Wakulla Springs, 19 - 21 May 2006

true · May 22nd, 2006, 02:31 AM

Just in case someone out there might be interested, here's a quick update on this weekend's WKPP activities at Wakulla Springs. I'm sure Casey and Mark Messersmith will have a full narrative once they've had a few hours of sleep, but I've seen several notes today from people interested in finding out how it went.

The weekend's dive was extremely rewarding. A crack team of support divers began placing deco bottles on Friday afternoon so that the breather teams could get an early start Saturday. Conditions were similar to two weeks ago-- perhaps a bit more blue to the water, but still murky with ~75' of vis in the basin. We started off at 6am Saturday with approximately 25 in-water and surface support. The extended range set-up team took off at 7am for another 7-to-7 dive. JJ and Casey were over the ledge and into the cave just before 9am. From 10am on, support divers took turns pulling shifts that put most of them in the water for five to seven hours. I'll leave it to Mark's report to give all the thanks, but I'll say that from this pesky photographer's perspective I've never seen a more cohesive and professional show by the team. It started with the surface managers Hunter and Sonya, and extended through the friendly new surface support. Fantastic job all around. I finally got a chance to talk to JJ and Casey in the habitat at 1am Sunday morning, and I've never seen either of them so amped up after such an extended dive-- especially with 5 more hours of deco to go. Here is Casey's outline of the result:

Jarrod and Casey's Profile - 260ft for 410 minutes w/ 14 hours of decompression. In at 9am Sat and out at 6am Sunday. 5 scooters and 5 drive bottles.

Results - Q-Tunnel discovered off P-Tunnel at 17,000ft. 3,000ft of line
added for a total distance around 20,000ft. Monster sized cave heading S-SW towards Spring Creek and the Gulf of Mexico - 60ft floor to ceiling and 75ft wide in spots.

---

It has been a _long_ time since the team ran a 24 hour dive. Everyone should be proud of the effort that went in to making it a success.

Also, the Tallahassee Democrat ran a story about the project on Saturday morning. Ignore the sensationalistic headline tacked on by the Democrat's editor and you have a pretty good story with a great shot by David Rhea. They've posted a nice quicktime video that shows a quick inspection of a few of the flow meters-- be sure to click on the media link on the right side of the article. Here's a shortcut to the article:

http://tinyurl.com/e62rl

---

Best,

Anthony

Devon Rob · May 22nd, 2006, 01:30 PM

Congratulations to all involved...awe inspiring!
Devon Rob

NickB · May 22nd, 2006, 02:24 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by Jarrod Jablonski)

"It's a neat experience...."

He's clearly not prone to hyperbole then?

tkoritz · May 22nd, 2006, 03:18 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by true)

Results - Q-Tunnel discovered off P-Tunnel at 17,000ft. 3,000ft of line
added for a total distance around 20,000ft. Monster sized cave heading S-SW towards Spring Creek and the Gulf of Mexico - 60ft floor to ceiling and 75ft wide in spots.

---

Anthony

Anthony

Great stuff. Congrats. It's killing me to be away from the action.

If this doesn't say "Scoreboard" I don't know what does. And this is really just the first big dive of the season.

Terry

Marcin Kaluza · May 22nd, 2006, 03:33 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by true)

Jarrod and Casey's Profile - 260ft for 410 minutes w/ 14 hours of decompression. In at 9am Sat and out at 6am Sunday. 5 scooters and 5 drive bottles.

F### A! Now that's a dive

PS: I'm not aware of the max distance anyone has ever done underwater, isn't it a new record?

Best Regards

true · May 22nd, 2006, 04:55 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by tkoritz)

Anthony

Great stuff. Congrats. It's killing me to be away from the action.

You were missed. Talk to CMK-- I'm sure there's more to come. Don't you have some frequent flyer miles you can cash in? You probably don't know about the latest perk. The park is letting us use their flatbed mule to move divers and gear from the beach, so you get door-to-water taxi service!

Best,

Anthony

limeyx · May 22nd, 2006, 06:28 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by Marcin Kaluza)

F### A! Now that's a dive

PS: I'm not aware of the max distance anyone has ever done underwater, isn't it a new record?

Best Regards

Yeah, these kind of times and depths and distances are beyond comprehension (at least to me)

***ericfine50*** · May 22nd, 2006, 07:09 PM

Awsome True - thanks for sharing.

Can't wait to read the write-up. Nice job!

**neilh** · May 23rd, 2006, 12:32 AM

Wow, truly inspiring stuff - and great to see everything put into practice with such success.

Congrats and respect to the whole team!

tkoritz · May 23rd, 2006, 01:51 AM

Quote: (Originally Posted by true)

You were missed. Talk to CMK-- I'm sure there's more to come. Don't you have some frequent flyer miles you can cash in? You probably don't know about the latest perk. The park is letting us use their flatbed mule to move divers and gear from the beach, so you get door-to-water taxi service!

Best,

Anthony

Anthony

The flight over is not the barrier; time off is.

TK

May 22nd, 2006, 02:31 AM	#1 (permalink)
true(Offline) GUE Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 141	Wakulla Springs, 19 - 21 May 2006 Just in case someone out there might be interested, here's a quick update on this weekend's WKPP activities at Wakulla Springs. I'm sure Casey and Mark Messersmith will have a full narrative once they've had a few hours of sleep, but I've seen several notes today from people interested in finding out how it went. The weekend's dive was extremely rewarding. A crack team of support divers began placing deco bottles on Friday afternoon so that the breather teams could get an early start Saturday. Conditions were similar to two weeks ago-- perhaps a bit more blue to the water, but still murky with ~75' of vis in the basin. We started off at 6am Saturday with approximately 25 in-water and surface support. The extended range set-up team took off at 7am for another 7-to-7 dive. JJ and Casey were over the ledge and into the cave just before 9am. From 10am on, support divers took turns pulling shifts that put most of them in the water for five to seven hours. I'll leave it to Mark's report to give all the thanks, but I'll say that from this pesky photographer's perspective I've never seen a more cohesive and professional show by the team. It started with the surface managers Hunter and Sonya, and extended through the friendly new surface support. Fantastic job all around. I finally got a chance to talk to JJ and Casey in the habitat at 1am Sunday morning, and I've never seen either of them so amped up after such an extended dive-- especially with 5 more hours of deco to go. Here is Casey's outline of the result: Jarrod and Casey's Profile - 260ft for 410 minutes w/ 14 hours of decompression. In at 9am Sat and out at 6am Sunday. 5 scooters and 5 drive bottles. Results - Q-Tunnel discovered off P-Tunnel at 17,000ft. 3,000ft of line added for a total distance around 20,000ft. Monster sized cave heading S-SW towards Spring Creek and the Gulf of Mexico - 60ft floor to ceiling and 75ft wide in spots. --- It has been a _long_ time since the team ran a 24 hour dive. Everyone should be proud of the effort that went in to making it a success. Also, the Tallahassee Democrat ran a story about the project on Saturday morning. Ignore the sensationalistic headline tacked on by the Democrat's editor and you have a pretty good story with a great shot by David Rhea. They've posted a nice quicktime video that shows a quick inspection of a few of the flow meters-- be sure to click on the media link on the right side of the article. Here's a shortcut to the article: http://tinyurl.com/e62rl --- Best, Anthony

May 22nd, 2006, 01:30 PM	#2 (permalink)
Devon Rob(Offline) Can´t remember-member Breakout Champion! Pacman Champion! Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Lyme Bay.Devon.UK formerly Hamburg, Ger. Posts: 316	Congratulations to all involved...awe inspiring! Devon Rob __________________ this mail was checked for viruses,worms & bad breath

May 22nd, 2006, 02:24 PM	#3 (permalink)
NickB(Offline) Always lowering the tone Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Cardiff, UK Posts: 340	Quote: (Originally Posted by Jarrod Jablonski) "It's a neat experience...." He's clearly not prone to hyperbole then? __________________ SnowHeads / BreastFriends / Free Money!

May 22nd, 2006, 03:33 PM	#5 (permalink)
Marcin Kaluza(Offline) New Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: UK, Bracknell Posts: 30	Quote: (Originally Posted by true) Jarrod and Casey's Profile - 260ft for 410 minutes w/ 14 hours of decompression. In at 9am Sat and out at 6am Sunday. 5 scooters and 5 drive bottles. F### A! Now that's a dive PS: I'm not aware of the max distance anyone has ever done underwater, isn't it a new record? Best Regards __________________ Marcin HLPlanner - free VPM-B based decompression software

May 22nd, 2006, 03:18 PM	#4 (permalink)
tkoritz(Offline) GUE Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Tokyo, Japan Posts: 19	Quote: (Originally Posted by true) Results - Q-Tunnel discovered off P-Tunnel at 17,000ft. 3,000ft of line added for a total distance around 20,000ft. Monster sized cave heading S-SW towards Spring Creek and the Gulf of Mexico - 60ft floor to ceiling and 75ft wide in spots. --- Anthony Anthony Great stuff. Congrats. It's killing me to be away from the action. If this doesn't say "Scoreboard" I don't know what does. And this is really just the first big dive of the season. Terry

May 22nd, 2006, 04:55 PM	#6 (permalink)
true(Offline) GUE Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 141	Quote: (Originally Posted by tkoritz) Anthony Great stuff. Congrats. It's killing me to be away from the action. You were missed. Talk to CMK-- I'm sure there's more to come. Don't you have some frequent flyer miles you can cash in? You probably don't know about the latest perk. The park is letting us use their flatbed mule to move divers and gear from the beach, so you get door-to-water taxi service! Best, Anthony

May 22nd, 2006, 06:28 PM	#7 (permalink)
limeyx(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 707	Quote: (Originally Posted by Marcin Kaluza) F### A! Now that's a dive PS: I'm not aware of the max distance anyone has ever done underwater, isn't it a new record? Best Regards Yeah, these kind of times and depths and distances are beyond comprehension (at least to me)

May 22nd, 2006, 07:09 PM	#8 (permalink)
*ericfine50*(Offline) Moderator Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: MA Posts: 622	Awsome True - thanks for sharing. Can't wait to read the write-up. Nice job!

May 23rd, 2006, 12:32 AM	#9 (permalink)
neilh(Offline) Haemoglobin on the bus... Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Barnsley, UK Posts: 1,900	Wow, truly inspiring stuff - and great to see everything put into practice with such success. Congrats and respect to the whole team!

May 23rd, 2006, 01:51 AM	#10 (permalink)
tkoritz(Offline) GUE Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Tokyo, Japan Posts: 19	Quote: (Originally Posted by true) You were missed. Talk to CMK-- I'm sure there's more to come. Don't you have some frequent flyer miles you can cash in? You probably don't know about the latest perk. The park is letting us use their flatbed mule to move divers and gear from the beach, so you get door-to-water taxi service! Best, Anthony Anthony The flight over is not the barrier; time off is. TK