More New Cave and survey up to date

John and I went diving yesterday. For me it wasn't an easy dive, just must have been one of those days, but we got everything done that we had planned to do plus we ran about 500 more feet of new line. I just seemed like it was one small thing after the other and when the dive was over I was very tired...which may be because the dive was a bit over 5 hours long. It started at the beginning of the dive, once in the cave before we took off on the scooters, I knew my rebreather had a problem. One of the injectors was stuck, basically that is a free flow, so I isolated it and I called John over. He pushed the bellows(the accordian looking part that moves the air) up and down to try to get it un-stuck. It would have been hard for me to do it beacuse I couldn't reach all the way behind the rebreather. Luckily, it worked...if it hadn't the dive would have been over.

So off we went. The next obstacle is getting through the an area we call the "breakdown". In doubles it is no problem but as I approach it in the rebreather each time mental anguish sets in. It is always something. This time I got stuck and had to unclip the scooter and sent it through on it's own before catching up to it after I was freed. As I am writing this, I am realizing that the majority of my mental anguish comes from anytime I have to push the scooter through a space because it is too small to just "drive on through". I worry about the cave and holding the scooter up so it doesn't silt out my buddy. John is driving the mini gavin and I am driving the "standard" one. His is much smaller.

We took the scooters all the way up to where we needed to survey and swam from there. We surveyed all the new existing line from last time and had enough time to lay some new line (about 500ft)....the data revealed we had surveyed about 1400ft of line on this dive. The new area is a bit deeper and had a substancial halocline.....it also was getting smaller and we suspected it was soon to becaome what we refer to as "the toilet". That means the water is going in a direction that is draining and getting smaller....not bigger. We were right...the passage finally walled out and was so small that only one person could go. John ended the line here and we called the dive at 2 hours and 47 minutes.

It is a a huge releif once you get back to the scooters....not sure why, but it is. And out we went. Of course I had difficulty clearing my ear on the way out but was able to work through it...I will pay for that today...which I am. But we completed deco and were back at Ferndo's house by 5:15.

No diving today and there may be no diving for me tomorrow either...time will tell. Johna nd Fernando may need to go do set up without me. The plan is to do another dive with Fernando on Wed to investigate a new lead. But today we rest.

Karen and John