Underwater Speleology Journal of the Cave Diving Section of the National Speleological Society INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Whale Bone Restoration in Devils System Cave Diving And DAN Work Day At Cow Springs Volume 42 Number 3 July/August/Sepetember 2015 NSS-CDS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Underwater Speleology Volume 42 Number 3 July/August/Sepetember 2015 CHAIRMAN Joe Citelli (954) 646-5446 [email protected] contents VICE CHAIRMAN TJ Muller Featured Articles [email protected] TREASURER Cheryl Doran Repairing The Past [email protected] By Gene Page and Michael Angelo Gagliardi.............................................................6 SECRETARY Forrest Wilson Michael Angelo’s Notes [email protected] By. Michael Angelo Gagliardi....................................................................................10 PROGRAM DIRECTORS Cave Diving And Dan Joe Tegg [email protected] By Peter Buzzacott MPH, PhD.................................................................................14 Nathan Spray Work Day At Cow Springs [email protected] ..................................................................................................................16 TRAINING CHAIRMAN Jim Wyatt 2015 Workshop Wrap Up (352) 363-0013 [email protected] By Jared Hires............................................................................................................24 Columns From The Chairman By Joe Citelli................................................................................................................5 Milestones By Shirley Kasser........................................................................................................13 Beyond The Panhandle ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER By Jennifer Idol..........................................................................................................18 Bruce Ryan We Are Stronger Than Me 295 NW Commons Loop SUITE 115-317 By Michael Angelo Gagliardi................................................................................19 Lake City, FL 32055 (850) 284-1849 Off To the Side [email protected] By Rob Neto..............................................................................................................20 Please mail Section business to: Skills, Tips & Techniques NSS-CDS 295 NW Commons Loop, Suite 115-317 By Georges Gawinowski..........................................................................................22 Lake City, FL 32055 Instructor Listing ..................................................................................................................27 Cover Photo: Whale bone restoration work marker in Ginnie Springs Photographer: David Sheard www.nsscds.org 3 UNDERWater SPELEOLOGY editor’s notes Team EDITOR ART DIRECTOR Seen in geological perspective, we are fossils in the making, to be Cheryl Doran [email protected] buried and eventually exposed again for the puzzlement of creatures of later eras.” ~Wallace Stegner~ ADVERTISING SALES [email protected] In this issue we have some old, some new, some comings and some goings. DEPARTMENTS SKILLS, TIPS, & TECHNIQUES You will find a detailed article about the recent resotration of the damaged Georges Gawinowski [email protected] whale bone fossil in the Devil’s System. A new dive exploration group in Texas. New work on the Cow Springs site. (The purple privacy wall is destined to be CONSERVATION CORNER Michael Angelo Gagliardi my CDS legacy...and I’m OK with that.) A review of the 2015 Workshop this past May and information on the upcoming 2015 Midwest Workshop in October. MILESTONES Shirley Kasser [email protected] We are saddened to see our Conservation Chair, Kelly Jessop, and our Awards Coordinator, Shirley Kasser, step down and we thank them for their tenure. We THE LOOP Joe Citelli also welcome our new Conservation Chair, Michael Angelo Gagliardi, and our new Awards Coordinator, Eric Parks. Thank you for volunteering your time and BEYOND THE PANHANDLE Jennifer Idol energy for these positions. OFF TO THE SIDE Jared Hires did a tremendous job with the May workshop and we are looking Rob Neto [email protected] forward to the 2016 Workshop with Curt Bowen as our Workshop Chair. Plans for the Midwest Workshop in MO are underway with Mark Wenner as workshop INSTRUCTOR’S CORNER Carl Griffing chair. Portal To the Inner Earth is the workshop theme and it looks to be another [email protected] great event event. EDITORS We have joined forces with the NSS as well as local conservation groups SENIOR EDITOR Barbara J. Dwyer to protect Alachua Sink and are unfortunately still embroiled in the on-going ASSOCIATE EDITOR School Sink law suit. We are also still working on updating our programs and Russell Edge procedures. Views represented in UWS articles are proprietary to the au- Busy times! And volunteers make it all happen. Take some time and volunteer for thor and do not reflect the views of the NSS-CDS BOD or Edi- a committee or project. Just a few hours of your time can make a difference. tor. We encourage the process of freedom of speech. You are welcome at any time to make rebuttals to articles previously printed in UWS. Please send articles or responses to: [email protected]. Dive safe, For rates and ad sizes please go to www.nsscds.com Cheryl Underwater Speleology (UWS) is printed quarterly (four times yearly) by the NSSCDS, 295 NW Commons Loop, Suite 115-317, Lake City, Florida 32055. UWS is a membership benefit. Information on membership fees and registration can be found at www.nsscds.org. Please send address changes to NSS-CDS, 295 NW Commons Loop, Suite 115-317, Lake City, Florida 32055. Please submit letters and articles to UWS EDITOR, 295 NW Commons Loop, Suite 115-317, Lake City, Florida 32055. UWS text, illustrations, and photographs may not be repro- duced or reprinted without the expressed consent of the NSS- CDS or its authors, artists, or photographers. Rallly at Alachua Sink. NSS-CDS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Photographer:Tracy Marinello. Photo courtesy of Florida Defenders of the Environment who encouraged all their members to attend the rally. 4 Underwater Speleology from the Chairman Joe Citelli Once again our annual workshop was a resounding success under the leadership of our Workshop Chair Jared Hires. Both attendance and profits were up from last year and a rebreather try out day was introduced on Sunday. Hopefully, this will eventually evolve into a Rebreather Summit. On behalf of the board of directors and the membership, I would like to thank Jared for his efforts. Chairing these events is not easy. Jared will be staying on in the background in an advisory capacity. For 2016, our Workshop Chair will be Curt Bowen. Curt will bring his many years of expertise to the table and work to broaden the appeal of the workshop, making it even more successful. Look for a new and dynamic approach for next years’ workshop. Our Midwest Workshop will be held in Missouri in October. Mark Wenner is our workshop chair and is bringing some new ideas to this years event. Thank you Mark for taking this on! After many years of service, Kelly Jessup has stepped down as our Conservation Chair. We thank him for his selfless dedication to the CDS. Kelly will be replaced by Michael Angelo Gagliardi. Welcome aboard Michael Angelo! The training committee has passed a resolution banning most training at Eagles Nest Cave. We thank the training director and committee for taking a stand on this very important matter. If we are to lead by example, we must make our rules a notch above the others. Once again, the property around and adjacent to Alachua Sink is in danger of being developed to the detriment of the cave system which is an environmentally sensitive site. Your Vice Chair, Sylvester (TJ) Muller, has taken a leadership role in working with the NSS and other conservation minded groups to prevent any damage to the cave. Thank you TJ for all of your hard work. Thanks to Steve Boyer, Cow Springs now has a changing station painted “Princess Purple” and a dive platform. A hearty “Thank You” goes out to Steve and his merry helpers. The School Sink lawsuit drags on ad infinitum and keeps sucking up our operating funds. A new trial date has been set for February 8, 2016. Hopefully, it will not be postponed again and one way or another the insanity will come to an end. Respectfully, Joe Citelli, Chairman NSSCDS www.nsscds.org 5 Photographer: Michael Angelo Gagliardi Repairing The Past By: Gene Page and Michael Angelo Gagliardi Photo: Michael Angelo Gagliardi It may be hard to imagine Florida’s cave country during to Michael Angelo and his team. At first, he wasn’t sure the Eocene Epoch around 35 to 55 million years ago but a repair could be accomplished, but he remembered let’s try…. hearing of an epoxy that was used in reef repair and realizing karst can act like ocean reefs he thought this Picture some water, a lot of water, like being accidently epoxy might be the answer. After some initial tests, above left by a boat in the middle of nowhere type of water. And and underwater, plans were made to repair the damaged sea creatures of varying sizes, from microscopic critters fossil. to huge whales. A team of safety divers and assistants was assembled Among all of these various creatures is a lone whale, and the project began. Imagine being about 2200 feet in slowly living its’ last seconds of life and then floating a cave, on a jump off the main line, playing a combination gently to the sea bottom where it is joined by millions of the game