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Cave Diving in Full Force!

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.

My World of Caving and Cave Diving

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!

My Apologizes

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.

Caving...Just Like Cave Diving But With More Pain!

From time to time I have to travel for work and ultimately I leave on Sunday. This usually leaves me in the position of not being able to dive on Saturdays. Lucky for me we have some great friends at USF Karst (Jason, Grant and others) as well as Tom and Robert (TRUE Karst Hounds) that don't mind taking us to see some great dry caves. We enjoy it almost as much much as Daisy does. Daisy is our beautiful Walker Treeing Coonhound seen at the bottom of the picture. She is trying very hard to be a good karst hound!

Robert has taken us under his wing and has been teaching us the finer arts of belly crawling and rope work. In return, we have tried to show Robert some interesting wet caves and help him in the fine art of pulling and gliding. It really is a great partnership! To make it even better, we are trying to get Tom to take Cavern and Intro with Jim Wyatt.

Tom is simply an unbelievable source of information from caves to karst to flora and fauna. Click here to take a look at some of his pictures of the Florida underground. Also, take a look at the some of the amazing formations that have been unearthed by mining operations. It is truly amazing, while at the same time horrifying, to see clear calcite formations littered on the ground.

The North Florida caves are starting to show some improvement. The common systems (Peacock, Little River, Cow, etc.) are improving but are still not diveable. However, if you need to get wet, Ginnie is still pumping clear water and Madison has started to improve. Central Florida caves such as Wayne's World, Eagle's Nest, etc are also diveable. Those North Florida systems should be opening up within a month or so.

Systems up in the Panhandle seem to be doing well and lets hope that is the case. We are taking a trip up to Marianna next weekend so we will get see for ourselves. Although I have been really looking forward to that trip, I would rather be in Weeki Wachee. I have had my fingers crossed all spring that the flow at Weeki Wachee would drop like a rock so we can get back in there; only time will tell. As of today the flow is 117 cfs which is still too high for safe diving operations.

If you haven't already, sign up for the 2008 NSS CDS Annual Workshop. You can find more information by clicking here.

Protect Florida Springs

Great news everyone! The Protect Florida Springs specialty license plate is now available at most DMV offices throughout the state. I actually got mine a few weeks ago -- the first day they were available.

Getting this plate approved was a very long process and a lot of work was done by many people. I greatly appreciate Wildlife Trust and Wildlife Foundation of Florida making this plate a reality. Do your part to protect Florida springs and get one of these plates. The registration fee is only $25 and is distributed to Wildlife Foundation of Florida.

Weeki Wachee Spring Exploration 2008 Begins

We had almost the entire Weeki Wachee Spring Exploration team out on Sunday. It was great to see everyone (new and old team members) and to have everyone's help putting in the habitat. I think I could go on for hours talking about the habitat and our attempts at getting it installed but it all boils down to what we had planned didn't work out. However, we are very confident that our new plans for the installation of the habitat will. Here is a picture of Eric and I doing some synchronized wrenching (thanks to Steve Straatsma for the picture).

We are still unsure as to when exploration diving will begin again at Weeki Wachee Spring. The current flow is at 118cfs and has been pretty steady since December. Hopefully, we will be able to start diving before May.

Lucky for everyone in Florida there has been quite a bit of rain lately. The Suwannee River is flooded as are portions of the Sante Fe and the Withlacoochee. Bad news for cave divers but good news for the environment. Last time we had this type of flooding the caves cleared up pretty quick. However, I would not expect that to be the case this time as the aquifer is not charged.

Volunteers are needed by the NSS-CDS to finish the steps at Cathedral Sink. The work day will be on March 29th and will start at 9AM. There will be a social following the work day. This project is almost completed so any and all volunteers would be greatly appreciated. Click here for more information about the work that needs to be accomplished as well as the social.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

What a great summer it was. I was able to do far more diving than I ever expected and was able to hit some new systems (Weeki Wachee Springs, Alachua Sink, etc) and spent time in more familiar systems. The most important of all these dives were the ones at Weeki Wachee.

This year I was honored to be a part of the Weeki Wachee Springs 2007 Exploration managed by Karst Underwater Research. I won't go into too much of it here as the link to the exploration says it all. That page lists the 4 major exploration dives that were done as well as numerous links to media coverage that this exploration has garnered. However, it doesn't go into the grueling 30 or so other dives that were made to stage gear, survey, video, or simply familiarize team members with the violent entry and exit procedures. Eventually, toll was taken on everyone's gear but for me, my dry suit and my wet suit got excessively beaten up. However, Steve Gamble was able to work his magic on both.

I was happy to get my "dry" suit back and get back to not shivering after 100 minutes or so. However, I learned some valuable lessons about overheating, nutrition, hydration and cramping. Given that I sweat like no human should (I have been told it is either because I am 1) in shape or 2) out of shape -- we won't ponder those choices) I have learned that water alone is not what I need to keep my body functioning. I need sodium as well (hmmm...I guess there is something to sports drinks). So now I am taking sodium tablets while out diving.

Now on to my beloved calf cramps that seemingly only occur while swimming out of siphons...We all know potassium is what we need to help us from cramping. So I got some potassium supplements and wondered why they only give me 3% of my daily allowance and I can only take one a day. Well, unlike things like vitamin C, potassium is fat soluble vs. water soluble. Apparently that makes a huge difference if your body can squirrel away things and eventually cause you to overdose on them.

OK, back to diving. The Florida Caves & Cavern List continues to grow with more systems and more information and maps for existing systems. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Here are some events that are coming up in the caving community:

NSS - CDS Social - Marianna, FL - October 13, 2007
NACD Annual Seminar - Gainesville, FL - November 17, 2007
NSS - CDS Fall In - Hart Springs, FL - Thanksgiving 2007