This blog is my record, along with my dive log book, of my personal journey as a cave diving girl to join the ranks of safe cave divers recognized by the NSS. My husband and I have each completed over