12/28/07 - Ginny Springs

Dive: 1
Dive Buddy: Gary
Entered in the eye. Gary leading. Followed the eye entrance to the main line. Once past the lips had to pause to allow a team to exit. Coming around the corner at the Cornflakes again had to pause for the team ahead of us. One of the members was apparently having trouble clearing. They moved to the side and we continued down the mainline. Almost immediately another team exiting was in front of us. It appeared to be a class with some light drills going on. We moved off the line and sheilded our lights as they passed. Only a minute after continuing I notice lights coming from behind me. I turn and see the team we passed at the conflakes. They were scootering with a single scooter with one member in tow. I moved aside, signalling Gary as I did so. The scooter team passed and made the turn to the Hill 400 line. We continued up the mainline to the Roller Coaster. While not technically bad, the visibility in he main tunnel was probably the worst I had ever seen it. Veering off the main line to the Roller Coaster the visibility improved. We followed the Roller Coaster to the Short Cut to the Bats. I guess technically this is the Hill 400 line but I'll have to confirm. Going lefft at the Bats the flow was immediately apparent, strong and following. Our intent was to return the same way but was having second thoughts with this flow. We took the second jump to Lynne's Line. This is some very nice tunnel. From about 86' at the jump it descends to 102'. There are many crags, off shoots and side tunnels to peer into at the near end. Continuing on the tunnel flattens out becoming fairly low and silty. One goal was to identify the jump over to the scud tunnels. Gary pointed out with his light the tie-off, far to the right and on the ceiling. This would be a good short cut. We continued to where the tunnel makes a sharp left turn. Past the turn we went what seemed to be a hundred feet maybe. The maps say seventy and are probably correct. Total penetration at that point 1,670 feet. The tunnel was narrowing, I was nearing thirds and we were in a good area to turn so I signalled Gary. After turning, the exit was uneventful. Heading back up to the Bats and the Short Cut jump was, as anticipated, against a significant flow.
Exiting through the eye we did our routine deep stop at 60 feet at the sand dune. After the stop we came upon another diver, one of the scooter team, apparently doing a stop in the tunnel at thirty feet. Gary and I like to make very slow ascents and the Eye exit lends itself to this. Not knowing the protocol and seeing that the other diver had left enough room, I eased on by. The other member of the scooter team was in the cavern area near our O2 bottles. I clipped on my O2 bottle and turned to see that Gary was still behind the other diver who had now ascended into the cavern area. There was another diver already at the deco rock right at the mouth of the cave so I floated up through the hole in the ceiling that opens up into the small shelf where the sign is located. By the time I was there the other divers doing deco had finished so I moved over. Looking back to check Gary he was holding what I took to be computer in his hand questioning if it were mine. It was grey with yellow bands. I initially signalled no before realizing that it wasn't a computer but the weight I had used to adjust the buoyancy characteristics of my deco bottle. Damn! Gary had alread put the weight down. I flashed him again and let him know that yeah, I had figured it out and yeah it was my weight. Deco time was 12 minutes, I think. Total dive time 111 minutes.

Dive 2
Gary and I opted for a shorter dive on dive two. We usually try to do our bigger dives first but sometimes get over zealous on that second dive. This wasn't the case today. Following our plan we took the mainline to the Mud Tunnel jump. Gary ran the reel and at his signal I followed. Taking the Mud Tunnel to the Big Room I was appalled at the damage to the tunnel. Great rifts in the mud floor, handprints and obvious grooves where equipment had been dragged. At the exit side there was significant pieces of rock knocked off the ceiling and now laying in the mud. It was sad. Exiting to the Big Room we drifted down the line, well off to the left to explore that side of the cave to the Expressway tunnel. We did a visual jump and took the Expressway and returned to the Gold line where we would pick up our reel and take the Gold Line out. We thought we would explore some of the side passages like the Cornflakes and/or The Lips Bypass on the way out. On exit, just past the Hill 400 jump there is a large cleft in the floor of the cave. We had talked about checking this oft swam over feature as well. I descended into the crack and found it veered to the right a bit. The geology is quite cool. Very rocky and craggy. Poking my head into some of the off-shoots we made our way back around to the Gold Line. There I began to look for the bypass. The one I anticpated has a line and brings you out back at The Lips. We had apparently passed it during our earlier explorations. I found the small through hole that is the Cornflakes Bypass and took that. Instead of returning directly on the line we went left and explored the large room between the Lips and Cornflakes. When we once again reached the lips I went to find the exit side of that bypass tunnel we missed. I turned and saw that Gary was coming into Lips area so proceeded over the small ledge on the outside of the Lips that leads to the bypass. I was also checking for any tunnels that would lead back into the main tunnel. I noticed that Gary's light was no longer behind me so I covered mine to see if I could determine where he was. Dark. So I turned and went back the way I came and saw Gary's light in the main tunnel and so exited the lips myself. Returning to the Eye exit everything was fairly routine. Deco was short(er) and we were entertained by an instructor and his student practicing with a primary reel.