Lost River - Karst Information Portal

2007 NSS Convention Guidebook
showed Mark the hose and okayed him, and
they exited the cave. Dave told Mark that since
his BC didn’t work he would just climb up the
basin wall so he could stop to decompress for a
few minutes.
Dive time: 45 minutes. Depth: 71 feet.
Line: 450 feet.
Dive 10. October 30, 1994: Underwater
Sherpa
Still no rain, and there had been only about
2 inches all month. After Dave told Noel what
they had going, Noel decided it was time to get
back into it. He had a case of diver burn-out
from four months in Mexico on the Huautla
Project during the first of the year. The water
level was the lowest they had seen and they
thought it as going to be a great dive. Noel
brought a video camera, since the water had
been so clear last week. They decided Dave
would go first and take a third tank so he could
spend ten minutes clearing rock at the second
constriction before going on to the third.
Somehow, on the way in, Dave’s main
line reel with 150 feet of 5⁄32-inch line got
snagged and unwound all the line to the end.
This stopped him and Noel and Mark caught
up. Dave let them know what had happened
and told them to finish the dive, but Mark
just handed Dave his reel. So, off Dave went,
in search of the right-hand tunnel. For some
reason the visibility was only about 10 feet, and
all Dave could find was the other wall and the
breakdown pile from last week. Noel did not
watch exactly where Dave went through the
third constriction and had a hard time getting
through it.
When Mark and Noel caught up with
Dave, they all agreed to call off the dive so they
would have time to survey out. No new line
was laid and no video was taken, but sometimes
even the best plans don’t work. On the way out
Mark and Noel led the way surveying; Dave
returned Mark’s reel, which jammed—the last
30 feet had to be wrapped around it. Thinking
that the others would pick up his reel, Dave
was surprised to find it in the passage. Okay, no
big deal. While reeling in that line, Dave saw a
64
red blinking light and discovered Noel’s video
camera. Now carrying two primary line reels
and a camera, he thought, “Surely, somebody
will be waiting and at least take the drop tank.”
Wrong. Mark and Noel were too busy surveying
and forgot.
Dive time: 60 minutes. Depth: 71 feet. No
new line laid.
Dive 11. November 6, 1994
Noel and Dave were going to make the first
dive using three tanks, mainly for safety. Noel
had a 72-cubic-foot steel tank that he said was
too heavy, so he left it 150 feet in. Dave was
using an 80- cubic-foot aluminum tank, which
he left at the 300-foot mark. After 450 feet
Dave made Noel take the lead and he headed
down the main tunnel, laying 150 feet of line
in five minutes. The passage at this point was
6 feet high and wide at a depth of 70 feet.
The only place to tie off was on a small chert
nodule in the ceiling. After they finished their
45-minute dive, Dave and Noel told Mark
about the easy dive they had getting back to
the 600-foot mark, with an easy going tunnel
still heading north. Mark was ready for an easy
solo dive with good visibility but he came back
in just a few minutes, saying his primary light
would not work. Noel went looking for spare
parts while Dave helped Mark with his gear.
Plugging in a new head piece didn’t help. Then,
Mark remembered; someone had worked on
his light and wired it so that the switch worked
differently. After getting his light back on,
Mark had an easy dive that took him only eight
minutes. He left his third tank at the 300-foot
mark. Ten minutes later he was at the 600-foot
mark. He tied off a new line and quickly laid
another 150 feet, with the passage still the same
size and going north.
Dive time: 45 minutes. Depth: 72 feet.
New line: 300 feet. Total line: 750 feet.
Around November 13, 1994
Finally, it rained—too much. Dave knew it
didn’t look good when the dry run next to the
road had been running lots of water from the
rain earlier in the week. Mark made it down