[diveinfo] [mckinlay@gue.com: Wakulla Springs - Nov 19-20]

[Jean-Sebastien Morisset]

----- Forwarded message from Casey McKinlay <mckinlay@gue.com> -----

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Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 19:04:36 -0500
From: "Casey McKinlay" <mckinlay@gue.com>
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Subject: Wakulla Springs - Nov 19-20
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WKPP

 

Thanks to all who came out this past weekend to kick things off.  I must
admit that I was somewhat skeptical about the conditions and had grown weary
of diving Wakulla with horrible visibility but that quickly changed as we
motored past the B/C junction and into A-Tunnel with 30-40ft of visibility.
The Aug-Oct work at Chip's Hole had been a lot of work and having a few
weeks off to catch up seemed the right call but with less than 2 inches of
rain in Tallahassee since Sept 1 and clearing conditions we had to take one
shot at Wakulla before the Thanksgiving holiday.  The gamble paid off and
everyone on site seemed up to the challenge and glad to be back.  Even David
Lennon had a smile on his face and seemed fired up to do whatever it took on
Sat.  

 

The plan was fairly basic; the K and A/K flow meter units had not been
transmitting data since the beginning of the year so FGS packaged up a
replacement unit and asked the WKPP to transport to K-Tunnel at 4,800ft and
swap the meters.  We wanted to limit the request to one meter in case the
replacement did not work and it turned out to be a data cable issue
otherwise we would have done the A/K meter as well.  While we were out there
we figured it was also a good opportunity to begin pulling the safety tanks
from 4,800 and 3,500 ft with team 2 pulling the safety tanks from 2,200 and
1,400ft.  In total we removed 13 tanks for cleanup and recharge.  We still
have 18 tanks at 6,500ft but that would have to wait until Dec 3.  On Sunday
we took some time out to check some of the sinks in the State Forest and
while they appear to be clearing on the surface, conditions within the cave
have a few more weeks to go.

 

Saturday

Operations kicked off at 8am

 

The setup crew hit the water early and began placing tanks.  Derek Bennett
and Doug Mudry took the lead placing tanks with Shellie running the surface.
Curtis took care of cleaning all the shallow rock features and bones for the
park staff while Anthony Rue took a hard drive full of photos.  David
Lennon, Walter Gordon and Scott Cox handled intermediate support and cleared
out the gear while Mark Messersmith and Jim Miller handled support for the
final surface ascent from the habitat.  A lean but extremely efficient crew
with all objectives met.

 

RB Team 1 (Koritz, McKinlay, Rose) transported the replacement Falmouth
Scientific meter 4,800ft to K-Tunnel.  Terry and John unpacked the
replacement meter, disconnected and removed the malfunctioning meter,
installed the replacement meter and packaged up the malfunctioning meter for
delivery to the door.  Watching Terry and John operate seamlessly at a depth
of 265ft almost 1 mile back in Wakulla came as no surprise.  The entire
switch took less than 20 minutes and FGS confirmed the new meter was active
and transmitting on Monday morning.  As Terry and John wrapped up the meter
work I grabbed the 4 safety tanks at 4,800ft for delivery back to the
surface for recharge and reg overhauls.  John stopped at 3,500ft on the exit
and grabbed the 3 safety tanks to complete the mission.  Total bottom time
was 85 minutes.

 

RB Team 2 (Garland and Leonard)

Per Todd Leonard's report

After seeing the first team off and allowing a short head start, our dive
got underway at 11:13am with a mission to retrieve old safety bottles from
2200 (A/D junction) and 1400.  Each of us was diving an RB-80 rebreather,
carrying two scooters, two 300 drive bottles, and a 190 deco bottle.

 

We plugged in our 190 bottles, and deployed the 190 open-circuit reg for the
initial descent (to avoid any possibility of hypoxia while we slowly worked
our way through the hydrilla).  We paused at 30ft to switch to the
breathers, checked the habitats to confirm our deco and break gas were
placed correctly, and began our descent into the cave.  Working our way out
A tunnel, we passed the A/B/C junction.  As we approached 1400 the line we
were following went to the ceiling where we found the safeties we'd be
pulling later.  A hundred feet or so later the line crossed another line, so
we dropped an arrow to indicate which one would lead us to the safeties --
better to take a moment now than potentially waste minutes later
backtracking.  We continued into A tunnel until reaching the A/D junction.
We could feel the change in water temperature and see the clear/tannic
mixing.  We noted the batch of safeties a short distance to our left. We
paused to switch scooters on return to the A/D junction, then moved to the
safety bottles.  We divided and hip-clipped the three safeties, then began
our exit.  Back at 1400, we again divided and hip-clipped the safeties,
giving us three each.  With 64 minutes on the clock, we slowed our ascent at
240... a bottom time of 51 minutes. The photo team met us soon after the
switch, and support divers arrived shortly thereafter to pull our scooters,
drive bottles, and the safeties. All in all, a very enjoyable day.  Max
depth 291fsw, bottom time 51min, run time 324min.

 

The support team had everyone packed up and on their way to dinner by 8pm

 

Sunday

The WKPP did some field recon in several of the sinks in the Wakulla Springs
State Forest and Apalachicola National Forest to assess to what degree
conditions upstream were improving.  We put 1 team in the water to check
flow and visibility and 1 team on the surface to hike and photograph various
sinks.  Conditions appear to be clearing but are not quite clear enough.

 

We will prepare for Dec 3-4 and Dec 17-18 to finish the meter repairs and
rotate the safety tanks all the way out to 6,500ft.  In total, we have close
to 33 safety tanks in Wakulla that need to be rotated from the 2003 effort.
If we can wrap this up ahead of the holidays, we should be well positioned
to hit it hard in January - February.  Thanks again for all the hard work
this past weekend and looking forward to a productive 2006.  This could be
the beginning of a good and long overdue run for the project.

 

Thanks to all,

 

 

Casey McKinlay

Project Director

Woodville Karst Plain Project

 


----- End forwarded message -----

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Jean-Sebastien Morisset, Sr. UNIX Administrator <jsmoriss@mvlan.net>
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