CAVE COURSE REVIEW BY JOHN BAILEY, part 2

.....continued from part 1.....

Next day, we were off to Taj Mahal. Three dives there, first two upstream and last one downstream. Diving 1/6s. I led the first and last dive. Usual sets of failures on the first dive. I left my isolator closed and did not recognize it in the equipment check for the second dive. I realized it when my SPG had only moved slightly (from inflating my drysuit) as I was questioning my sudden dramatic improvement in air consumption. Opening the isolator made things right again and the flow between tanks was audible. Now my pressure was where it should have been. While I was not pleased that I missed it in the pre-dive check, I was glad that I realized what happened and rectified it in the dive. Various failures on the way out and a debrief with lots of discussion about the isolator. After pre-dive planning etc. for the third dive, we dropped down and I started to tie in the reel. Adam called the dive and puzzled, I followed him up. I had forgotten to do the S drill, even though every dive started the same and I had just finished visualizing and talking about the dive on the surface including the drill. Back down, started the dive properly and continued. Always failures or drills continued on the exit. On this exit, while I was out of air in the drill and following the line in zero vis, I managed to break off a piece of rock the line was tied to. Lots of slack all of a sudden! I cut the drill and we fixed the line then continued the exit. Adam told me I did the right thing to cut the drill and we talked about what we would have done if it had not been a drill.

This ended the day. There had been the possibility of one more dive but while I didn’t recognize it, I think I had reached my limit and needed a break. I remember feeling disappointed at the time that we weren’t doing one more dive. I’m sure Adam recognized this and felt pushing for another dive would result in diminishing returns. I didn’t feel stressed but I know after the next day off (Christmas Day), I returned to training realizing that I had been mentally exhausted and the break was good.

December 26. Refreshed and back at it in Chac Mool for three dives. New drills were no vis lost line and lost buddy drills. What an eye opener! I didn’t find the line in the first drill. Talk about a lump in your stomach… I had let myself get disoriented direction wise and started my search almost 180 degrees from the line. The floor of the cave was filled with snags where we did the drill and Adam cut the drill when it became evident I was not making progress. In hindsight, rather than continuing up the wall, I should have realized I had gone too far and reeled in to start over in a different direction. Next dive was the same drill and I was very careful to focus on my initial tie offs with the safety spool. I found line just about the time that I was beginning to think I had gone too far. These drills reinforced why you never want to lose the line! The last dive of the day introduced the lost buddy drill. I thought this went reasonably well, although it seems like forever when you are recalculating gas for the search. I didn’t think I was stressed, but Adam said he could clearly see me chugging air as I was rising and sinking while calculating gas and writing in my wet notes.

Gran Cenote on Dec. 27 was my first dive on 1/4s. We were only a two man team and there is little flow to assist with exits so this was as much gas as we would ever plan to use in the dive plan. We needed to remain conservative! We started with a lecture on navigation and did land drills. Following this a dive was planned including up to 3 jumps although we didn’t get that far. I led the first dive. Adam led the second dive and we did a different jump. We changed position at the exit so that I could do the reel work as I needed all the practice I could get with this.

On Dec 28, we dove at Minotauro. Another lecture on navigation, this time circuits. I led. This was a very tight cave (I thought) for the first 10 minutes. We had planned a circuit and I installed a jump line for this, then we backtracked to the mainline leaving the jump line in. We continued on the mainline until I turned on gas and left an arrow for the circuit. I thought I handled a failure in my alternate well and then in the open water we practiced inflator malfunctions – these were not as smooth. I led the second dive and this time we took the jump line that I installed on the previous dive. Unfortunately, we turned on gas prior to completing the circuit. At an inopportune time during the exit (in the middle of pulling the jump line) my primary failed. I responded to that well but bobbled the spool.

Dec 29. Last day of training. We planned one dive at Naharon as a deco dive. I found this to be an extremely dark cave as well as deeper than the previous caves. It was an uneventful dive, although it was interesting to plan for deco – another layer to add to the dive planning! I silted things up a bit on the entry due to the steep silty incline. Following the dive we practiced rescuing an unconscious diver and my training was over for now. Adam congratulated me for completing the course and I have to say that for the first time after completing a course, it really feels like this is just the beginning of the learning process.

This is the first course I’ve completed where I believe that I have a real significant opportunity to get myself in trouble during the dives. It is a sobering thought and I had it a few times during the training. I think that is why at times I found the diving mentally exhausting. At the same time, the dives were spectacular and I can’t wait until I have the opportunity to go back and continue to cave dive.

I wish Ela and Adam all the best in their future plans and look forward to seeing their new place in Tulum once the construction is completed.

....THE END....

Thanks to John Bailey for spending time to share his experience, see you soon in MX!!!

Emanuela Bertoni & Adam Korytko