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I made it back from another incredible trip to Mexico with Connie and Bert. I was happy that we were able to dive a few places (Tres Estrellas, the Mayan Alter at Dos Ojos, and more) that were new to me and go back to others that I could go back to again and again (Caracol, Kolimba, etc.). Personally, I cannot recommend Connie's trips enough and if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask me. The picture to the right was taken in a cave called Temple of Doom. The photographer (Don Currie) did an exceptional job capturing me progressing through a halocline. Don is an amazing photographer and a great cave diver. I am happy he will be joining us this year at Weeki Wachee.

Speaking of Weeki Wachee, my return has found me knee deep in Karst Underwater Research's return to Weeki Wachee for our 2009 Exploration season. Already, we have conducted numerous familiarization dives for new team members and built staging ares inside the cave to allow divers to start decompression earlier in the cave and also to get rid of some of their gear earlier. If you are following the explorations at Weeki Wachee, I will be writing a weekly blog describing each week's diving that can be read here and for those that are really into technology, I am also twittering about this year's exploration progress.  Click here to check out what we are doing in a little more real time.

I have added a new feature to the cave system pages, it is now possible to subscribe to an RSS for each system that will let you know when a new condition report has been posted as well as showing historical condition reports. Look for the RSS icon - - on the right of each system page.

For those of you that let me know that you read and follow this blog, MANY THANKS!  Let me know what else you would like to see on the site.

So much has happened since I last decided to create a blog entry.  I apologize each time but I am not this time.  Personally, I think I am the only one who reads theses (if I am wrong send me an e-mail and tell me differently).

On the caving side of our lives, we had a great trip to TAG with Robert, Tom and Mike.  I loved frogging Stephen's Gap (I will NEVER do that again).  Tumbling Rock was a incredible!  I never expected to climb a 400' mountain 4 hours back in a cave but by the same token I never realized the largest waterfall in Alabama (300') is also in this cave -- King's Shower.

One the diving front, we were able to do some great dives at Twin Dees this year but we lost it as soon as we got it.  The ability to dive Twin Dees is controlled by Weeki Wachee.  If the flow is too low at Weeki Wachee, Twin Dees is a cesspool.  If the flow at Weeki Wachee is high then the flow at Twin Dees will be too great to navigate the solution tube entry.

I also have some notable cave diving topics.  I (and many others) assisted Marc Singer and Brett Hemphill in their dive to survey the end of the lines at Manatee Springs.  They went to the end of both the siphon and spring tunnels and performed survey work for Mike Poucher (check out Mike's new map of Manatee Springs on his site -- it is incredible!).  I actually did some work on this project as well; I was part of a team that did water sampling in the Milk Tunnel.  The picture to the right is Eric entering the water for our water sampling dive.

Last, but not least, I was privileged to be a member of the support and setup team that help Jerry Murphy and Jill Heinerth push the upstream side of McCormick Sink.  They  actually make the connection to Rose Creek Sink downstream.  Congratulations to both Jerry and Jill for an exceptional dive -- I was honored to be part of the team.  Now Joel, Eric and I will take on the task of surveying McCormick but for now I am off to Mexico with Connie LoRe, Bert and Tampa Adventure Sports -- it has been far too long since I visited the pristine and awe inspiring caves of the Rivera Maya!

So for sometime I have had issues with my sites staying up (x64, x86, SQLServer, ADO, MDAC, yadda yadda). It has frustrated me to the point of finally doing something about it. I have finally embraced virtualization for my personal systems  and now have new servers running for my sites (caves.tampadiving.com, www.karstunderwaterresearch.org). You should not experience the downtime you have seen in the past. My apologizes if you were looking for conditions or using the maps and they were unavailable.

Other Updates

• Changed method of displaying system overview pictures
• Changed method of posting condition reports
• Fixed Firefox 3.x bug experienced when attempting to add a condition report
• Added TOPO maps to all map views
• Resources tab for system pages (maps, pictures, videos, etc.)
• Always new systems being added

If you have any comments or questions please let me know. Also, I am always looking for new features to add to my site.