Dives in Paradise or How I Learned to Pay More
Attention . . . Again

Sunday afternoon, a local buddy and I drove up to Ocala for a few hours
sleep in the  Days Inn and a few dives in Paradise Springs.  Paradise
Springs is one of the many sink holes in Florida.  It includes a fairly
extensive cavern and access to a water filled cave system.  The cavern
portion is fairly large and suitable for experienced advanced open water
divers.  It's one of three cave/cavern systems I know of that allow non
cavern/cave divers to carry lights.  Essentially, the cavern consists of two
rooms connected by a moderately wide restriction.  The cave entrance lies at
about 100 feet and is clearly marked with the grim reaper sign used in most
developed cave sites in Florida.  The  entrance to the cave section is
considerably narrower.  At least a portion of the cave is clay, which
increases the risk and consequences of a silt out considerably.  If there's
any flow at all from the cave, it's undetectable.  Once stirred up, silt is
not quickly washed away as it is in many Florida systems.  You have to wait
for it to settle out, and wait, and wait . . .

We planned two dives of roughly an hour each.  Of the four of us, only one
was cave certified and none of us had any plans to enter the cave portion.
The dives didn't exactly work as planned, at least mine didn't.

Dive 1

Two of the four divers were using twins.  I presume that's why they were so
slow to get their act together.  Regardless of the reason, my buddy and I
were at the water's edge and ready to dive long before the other buddy pair
started down the path to the sinkhole.  Because the first time I'd ever had
my plate and wing in fresh water was the day before, I figured I'd drop down
a few feet just to make sure everything was good to go.  I hit 9 feet for a
total of a minute and a half.  The test was so quick that my Citizen
HyperAqualand did not assign a dive number.   Unfortunately, it was long
enough that my Oceanic computer did.

A word about my computer is appropriate.  In an attempt to keep me safe from
myself, which is not all that bad an idea, Oceanic decided that I should
reset my computer for every dive in a series that follows a nitrox dive.  To
make sure I do, roughly 10 minutes after the end of the previous dive, the
computer resets to 78% nitrogen and 50% oxygen.  The idea is that 78/50 is
the most conservative settings the computer can use for both nitrogen and
oxygen.  If I fail to reset the computer, that's what it uses for any dive
until I either do reset it, or both N2 and O2 clocks run out.

Dive 2

Since I'm sure most see this coming, I'll keep you in suspense no longer. It
didn't cross my mind that I had just done a dive, but my computer was sure I
had.  It set to 78/50 and that's how I did my next dive.  My mistake really
didn't cause much of a problem, but it was annoying.  I'm a fairly alert
diver and, when I saw my computer flashing a PPO2 of 2.0 at about 100 feet,
it didn't take long to figure out what I'd done.  As soon as I realized what
had happened, I signaled my buddy and we headed for the surface.  Ten
minutes later, with my computer set correctly, we were back in
the water and headed for the bottom.

Dive 3

Dive 3 was really a continuation of Dive 2.  Roughly 20 minutes with a
maximum depth of 99 feet and we were, once again, on our way to the surface.
I carried another tank down to the water's edge, set everything up, dragged
my used tank back up the hill to the car and spent some quality time with
lunch and friends.  The cavern portion of this system is inhabited by
catfish and fossils.  The catfish are ordinary.  The fossils are anything
but ordinary.  They are prehistoric, including some whale bones, sand
dollars, etc.  Very cool.  They would also be nearly impossible to find if
it were not for the pre-dive video that tells you where to look.

Dive 4

If you're paying attention, you'll note something I didn't say in the
previous paragraph.  I didn't say "I reset my computer."  There's a reason.
I didn't say it because I didn't do it.  This time, however, I caught on
even quicker.  When I hit 65 feet, the computer was already flashing a PPO2
over 1.4 at me.  So, after 5 minutes, I was back on the surface for another
10 minute interval.  This time, I managed to convince the others to continue
their dive while I dealt with the results of my own failure to pay attention
to what I was doing.

Dive 5

About 10 minutes later, I was back on the bottom, this time for just under
an hour.  Having completed my fifth dive in a series of 2, I hiked my
equipment back to the car where we packed up our cars before heading to
dinner, after which we started our 5 hour trip back to the splendor that is
S. Florida.

So, in a bit over 24 hours, I drove about 600 miles or so, and did 5 dives,
including three very short ones.  All things told, I had a great time, dove
a new site, and learned to pay a bit more attention . . . again.

If you're interested, here's a link to one of Dan Volker's reports on the
site in South Florida Dive Journal.
http://www.sfdj.com/springs_issue/paradise.htm

Lee
__________________________________________
If I got smart with you, how would you know?