GUE Cave 1 course report from Mexico May 30, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : CaveDiving , add a comment
Elsewhere at the deepstop Claire, Al, and Fraser recently returned from a Cave 1 course, instructed by Chris Le Maillot. Claire has written quite a comprehensive report, covering all six days of the trip.
Truly magical, flying above the halocline through dark passages, seeing the formations which have built up over thousands of years yet have not been seen by humans until recently. We negotiated a T in the mainline, each dropping a cookie to mark the exit. A second T was beyond our certification so we would have to turn the dive at this point, but as it was Al had problems with his ears so we thumbed it.
WKPP scuba divers break own cave diving record at Wakulla Springs May 23, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : CaveDiving, Conservation , 2comments
I recently posted about the WKPP’s plans for extending their exploration of Wakulla Springs this year, due to increased visibility in the cave. Well, it appears that they have done just that, as reports start to surface following a 24 hour dive conducted by the team last weekend.
Jarrod Jablonski and Casey McKinlay managed to extend the cave by 3,000 feet, following a tunnel they found at around 17,000 feet in the cave. The bottom time was around 7 hours at an average depth of 300ft (90 mtrs) and they spent a further 14 hours in decompression.
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Megalodon Rebreather used to push cave in 201 mtr dive May 18, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : CaveDiving, Rebreathers , add a commentCedric Verdier, a Technical Diving Instructor Trainer since 16 years, pushed the limits of the Sra Keow Cave in Thailand to 201 m/ 663ft, says Deeper Blue
For this 6 hour-long dive, he used a standard ISC Megalodon Closed-Circuit rebreather with an axial scrubber and no major modification (except oil-filled handsets and battery compartments to withstand the pressure). The Megalodon CCR performed flawlessly at these extreme depths. This dive is supposed to be the deepest dive ever done with a Megalodon, and also the deepest cave dive/rebreather dive ever done in Asia.
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Exploring North Florida’s subterranean caves is like `traveling through time.’ May 11, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : CaveDiving , 1 comment so far
There is nothing quite so pleasurable in diving as cave diving, in my opinion anyway, and Florida is home to what is probably the ‘everest’ of cave diving, Wakulla. The Wakulla Karst Plains Project (WKPP) are a dedicated team of explorers who have been exploring this cave for many years. So far they have been able to travel more than 19,000 feet into the cave which has an average depth of 90 mtrs! Truly a massive dive. Well, it seems that after a few years of bad visibility the cave seems to be clear enough to make another push in an attempt to link the cave with Leon Sinks and Susan Cocking from the Miami Herald has interviewed Jarrod Jablonski and Casey McKinlay about the cave and the efforts required to explore its secrets.
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Wookey Hole Exposed Cave Diving DVD review May 3, 2006
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I didn’t know what to expect when I inserted the Wookey Exposed DVD in my player. Being a cave diver myself, and practicing a quite different style of diving to the British Cave Diving Group, I was at first, hoping I wouldn’t be disappointed. I wasn’t.
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Cave Diving Trip to the Lot, April 2006: Ressel, Landenouse, St George and Trou Madame April 30, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : CaveDiving , 3commentsDive report covering dives in Ressel, Landenouse, Trou Madame, and Fontaine de St George.
At last! After a boring winter with only a few quarry dives we were heading to France to partake of some of the excellent cave diving available in the Lot region. I had travelled down on the Wednesday night to stay at Bob Cooper’s place and managed to arrive just in time to see Rick Huggins and John Kendall at Bob’s local Indian Restaurant to catch up and have a small beer after the three and a half hour drive. We then packed the van ready for the trip. Due to the amount of kit we were taking this time Bob and I had rented a van which was subsequently loaded with two sets of twin 18’s, two sets of twin 12’s, eight AL80’s two 7 Ltr’s and a AL40, two Long body Gavin Scooters and two shorts, as well as all the other dive kit and clothes etc. For a moment we thought we might not fit it all in, but we managed eventually, although the van looked a little low. Rick and John managed to use every inch of space in Ricks Astra van.
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