Last week's dives were more training related, so there really isn't too much to talk about.  The real news is the video that was shot a couple of weeks ago by Liquid Productions.  It is breathtaking!  The beauty of Weeki Wachee never ceases to amaze me.  The colors, morphology and features are unlike any I have ever seen. 

In the collage of pictures below, you are able to see the beautiful striations in the cave wall, a diver inspecting speleo-crobes along the cave wall and some views of support divers removing gear from the cave after a mission dive.

Images are Copyright © 2009 Karst Underwater Research. All rights reserved.

This was the first week where we need to have 3 days of diving. Needless to say, we accomplished everything we needed to. A special thanks to Scuba West for making available some gear after one of our divers blew a neck seal on their dry suit. That simple act allowed us to capture video of the clean up dive which would have otherwise gone uncaptured. The clean up dives always have some moments we wish we could record.  The high definition video for all of our dives this year has been performed by a new 2009 sponsor - Liquid Productions, LLC.  

After successfully placing all necessary scooters, scuba cylinders and video equipment in the cave Thursday night, the team entered the water Saturday at approximately 4:40 pm. Our plan was to film the cave using four divers.  Two of the divers would be piloting Silent Submersion UV-26 scooters with attached Silent Submersion Death Ray 200W HMI lights for primary lighting.  The two videographers would be piloting Silent Submersion UV-N-37 scooters with dual Salvo Diving 50W HID video lights for lighting.  The high definition video was to be linear footage into the cave with two parameters: 1) not to exceed approximately 2000’ of linear penetration and 2) be back starting decompression no later than 90 minutes. An additional goal of this dive was to to perform another radio location.

Unfortunately, the dive plan had to be changed to one of our contingency plans (the picture to the left shows the team discussing contingency plans) as one of the videographers compromised their dry suit neck seal at approximately 160’ in the middle of Event Horizon. This diver was safely escorted to the surface by safety divers with all but a chill from the flooding in their suit.  Luckily, the diver was able to return to the water during the clean up dive to video the clean up dive in the the cave, the fissure and the spring basin.

After some period of time, the team entered the Helm’s Deep section of the cave, dropped a fresh battery pack for the radio location transmitter, then scootered down to the right side of the room.  The team circumnavigated the room to the left and was was able to successfully video many of the formations on the floor and the walls in this area. Upon arriving back at Helm’s Deep, the team moved the radio location transmitter from its previous location to about 100’ further into the cave and activated the beacon.

Sadly, it was later determined that the beacon either malfunctioned or was accidentally turned off during low visibility. We were not able to successfully locate the beacon. We will continue to test this area until we get a solid radio location.

As always this would not be possible without our sponsors, the staff of Weeki Wachee Springs State Park and our volunteers.  A huge thanks to all of our volunteers for making this one of the most complex dives thus far a complete success, all divers exited the water safely and over $100,000 in equipment was successfully returned to the surface.

Although the team had a slow start on Saturday, all missions were accomplished! Another radio location was made and a charcoal pack was removed and given to SWFWMD for analysis. Last week we had hoped to extend the exploration beyond The Pit but we changed plans to focus on the validity of our cave survey and performing some scientific tasks.

Entry and exit of the cave is getting progressively easier. Unfortunately, this is due to the reduced discharge and overall health of our aquifer (the picture to the right shows a clearly visible boil on the surface of the spring; today there is none).   The spring discharge and visibility inside the cave are directly related. When the discharge decreases so does the visibility. Currently, visibility in the cave is around 80'. Although, this may sound impressive, the cave is over 100' wide. As I write this, the USGS well that we use to extrapolate discharge levels is the lowest since data started being recorded in August 1966.

The team pulled their way in through the Event Horizon for the first time this year wearing their entire kit -- 2 low pressure 121 ft³ scuba cylinders, Kiss Classic Rebreather, argon cylinder and dry suit. Previously, we had tried to have the teams setup their kit inside the cave but we have learned that is not the most efficient use of time.

Last week we were very pleased that the radio location pinpointed the cave right where our map said it should be. We were not so lucky with this week's radio location. This week's radio location proved that our map is off -- that is the power of radio location and is why it has become so important for us this year. These radio location points are major accomplishments that help validate the survey and so us the necessary adjustments needed using the ground truthing. It definitely tops the list of data collection priorities, even though the sample ("speleo-crobe") collections and date sonde results are also impressive. The second radio location was taken at an intersection in the cave to an area named White Death.

The next task was retrieving a charcoal pack that was placed in the cave a couple of weeks ago. When the team scootered into White Death, they came in low and to the south. This route put the team off the line about 40’ but allowed a view of the area beyond the line which the had not seen before. Most of the entire alcove that makes up this section occurs in the white layer that shows up in the video time after time. What the team was able to see does not support the probability of a passage as originally assumed.

We were very excited to learn that the water sample taken of what we thought was the rhodamine dye SWFWMD had introduced into the system last week was confirmed. The KUR dive team was able to find the dye for SWFWMD and illustrate that although the tunnel below the F well is definitely connected, it currently does not discharge to the head spring.

Thanks again to our volunteers, the staff at Weeki Wachee, the Florida State Park system and our sponsors for making the exploration possible.

NEXT: We will do another radio location at Helm's Deep and filming, in high definition, to that area of the cave.

The KUR exploration team never ceases to amaze! Thursday night of last week was spent portaging equipment into the cave for Saturday's exploration dive and reviewing dive plans. The setup team brought in 4 42AH scooters, 6 cylinders, a video camera and video lights. The Salvo 50W HID video lights make an amazing difference in the cave! I was almost able to see the entire width of the first room (The Witch's Den). 

Saturday was not the best dive day we have had; the exploration team had to deal with numerous setbacks created by gearing up inside the cave and the clean up team had some issues removing gear from the cave. Although there were issues, we have been able to learn from them and improve our procedures.  The trouble was indeed worth it as there were some exciting discoveries made Saturday!

The first was a successful radio location and the second being a possible location of rhodamine dye that was introduced into the (Weeki Wachee F Well) a couple of weeks ago.  The dye was to be used in a dye trace study of the Weeki Wachee area.  It was expected to exit at the spring but instead is trapped in a dome almost 5,000' back in the cave.

The radio location dive was a coordinated effort between team members on the surface and divers 275' below. A radio location transmitter was placed at the River Tunnel intersection and the surface team carrying the receivers were able to pinpoint the diver -- under a maintenance shed!  The ever gracious Weeki Wachee staff provided our team access to the shed and also moved a golf cart so we could get the most accurate location -- in a maintenance shed and under a golf cart!  Why radio locate?  Radio location allows us to verify our in-water survey and also helps educate others on the importance of knowing exactly what our aquifer travels under and through.

The goals for the exploration team were to attempt to locate a strobe light that had been dropped down F well by SWFWMD, collect safety cylinders from the 2007 exploration and if possible, extend the exploration. As the exploration team approached the end of the 2007 exploration the team began to see what appeared to be thick milky visibility. As they got closer, a white milky layer creating a boundary on the leading edge of a dome room was clearly visible at a depth of 260'. The leading edge of the white cloud a ruby red color appeared. In this layer, visibility dropped to about 15’ and it was noted that the red which had previously been seen looking up into the lens was not present within the majority of the milky portion of the on top of the rock pile/dome room. A water sample was taken at this point and given to SWFWMD for analysis.

While all this was going on, the team was interview by both Bay News 9 and the St Pete Times. Unfortunately, the Bay News 9 interview was only aired at 5PM on Saturday and was not added to their web site. However, The article from the St Pete Times can be found here.

As you can see, last week was very exciting; we are learning from mistakes, improving our procedures and have made some significant findings. For those wondering how the exploration team stays warm for 12+ hours, a Silent Submersion UV26 was modified with a special nose cone provided Silent Submersion that allows the scooter batteries to be used to power a heated vest being work under the diver's drysuit. 

Thanks again to our volunteers, the very patient staff at Weeki Wachee, the Florida State Park system and our sponsors for making the exploration possible.

NEXT: We hope to start extending the exploration through The Pit (407') as this seems to be the main conduit for Weeki Wachee.

As the flow at Weeki Wachee has continued to plummet (as of last week the discharge had fallen below 100cfs), the KUR team has pushed to get more divers acclimated with roles and responsibilities both inside and outside the cave. 

New safety and support divers are becoming acquainted with the fissure and the inherent difficulties that accompany assisting expedition divers through this narrow and flow-intensive area leading to the cave entrance.  In addition, existing team members have had numerous opportunities to reacquaint themselves to the cave via training dives and setup and cleanup dives for Week 3's successful mission dives.

This weekend we were successful in having almost all of this season's new divers learn how to enter and exit the cave safely.  Several of these have learned how to do this in both open circuit (required training) and closed circuit.  The picture above shows Dave Miner passing Event Horizon last year in his Dive-Rite O2ptima FX Rebreather. 

The new closed circuit divers will be helping the exploration this year by re-surveying cave, near range exploration of new leads, radio location and more.  Week 5's diving will include at least 2 of this year's new divers performing radio location.

In addition to thanking our volunteers, the staff at Weeki Wachee, the Florida State Park system and our sponsors for making the exploration possible we would also like to welcome Amigo's Dive Center as one of sponsors for the 2009 Exploration Season.

STAY TUNED: Week 5 will see the first mission dives that will push the cave beyond the 2007 exploration season.