[Rick Huggins]

Quite a long one and I'm sure most have you have already seen it, but thought I'd post it here for info.
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Cave I, a students perspective

Raymond LeFrense

Rick Nolasco and I arrived in High Springs on October 13 around 6 pm. We cruised by Extreme Exposure Adventure Centre but it was just closing. We met Corey Jablonski, Jarrod's sister who was just locking the door. She took us over to Halcyon Manufacturing/GUE head quarters where we met Charlie Roberson and some of the staff who were still hanging around the place. From there, we headed off to find our accommodations for the night. We were booked into the High Springs Country Inn. It was not the most prestigious place in town but it did the job and was a great price at $28 pp/pn. The Inn was located right across the street from Floyd's Diner, which would prove to be our most regular choice for food. There are not a lot of restaurants in High Springs, only about three, but Floyds had tasty grub at a reasonable price and was too easy being a 30 second walk away. Extreme Exposure is also roughly a ten-minute walk from the Inn as well. Needless to say, High Springs is not a huge town, quite sleepy in fact. This suited me fine, as we were there to cave dive not for the nightlife or anything else.

Once we were settled away in our room we decided to call David Rhea, GUE (Global Underwater Explorers) Cave Training Director to touch base and let him know we had arrived safely. David was to be our cave instructor. Unknowing to us David had broken his left hand two days before. Upon hearing this, I was uncertain of what the outcome would be in regards to our course. We understood that David could not teach in this condition even though the thought had crossed his mind. His doctor soon put an end to that, as David is a lefty and would risk permanent disability to his hand if he didn't get a cast on it right away. David contacted Tyler Moon another local GUE cave instructor who was available for exactly the five-day window we needed. A day before or after and we would have been screwed. Tyler agreed to teach the course and saved the day for us. I had travelled from Canada to take the course but Rick had travelled from Hong Kong so both of us would have been greatly disappointed if our pilgrimages to Mecca had ended in cavern diving at Ginnie.

Day One
Today we met Don Costanza at Extreme Exposure early in the morning. Don would be the third man on our course and hails from the US Midwest. Our first day consisted of classroom and equipment review. Each of us only required minor adjustments on gear as we all had completed the prerequisite Fundamentals class and were on the same page in this regard. Once this was squared away we practiced reel and line running technique in a nearby yard. Each of us left eagerly awaiting the next day so we could actually get in the water and apply some of these techniques. We were heading to legendary Ginnie Springs.

Day Two
On the morning of day two we met at EE to pick up tanks and then drive out to Ginnie. It is only 15-20 minute away or five if you drive like Tyler. First up was our swim test and breath-hold swim. Once we each had this out of the way Tyler put together a line circuit for us in the picnic area to practice on land before entering the water. This gave us an opportunity to practice a zero viz (eye's closed) cave exit as well as time to warm up after the swim. He did a fantastic job of criss crossing lines and it was a real challenge to complete the circuit without mistakes. We made sure we took our time trying to make the right decisions but he said at the rate we were going we would run out of gas before we made it to the exit. It was an excellent learning tool and fun as well. With this complete we put our gear together and got ready for our first dive in Ginnie Cavern. Tyler ran the reel on the first dive so we could see how it is done. We swam into the cavern, which is a fairly large round room. Here Tyler demonstrated a series of propulsion techniques such as frog kick, modified flutter and the pull and glide hand technique. We each practiced these techniques as we swam around the cavern one behind the other.

On the second dive of the day, Tyler chose me to run the reel. He said to plan and execute the dive as though he was not there and he would just observe us. He also said that the grate preventing access to the cave in Ginnie cavern was kind of interesting and that we should check it out. Boy was that statement a set-up. I fell for it hook, line and sinker. I made my primary and secondary tie offs and headed straight for the grate. As I got closer and closer to the grate I had to kick harder and harder to make headway. Eventually I had to pull and glide the rest of the way because I could no longer swim against the flow. Excellent, I made it to the grate with my team right behind me. It was not until this point that the light bulb went off in my head and I realized the challenge in this exercise was not to make it to the grate but to leave the grate area with out allowing the line from the reel to become slack or entangling my team in the line in the process. I had to reel like a bat out of hell to accomplish this. For the third and last dive of the day Tyler created another line circuit underwater in Ginnie basin (open water no over head). We had to complete the circuit with our eye's closed first. Next with no masks, and lastly with our eye's closed sharing gas on the long hose maintaining touch contact with your buddy as to simulate a out of gas zero viz exit. The bottom topography was quite varied allowing for horizontal and vertical movement in close proximity to the bottom as well as mid water portions where the only reference you have is the line itself. The goal was to complete the circuit without hitting the surface or the bottom and not dislodging any of the ties or wraps. No one hit the surface but we did bounce off the bottom from time to time and knocked some of the placements loose. Tyler had to constantly re-do placements we knocked off as to keep the line taught and things flowing smoothly. Day two was a definite learning experience.

Day Three
We began the morning in the classroom where we covered what were the potential hazards and problems that can occur in caves. We also covered in detail the sequences for valve shut downs and the order of pre-dive safety checks. With this out of the way we filled tanks and headed out to Ginnie again. Today we would dive the infamous Devils Ear Cave System. Tyler warned us that Devils Ear had a very strong out flow and would be one of the hardest entry/exits we would probably ever do. He said that many cave divers won't dive Devils Ear because of this. A good thing about this cave though is that with this much flow there is no silt on the bottom of the cave and the visibility will be excellent.

We put our gear together and were pumped to head into the Ear. Tyler briefed us on the surface and told us that he would run the reel on this dive again so we could see how it is done and to allow us to concentrate on the entry. He told us that we would need to dump all the air out of our wings and dry suits so we could make a negatively buoyant entry. If we had any air in our wings or suits at all or if we tried to maintain neutral buoyancy, we would be spit out of the cave like a watermelon seed. As we would get deeper, the opening of the cave would restrict a little, the flow would become stronger and we would have to pull ourselves hand over hand into the cave until we were far enough in that the flow would lessen and then we could proceed to the main line. After this briefing we were all anticipating the worst.

As we swam over the top of the opening to Devil's Ear we could feel the pressure trying to force us back out. Tyler dropped in first followed by Don, Rick and myself. Once Tyler had tied into the main line he disappeared as he said he would and Don took over as dive leader. We all stayed relatively close to the bottom of the cave as we were still maintaining slightly negative buoyancy because of the high flow in the entrance. Because of this we started to swim down the middle of the cave close to the floor where there was relatively few things to grab on to for the pull and glide technique we were to use here. Also because the main line was approximately half way up the right hand side of the cave wall when swimming into the cave it was difficult for us to maintain eye contact with the line. Rick and I both realized this and were trying to convey that message to Don but we did so poorly. Eventually Don lost sight of the line so we turned around and backtracked until we picked it up again. Once we were back on the line, we decided to continue the dive back into the cave. As we were close to our time limit for the dive we did not make it far before it was time to make our exit. We swam back to the exit, Tyler re-appeared, picked up the reel and we all made our way to the secondary tie off. Here we all had to dump the gas from our wings and dry suits to prevent ourselves from being catapulted to the surface. We each verified we had dumped gas and then made our exit without any delay. In the debriefing Tyler made sure that we were aware of our mistakes involving being to low in the system and losing sight of the line as well as failure to communicate effectively to fix these problems once we had realized that we should have been hire up on the wall.

On the second dive, Don ran the reel followed by Rick and then myself. Don made the primary tie off, moved further into the cave and made the secondary tie off and then moved ahead to make room so Rick and I could get out of the flow from the entrance. At this point Don began to swim toward the main line while making placements to secure the line. Rick followed behind checking each placement and I followed. Almost as soon as I started to move my primary light failed. I thought it was Tyler inducing a failure. Then I remembered that he said he would not begin any drills until after we had turned the dive and were proceeding toward the exit. My mind was racing. Perhaps I bumped the switch by accident. I tried to reactivate the light while keeping track of where my buddies were as they had not noticed my light failure. The light did not re-strike. All this took place in seconds. I deployed my back-up light and tried to signal Rick and Don to make them aware of my light failure. They were both preoccupied with the reel and the fact that Tyler was signalling for them to move further into the cave before tying into the main line. My back-up light was not enough to get their attention so I swam over and shook Rick’s shoulder. I was now sure that I had a real problem with my light so I gave the thumbs up and called the dive. I led the way out of the cave stopping every so often to check that I was not to far ahead of my buddies. When we were about half way out I looked back and saw Tyler in the distance. He gave me the out of air signal. This was in an area where the flow was really strong. I was not to far from Rick but I had to physically pull myself back down into the cave a couple of feet to reach him in order to get his long hose. Now we would have to make the exit while staying in close contact so the reg would not get ripped out of my mouth. We continued our exit without further complications. In the debriefing Tyler made us aware that statistically failures would most likely occur at the start of a dive or right at the end/exit from a dive. I proved this theory when my light failed within the first two minutes.

On the third and final dive of day three, I ran the reel followed by Don and Rick brought up the rear. We pulled ourselves into the cave. I braced myself against the rocks to hold my position while making the primary tie off. The water flow was trying to push my legs up and invert me. I fought hard to maintain my spot and could feel my left calf muscle wanting to cramp. I held on but was having no luck with the tie off. The line was flapping in the current like a flag in the wind. I looked for a different place to tie that might have been easier. I went back to my first choice. It still did not want to work. Finally, Tyler dropped into sight and pointed out a better choice. I made the tie off and moved into the cave. By this time I was so stressed about the primary tie-off that I forgot to do the secondary tie off and proceeded to make my way into the cave towards the main line. I made placements along the way but when I tried to tighten the line before tying it into the main line I pulled most of them free. I reeled in the slack as I dropped back to the floor. There I made a couple of wraps around a large rock before heading towards the main line for the second time. It worked and we had a successful tie in. Here I made sure we all checked or depth, time and gas before we continued into the cave. I had such trouble with the tie offs that we had used ten of our fifteen minute maximum penetration and were only a couple of hundred psi away from our turn pressure. We all signalled that things were good and proceeded into the cave. I chose to stay high on the left hand side of the wall where it was easy to see and stay above the main line. Even though we had less available time and gas our pull and glide technique and higher position allowed us to reach a spot in the cave system that was at least equal to if not slightly further than our two previous dives. We hit our time limit just before we would have hit turn pressure. I thumbed the dive and we began our exit. At this point Tyler gave Don a light failure. Don signalled Rick with his back up to make him aware of the situation. As I was behind Don I saw it happen and so I let him know that I was aware of his situation as well. We did not have to adjust diver position as Don was in the middle and we could easily keep track of him. Next Tyler gave me the out of gas signal. I was slightly to far back from Don so I had to swim toward him a little to signal that I was out of gas. Now we changed positions as I was supposed to be the last man out of the cave. Now being the out of gas diver it was critical that I be in the middle of the configuration with Don behind me as the donor and Rick leading the way out. We swam to the exit where I should have been picking up the reel. As an out of gas diver on someone else's long hose the last thing I wanted to do was bring the reel out and in a situation like this you would leave it in the cave anyway so I indicated that we exit. Rick signalled that he would bring the reel out and so began to untie it from the main line. Don and I moved toward the exit and waited for Rick to bring the reel. Don and I dumped gas for the exit and started out of the cave. Don had not quite gotten all the gas out of his suit and became buoyant almost as soon as we entered the mouth of the cave. This caused him to move to quickly which began to push me out of the system as well because I was in front of him. We got things under control and stopped the exit to check to make sure Rick was still behind us. Rick was still in the cave. We could not see him but we could see the beam from his light. We waited, as it would be to hard for us to pull ourselves back into the cave with me on the long hose. Then we could no longer see Rick's light as Tyler induced another failure. Rick deployed his back-up light and continued to reel in the line. Tyler then decided to cut the line just before Rick made his exit. In the debriefing Tyler told us we should have left the reel behind right from the start of our exit once we had had a failure. You can always go back on another dive to recover a reel whereas bringing it out while dealing with a failure complicates things too much. Tyler said he cut the line because the loop in the end of it was to small and probably contributed to why I was having such trouble making the primary tie off on the way in. By cutting it, he guaranteed that I would fix it.

Day Four
Today we drove to Peacock Springs in Luraville to conduct our training. Peacock is a very well known cave diving location as well. Most of the exploration there was done by cave diving pioneer/legend Sheck Exley. Sheck died sometime in the early 90's on a world record deep cave dive in Monte Cenote in Mexico. The stairs we used to get in and out of the cave system were built in honour of Sheck and there is a brass plaque there in commemoration.

At Peacock Springs, there are a number of cave systems. Peacock 1, 2 and 3 and each has multiple tunnels. We were going to dive at Peacock 1. This system has two caves. Pot Hole Tunnel and Peanut Tunnel. Our first dive would be in Pot Hole. Our drills today consisted of lost diver drills and lights out/zero viz cave exits. We practiced the lost diver procedure in the parking lot before we geared up. Once that was over we put our gear on and headed for the water. We made sure to look the area over before entering as there were caution signs all around warning swimmers of Alligators living in the area. The coast was clear so we jumped in. We performed s-drills, bubble checks and equipment checks and then waited for Tyler's briefing. On dive one we were to do the lost diver searches. To speed up the process Tyler said he would have us all spread out and do our lost diver spool searches at the same time. Once we were done, we would make our way to the exit dealing with any problems as they arise. Rick was to run the reel on the way in. The cave entrance was directly straight back behind the steps we used for the entrance. The open water portion of this cave is very small as the entrance is almost on a forty-five degree angle. Tyler warned us that because of this we would have to be very careful not to swim into the cave before doing our primary tire off. Rick began to make that mistake but Don and I stopped him and waved him back to make the primary tie off in open water. We proceeded into the cave after Rick made the secondary tie off. We were swimming a little to far to the right so the cave was becoming quite restricted. As we went in further we could see the cave opening up to our left so we moved over to the larger area. Once the cave opened up, I could see two tunnels. As I thought Peanut would be the one on the left, Pot Hole Tunnel should be the opening on the right. Rick was swimming toward the left. I stopped him and signalled we should swim to the right. He started to move in that direction but then Tyler stopped us as we were head in the right direction all along. The tunnel on our right was unmarked and did not have a primary line. Once we made the tie off into the proper tunnel we stopped and checked our gauges. Rick was the dive leader and decided on a max penetration time of ten minutes. This was way to conservative and after checking our gauges we determined that our time was almost up and we would have to turn the dive after barely reaching the main line. Tyler stopped us and told us to continue as our turn time had been unrealistic and would not allow us to complete the lost diver drills we needed to do. He reiterated that other than in this situation under the direction of an instructor you never continue a dive after any diver had given the thumbs up sign.

We continued into Pot Hole tunnel where the cave opened up into a very large passage with a slightly silty floor. We reached our turn pressure and began to head toward the exit. Shortly after this, Tyler stopped us and signalled to begin the lost diver drill. I removed my line arrows from my pocket and clipped them to my left chest d-ring for easier access. I removed one, placed it on the line, and made an extra loop in it to secure the arrow. Then Tyler shut off my primary light. I removed my back-up light from the rubber loop and turned it on. I left it clipped to the D-ring but still signalled to Rick that I had a failure but was ok and continued my lost diver search. The back-up light hung straight down illuminating the bottom, which I used as a reference for buoyancy control. I swam out roughly forty feet and made an arch to facilitate my search. Tyler gave me the ok signal that my search was complete and I could begin reeling myself back to the main line. As soon as I turned around my back-up light that I had left dangling from my d-ring disappeared. I deployed my second/last back-up light. I kept a close eye on this one as I removed my spool from the main line. Once I had my spool re-stowed in my pocket, I unclipped my last back-up light from its d-ring and kept a good grip on it. Tyler then dropped my other b/u light on the cave floor in front of me. I moved in to pick it up and stow it away. When I returned to the main line to find my line arrow, which would have marked the direction of the exit, it was gone. I knew Tyler had it as I placed had placed an extra wrap on it to lock it on the line. I turned to see if Rick and Don were ready to exit the cave, they were but by now Tyler had all of us on b/u lights. We swam back to the reel and Rick disconnected it from the main line so we could head out of the cave. It got pretty crowed on the exit so I moved to the right out of the way to give Rick and Don some room. Tyler noticed this and signalled for me to move further to the right. Rick was focused on the reel and did not notice were I was and Don was watching Rick and also seemed to not notice I was gone. Shortly after Don began to look around to see where I was. He tried to get my attention but Tyler waved him off and then signalled for me to shut off my b/u light. I hovered in the dark as Rick reeled in the line and exited the cave with only Don in the lead. Tyler looked at me and gave me the your fucked hand signal and then we both exited the cave. Needles to say buddy awareness was the topic of the debriefing for this dive.

On the second dive of the day, I would run the reel as we headed to Peanut tunnel, which was to the far left of the cave entrance. On this dive, we were going to practice the lights out zero visibility exit. I made the primary tie off in open water quickly and headed into the cave. I did not see a good spot for my secondary tie off but Rick and Don found one and signalled me to come back a little and use the one they saw. The secondary went smoothly and I headed into the cave making placements along the bottom until we passed the cave entrance sign and I tied into the main line. We all checked our time and pressure before heading into the cave. On this dive we would be practicing our no lights zero viz exits. Once we reached the turn pressure and began our exit Tyler gave Rick the out of gas signal so he began sharing gas with Don. We got into touch contact position with our left hands on the line, shut off our lights, closed our eyes and began the exit. The section of Peanut that we were swimming threw has a very low ceiling and is somewhat narrow. Not much room for our buoyancy to vary and get out of control. It was fairly difficult to swim in this formation though and our exit was anything but smooth. We had to use a pattern of simple arm squeezes to communicate whether we wanted to stop, move forward or backward. I needed to dump gas from my wing once so I stopped the team. In the process, I took my hand off the line to dump the gas. This is a very big mistake as the line is your only reference to the exit. I should have transferred the line to my right hand and then dumped the gas and switch back to my left. I was so busy kicking my own ass for making such a stupid mistake I forgot that I had told everyone to stop moving. We sat there for a minute or more not going anywhere before I remembered I had initiated the stop. At this point, I signalled for us to move forward and we continued out of the cave to where our reel was tied into the main line. Once we reached the reel, we could open our eyes and turn our lights back on. We swam to the cave entrance and exited without any further problems/drills taking place.

During the debriefing Tyler mentioned how he could feel the vibration in the main line and hear somewhat of a chatter coming from it. He said this was because most of us had been clutching the line and not maintaining a proper ok signal around the line, which we could then use to feel for tension on the line to help us judge our buoyancy. He said if we could do that instead of clutching the line our buoyancy would be much better and the exit a lot smoother.

On the third dive of the day Rick was chosen to run the reel again and the dive would be essentially the same only our team order would be different for the exit. As I said, Rick lead the way followed by Don and then myself. We reached the same area of the cave. Turned the dive and got ready for the lights out zero viz exit again. This time Tyler gave Don the out of gas signal. He began sharing gas with me as we got into position on the line. Once we were all in position we turned out our lights, closed our eyes and headed toward the exit. This time seemed a little better than the last but not by much. The positioning on the line did not feel natural because we were in such a constricted passageway and also crowed so closely together. It was difficult to kick and our progress was slow. Tyler made us aware that the only way to smooth out the rough edges was to get in the water, dive and practice. A good way to do this would be with a line circuit in open water, which can be done anywhere.

We grabbed a quick bite at the Luraville County store, which we were told was tradition for any trip to Peacock. While there we discussed gas matching with dissimilar tanks and the GUE factors that we could use to make this task simpler. Our day ended with a short plane trip I mean road trip back to High Springs chasing Tyler all the way as he was my trail of bread crumbs back to High Springs.

Day 5

The last day of our course. Our main objective today was to conduct lost line drills. Tyler was uncertain as to where we should dive but in the end, he decided we should go back to Devils Ear. The purpose of this drill is to help you find a lost line whether it was due to inattention or lack of visibility. Basically, you find a spot to tie your safety spool to and then make a methodical search perpendicular to the direction of the cave. If you keep the spool close to the wall and travel the circumference of the cave you should snag the main line with your spool. Sounds easy doesn't it?

I ran the reel on the first dive. We dropped into the Ear, I made the primary and secondary tie offs and headed for the main line making placements along the way. As I was tying in to the main line, I looked back and could see that a couple of my placements had come loose and Tyler was fixing them. I dropped back down to the floor of the cave secured the line and then tied in. We checked our time and gas before heading into the cave. This time we made it threw the lips which is a famous restriction in Devils
Ear that is popular with photographers. At this point, the tunnel begins to restrict so Tyler told us to turn the dive. On the way out, we stopped at a fairly wide and irregularly shaped section of the cave. This was where Tyler wanted us to do our lost line searches. With the higher flow and the larger area it would have been hard to keep track of us all if we did the drill simultaneously so Tyler started Don first and then Rick. Once one of them was done, he would get me to do it. In order to make this skill a little more challenging Tyler took each of us and spun, twisted and turned us as he put us in place to perform the drill. We had to keep our eyes closed threw the entire process. Once he placed you in your location you had no idea which way was in or out or where you were in the cave.

Don was given a rock about the size of an inverted dinner plate with about the same physical characteristics. It looked as though it would be very difficult to get the safety spool tied in. To my surprise, he did get the tie to hold and began his search. Tyler had placed him right at the bottom of the cave facing directly into the flow. Tyler then took Rick and placed him on a very good tie off behind a large rock shielding him from the flow. This seems like it would be an easy location but in fact the lack of flow makes things more difficult. We all knew the flow pushed us out of the cave. If you could feel the flow, you knew the direction of the exit and had some reference for your search. Rick quickly tied in his safety spool and began his search. By now Don was making his way up the wall as he was being pushed down the tunnel toward the exit. He eventually found the line and tied in. Almost simultaneously, Rick also located the line and tied in.

Now it was my turn. I closed my eyes and Tyler moved me into location. I felt like a large pizza being spun and tossed while on route to where I would begin my search. I did not find out until later but Tyler had placed me in the same spot Rick had been. I was behind a large rock out of the flow with an excellent tie off I easily made. With my eyes tightly closed, I concentrated and tried to feel for the flow. I moved to my left a couple of feet and could feel the flow return. I worked my way up the wall searching for the line. Shortly after this, I realized based on the direction of the flow that I was searching the wall opposite of where the main line was. I spooled my self back in and head toward my right. I could feel the flow again and things seemed to indicate I was headed in the right direction. I pushed my spool up the wall trying to be careful not to miss a single inch of cave wall. I reached what I thought was the ceiling and could not understand why I had not found the line. I thought about it for a while and figured I possibly may have caught the main line with my reel in the process of travelling up the wall. I pulled on my spool a little and could feel a springy tension on the line. I was confident I had snagged the line with my spool and if I only reel in the line, I would find the main line where the two crossed. I began wrapping my line back on the spool and reeled myself all the way back to my original tie off. I had not found the main line as I so confidently thought. I needed a new game plan. My tie off was very secure but from its location, I could not feel the flow of the cave so I knew I was behind some protrusion. I figured if I made myself slightly buoyant I would lift off the bottom and be suspended in the water like a kite in the wind attached to my spool. From there, I could determine the direction of the flow and would know which direction to search. Again, I moved toward my right while facing the flow that should have put me on the same wall as the main line. I searched and searched. I was not going to give up. If this were a real event, my only option would have been to continue the search as I was choosing to do. All of a sudden, the line from my spool went slack and I started to quickly drift down stream. I opened my eyes and saw Tyler had cut my line. I spooled in the line and stored it in my pocket. Time was running out so we headed for the exit. This time we would leave the reel tied into the main line to make things quicker on our entry for the second dive.

On the way out Don exited first followed by Rick and then me. As we had left the reel in place, now there was a line coming all the way out of the cave to the open water. On the way to the surface, Rick got his fin strap caught in the line. I moved in to free him. I cleared the line but in the process, I got my manifold snagged in the line as well. Rick had now moved further up the exit and I was alone and snagged in the line. I reached back and felt around my manifold, cleared the problem and proceeded out of the cave.

In the debriefing Tyler asked us if we had made any safety/deco stops on the way out. None of us had but he said it was something we should start doing. The flow in the entrance is strong but if we dumped all of our gas, we could maintain stops on the way out. As for the lost line drill, he said that finding the line is a bonus in this drill and it does not always happen. What he said he was looking for was thought process and methodology in conducting the search. It did not make me feel any better though as I was the only one not to find the line. Also because we left the reel in place in the cave for the next dive he asked if anyone had checked the tie offs and placements on the way out to make sure everything was secure and not a hazard for our next dive or any other divers in the area. I think we were all guilty of neglecting that duty.

On dive two Don lead the group followed by myself and then Rick. We entered the cave and pulled our selves in past the lips to the area called the Key Hole. Here we turned the dive and headed out. Rick first then I and then Don. Don had a primary light failure and switched to a b/u light. As he was in the rear I told him to switch places with me. This placed the problem diver in the middle of the team where he could be watched closely. As soon as he was in place Tyler gave me a primary light failure. I went to my first b/u light. Tyler took it away. I switched to my last b/u light. Tyler took this one as well. He had to insist, as I did not want to give it up willingly. Now I had no lights and was in the rear of the team. I signalled to Don that I had no lights and switched places with him. Again, this placed the problem diver in the middle of the team. I made sure I stayed within an arms sweep of the main line as if we had any more light failures it would be my only link to the surface. No sooner than when I was thinking of this Rick’s primary failed. Now we were coming out on two b/u lights between three divers. I figured Tyler was going for broke on this dive so I wrapped my fingers around the main line while exiting and was fully expecting the rest of our lighting to disappear. No other problems occurred. We reached the reel where Don disconnected it from the main line and we headed for the exit door. On the way out this time, we paused at 30 ft with further three-minute stops at 20 and 10ft.

In the debriefing Tyler gave us praise for prioritising team member location during the failures. We always made sure the compromised diver was in the middle of the team where they would be protected best. It was an interesting exit.

Our third and final dive of the day and of our course was going to be in Devils Eye, which is only about a hundred feet away from Devils Ear. I think we all relaxed a little after finding this out. We knew Tyler had said the entry into the Ear would be one of the toughest we would find anywhere. So the Eye would be easy. I definitely underestimated it. Rick was running the reel followed by Don and I was last. We were low on gas and only had about 300 psi for penetration. Tyler said he would be surprised if we made it to the main line on this dive with our limited gas supply. As we entered the mouth of the cave, we could feel the out flow get stronger and stronger. We definitely had to pull and glide our way into this cave as well. As we went in the cave also dropped at a very steep angle and had a very low ceiling. Rick made the primary and secondary tie offs and we proceeded in. As Rick was making a placement with the line Tyler gave Don the out of gas signal. He indicated that he wanted Don to share gas with Rick. Don gave Rick the distress signal with his light. It was shining right on the reel body where Rick's attention was focused but Rick did not see it. Tyler swam over, took the reel away from Rick, and threw it on the floor of the cave. Then Rick saw Don's signal and donated his long hose to him. They began to exit. I did not want to leave the reel lying loose on the floor because the cave was so small that if the line was slack we could become entangled in the line on the way out. I picked up the reel and tied it off securing the line. Tyler had now moved up toward the entrance of the cave where it appeared Rick and Don were having some trouble. After Rick had donated his long hose to Don, he was now on his back up regulator on the left post of his twins. On the way out of the cave he had been hitting the ceiling and rolled his post off shutting off his own back up reg. He had nothing to breathe. He took his long hose back from Don and was attempting to buddy breathe with Don while exiting the cave. Tyler came in and offered his long hose to Don but Don felt better going back to his own reg, which he did. We made the exit and Tyler brought out the reel. There was nothing wrong with Rick's back up. All he had to do was reach back and open the valve. This gave us a new respect for diligently checking your valves any time you make contact with an overhead environment.

All the diving was over. The only thing left to do was our final exam which we did sitting at a picnic table at Ginnie. It had been an awesome course and I was already pumped to do Cave 2. I passed the exam and could hardly believe it was over. It seemed like I waited forever for the months leading up to pass but the course itself was over in the blink of an eye. I looked forward to making my first dive as a certified cave diver, which I did the very next day.