Waves N Caves Mailing List
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WavesWaves ‘n’‘n’ cavescaves www.wavesncaves.com Winter 2008 What’s been happening? Welcome to the wavesncaves seventh newsletter. Firstly, congratulations go out to Kelvyn and Paula Ball on their new arrival, Ruby Ball. Congratulations also go out to Josh, Ryan, Laura, Sally, Luke, Daniel, Josh, Nick and Christa on the completion of their open wa- ter course in February, as well as Ross Fitzgerald who has com- pleted and passed his Instructor Rating! While we’re on a roll, we’ll also pass along our congratulations to Dr Richard Harris (Dr. Harry), Andrew Bowie and Grant Pearce on their recent expedition to New Zealand where they reached a new depth at the Pearce Resurgence of 182m! Welcome to our seventh news- It’s hard to believe that half of the year has almost gone by, but the letter—Winter 2008. weather has cooled down, cray season is over and the big boats have been pulled from the water. In this edition: Yet there’s still plenty happening. Cave and sinkhole dives are still - Past Events going forward at the Mount, and plans to dive the Nullabor cave - Upcoming Events system later this year are in actions, with talk for The President - Reverse Profiles—fact or myth Coolidge and a trip up to Montague island in early stages too for - Diving Headaches next year. On top of all this, Parko and Kelly will be tying the knot a - Deadly Creatures—The Blue little later, escaping to Fiji to get away from this cooler weather. Ring Octopus - Photography Tips - Why go cave diving? - Wookey Cave - News Briefs Gary flies the flag Australia Day while diving. What better way to spend the weekend? Page 1 Past Events March 22nd—24th—Easter Weekend Jan 12—Bakers Cave A group from Horsham and Warrnambool met at the shaft to explore the depths below, as well as Andrew, Adam and Freddy decided to tackle Bak- taking some time to enjoy other caves in the area. ers cave. This was the first time in 12 months that any divers had visited the site. Thankfully this year Freddy did not lose his bever- age to the whims of a flying missile. The threat that Bakers is a little like the shaft to start with, although anyone climbing with a weigh belt shouts the guide it has a longer solution tube and a rock just under a slab was enough to keep everyone well behaved the surface level which one can rest on while gear- this weekend. ing up, etc. Also on this trip, Smiley exposed his 6th sense as Unlike the shaft, vehicles are used to lift gear and he prevented disaster and paused whilst abseiling divers out of the water. An ‘alternate’ route to the just inches from the water to get someone to ‘check back was found by Freddy and enjoyed by all. his drysuit zip’. This weekend also saw dives at Pines and Allen- dale East. Jan 26-27—The Shaft Freddy guided ‘The Shaft’ this weekend, and had interesting experiences with climbers and weight belts, and a diver who enjoyed tumbling down the rock pile. Jan 26-27 Feb 2-3—OW Course Gary and Linda held an open water course for the Horshamites these two weekends, which started with Theory and Confined dive sessions at Hor- sham, and ended up down at the coast for the shore dives. Students were introduced to less than favorable conditions, however, Clyde, Caleb and Adam took the most of the situation and enjoyed some drift diving at Pea soup. March 1st—Portland The Warrnambool guys hitched up the club boat, and headed to Warrnambool to join others from Horsham. Some of the new students had a dive along the breakwater and then took on their first boat dive. Divers from the Warrnambool Sub Aqua Club en- joyed the worst of the worst, tackling swells, and being greeted to less than half a meter vis. Sadly, the Emily was not dived this day. March 2nd—Ewens Night & Dry Caving A group from Horsham, keen after seeing the sea at it’s worst this month headed back to Ewens for clear water, and enjoyed a night dive through the ponds. The following day was spent out of the wa- ter, exploring Morgan's cave and getting a bit dirty. Page 2 April 25-27th—Mt Gambier Caves (Wet and Dry) some of the great world renown cave sites over on the Nullabor plains. Cave rating is required for this The Pines, Fossils Cave, Mud Hole and Engle- trip. (Those not yet cave rated and interested in this brechts West were visited over this weekend, in- sort of diving should consider getting endorsed cluding a scout through the caves at Snake Hill, early to make sure they don’t miss this fantastic life where many small passageways were crawled experience!) through, and decorations observed. Also found was a cave with bats that were coming to hibernate over the winter period. October 17th—Catch N Cook Upcoming Events Cray season will be back into the swing, and we’re sure that theirs more than just a couple that will be June 1st—Hells Hole Day ready for the great hunting and the feeding experi- enced found with these unique creatures. There A guided dive will be available at Hells hole this has been talk of holding a catch n cook this week- day, followed by some snags on the BBQ. Hells end over at Port MacDonald. hole takes some preparation to get into, so why not make the most of this opportunity and come on down to the Mount this weekend. We dare say that other sites will be dived on the Saturday. Short Notice Events Diving events happen almost on a fortnightly basis, June 7th—Loch Ard with trips all over the coast and inland at caves! These trips, normally decided within a week of the Once again, weather dependant, some hope to dive dive are communicated between divers on the the Loch Ard wreck down near Port Campbell this waves n caves mailing list. weekend. More details will follow on our website and mailing list as the time draws closer. If you are not on the mailing list, then you are most likely not in the know of the majority of the dives that take place! July 5th—Mt Gambier (Long weekend) If you would like to be on the mailing list, send an email to adam @ wavesn caves.com requesting to Kilsby's and possibly the shaft will be open this be added. The mailing list allows all involved to be weekend. Other dive possibilities include Pic's, One able to send emails to the list members about any -Tree, Little Blue, Pines, Englebrechts, Allendale intended dives. and Ewens, depending on numbers, experience and interest. Sadly though, this is the last long weekend until Christmas. Why they’re all stacked up so close at the start of the year is anyone’s guess. August 8th—HMAS Canberra Hoping that all goes to plan, the HMAS Canberra should have been scuttled by now. This brand new wreck for the Queenscliffe area is sure to be a great attraction. See website for more details as dates or site may change depending on whether the wreck is available to dive by this date (or earlier!) Sep 27—Oct 11th Nullabor Trip Brittle Starfish found during Open Water A trip will be taking to the middle of nowhere to dive Course in Portland Page 3 Reverse Profiles (Fact or Myth)? Some debate has been raised regarding reverse dive profiles. (That is when the second or sub- sequent dives are progressively deeper than the previous). This diving goes against every- thing taught in student dive books as well as on dive courses, however it seems to be occurring more and more often in the diving community. Have dive masters gone mad or is the traditional teaching to do the deepest dive first incorrect? As soon as we descend from the surface we start to breathe that cause no symptoms or ill- any other types of diving. gases at increased pressure. ness. The presence of these ni- The increased partial pressure of trogen bubbles and the residual On a more practical note, it is nitrogen begins to exceed the nitrogen in the tissues previous interesting to see that a diver pressure of nitrogen in the to a subsequent dive needs be can calculate that longer bottom body’s tissues, causing the tis- taken into consideration when times are gained by doing the sues to take on more nitrogen. planning dive profiles. deeper dive last, with no in- When we start our return to the crease in risk as long as the ta- surface this effect is reversed However, returning to the origi- bles are accurately followed. and nitrogen begins to leave the nal debate - does it matter if tissues, enters the blood stream dives are made in reverse pro- Don’t expect this information to and is exhaled out via the lungs. file? Unfortunately the Myth bust- find it’s way into any student dive ers team haven’t put this to the manuals in the near future When the pressure gradient that test for us. However, some oth- though. It will take some time develops in the tissues to the ers have looked into this with before the dive industry be- lungs exceeds a certain size, some interesting findings. comes convinced to ditch the then bubbles start to form which training against reverse profiles. can then cause decompression To start, we find that the rule of sickness (DCS).