Wed, January 25, 2017 Dives: 1 Bottom Time: 86 minutes Max Depth: 91-100ft/28-30m Avg Viz: 71-80ft/22-24m Water Temp: 71-75°F/22-24°C Weight: 0 Exposure Suit: Fullsuit - 5 (Hood, Gloves, Boots) Tank Type: Twin Steel - 85cf/12L Gas Type: Nitrox Dive Type: Cave Dive Buddy:   Guy Bryant Ginnie Springs High Springs, FL Water Type: Fresh Entry Type: Shore

Wed. Jan. 25th, 2017. Today I led the dive with Guy and took him on a tour. We went the mainline to Harry’s Crack, diving sidemount. Took it through to the Expressway jump, but ran the line around to the right Mud Tunnel jump, then set a reel from it into the Mud Tunnel, and took it out to the Big Room jump.

Exiting the cave to do deco we encountered some concerns:

When Guy and I were finished with our cave dive, and got to the sign at the Ear to pick up our O2 bottles, there were 2 open water, surely cavern divers, looking very curious about what lay beyond the sign.

Guy and I proceeded onward, however, as we were trying to exit the system in the Eye where one would tie into the gold line, in came 2 more divers in single tank configuration, with H valves. One was carrying a GoPro setup on a tray with lights. They did not know cave etiquette, had only one safety reel between the 2, and plowed past us, despite our trying to exit in that tiny area where the high flow is.

We saw the divers on the steps later, and it appeared to be an older, husband and wife team, who struggled to get out of the water with only one tank on. We have no idea what certification level the two had.

My concern is with the agencies allowing cavern divers to become Intro certified on a single tank, using an H-valve. Once a diver tastes of what is beyond that sign, particularly if they want to capture images or video, they will totally disregard the fact that they are not properly configured, and are not safe, to go further.

Once they have that Intro card, more times than not, they will breach the bounds of where they should stay. Just sayin`.