true(Offline)

From Casey; a proper web report with photos will be posted at the end of the week on gue.com:

Huge thanks to all who supported the dive operation this past weekend at Wakulla Springs. We are able to accomplish a number of critical objectives despite the poor visibility in the cave system. Most notably, we were able to deploy and successfully locate the cave radio locator (CRL) signal at Cherokee Sink (10,000ft), stage 11 cylinders for the next dive and confirm the presence of clear water in A2 Tunnel along with some possible leads worth further investigation. The clear water in A2 is really the home run here and emphasizes the importance of diving these cave systems when conditions are good and bad. I cannot recall in recent years a situation where Leon Sinks remained clear for several months while Wakulla remained dark. Under this unique scenario, investigation of western leads off O-Tunnel for clear water, especially A2 Tunnel, provides answers not possible if Leon Sinks was dark and Wakulla clear or both systems clear. We took advantage of this unique scenario and it paid off. Hopefully a passable lead west or north will be discovered on the next dive.

Outstanding support this weekend with surface guest James Toland taking home the coveted “busted-ass” award. Great job on the part of the in-water film crew of Doug Mudry, Derek Bennett and Anthony Rue. The surface video team did a great job as well capturing the action and in-depth interviews with team members and park staff. The late night crew of Todd Leonard, Hunter Swearingen, Bob Bourke, Scott Cox and David Doolette kept the exploration team safe and on schedule. The dive plan ran late due to a later than expected morning start and a 420 minute bottom time versus the planned 330 minute schedule. David Rhea and Jim Miller did a great job delivering equipment to 6,500ft and deploying and retrieving the B-Tunnel calibration meter. John Rose and Mark Garland did a great job picking up the gear from 6,500ft and delivering to 10,000ft. Visibility in the main tunnels was approximately 20-25ft and tannic green making everything that much more challenging. The exploration team of Jablonski and McKinlay delivered the CRL to Cherokee and activated the signal. The team then investigated the debris slide to the west, re-surveyed 1,300ft back from Cherokee to the A2 intersection and then traveled into A2 Tunnel to evaluate conditions. The first 500ft of A2 was also tannic with poor visibility but conditions began to gradually improve as the team pressed further into the tunnel. Pockets of clear water on top of tannic water and visibility improving to 50ft+ towards the back of the tunnel allowed the team to mark several leads for exploration before starting back to the main spring. Bottom time was 7 hours at an average depth of 260ft followed by 14 hours of decompression. The team surfaced on Sunday morning in time to enjoy at team breakfast in the lodge dining room.

Great job on the part of the surface managers, especially Todd Leonard and Shellie Foss. Big Curtis, Derek “bottle man” Bennett, Doug “load it up” Mudry, Scott “whatever it takes” Cox, Kell “bbq” Canty, Eric “long shift” Graser and the rest of the awesome support crew got it done all weekend long. Good to see Dean and John from South Florida onsite this weekend as well. A more detailed writeup along with images will be forthcoming.

Casey McKinlay
Project Director
Woodville Karst Plain Project

Little Pete(Offline)

Do they ever stop????

__________________
The shortesk pink mask wearing str#ke on DIRx apparently

true(Offline)

We hopefully will have an answer for you on that one by the end of the month...

Steve Blanchard(Offline)

Thanks for the update True, its nice to see things progressing.

SB