Turner - Wakulla Traverse
Turner - Wakulla Traverse
by Todd Leonard
Saturday’s first order of business was to send a team in at Wakulla, running bottles and scooters out to the 6500 drop. Jarrod and Casey would need this gear later to complete the traverse, and couldn’t begin their dive from Turner until we knew the delivery had been completed. We’d received a request to swap out the real-time flowmeter in D-tunnel, so the 6500 team (David Rhea, Mark Garland, and Mark Messersmith) was tasked with that as well. We estimated a bottom time of 120-150min for this, but given reports of high flow and reduced visibility (about 10-15ft in the basin) we knew it could easily stretch longer.
Curtis Baldwin and Adam Gonzales were first to wade into the water, acting as wet sherpas while the 6500 team prepared to go, and later positioning themselves on the tower and near the beach to serve as rescue swimmers should that have proved necessary. Meanwhile, Doug Mudry and Richard Lundgren began their multifaceted support shift. At 7:45 they escorted the 6500 team through their initial descent. Returning to the surface, Mudry and Lundgren began the final setup of deco gear for both gas teams. When they descended to 120 to inflate the trough and hang the deco rebreathers, they discovered the trough wasn’t where it should be. After searching for it for 10-15 minutes, they clipped off the breathers on the main line and returned to the surface to report the problem. They then completed their final task, pulling the end of the cable for the vent’s flowmeter to the surface for repair before exiting at 10:30.
The missing 120 trough was a fairly serious problem. It wasn’t a show-stopper, but without the trough Jarrod and Casey would face a riskier and more challenging task when they arrived at the basin and needed to switch from their primary rebreathers to their deco rebreathers. Their opportunity to eat decent food would be delayed and reduced, and they wouldn’t be able to warm their hands and face. With this in mind, we changed the priorities of the next support crew, and also started investigating whether we could quickly go buy a new trough to replace it.
David Doolette and Gideon Liew got in the water at 11:00. Their original assignment of swapping the real-time flowmeter at the vent for a recording flowmeter would have to wait. Instead, they were concurrently tasked with checking for the return of the 6500 team, while scouring the cavern for the missing trough. They began with a quick check at 150, and seeing that the guys weren’t back yet began their search. Knowing that the trough was slightly buoyant, they began their search where the trough used to be, on the western wall of the cavern at 120, and started working their way up and all over the ceiling of the cavern. It was a tedious process in the limited visibility, and after about 45min of searching they still hadn’t found it. They returned to the surface with a report, took a short surface interval, and dropped back down to check for the 6500 team. They met them near 130, exchanged notes, and relieved them of some used gear. Doolette and Liew returned to the surface (taking time for a little deco of their own on the way). After handing off the note and gear, Liew said “guess what I saw on the way up?” Their path to the surface happened to take them past where the missing trough came to rest – under the 30ft ledge on the far eastern edge of the cavern zone.
The note from the 6500 team read “mission accomplished” and reported a bottom time of 180min. We called over to Turner to report the gear had been delivered and the trough had been located. Casey and Jarrod would be able to begin their dive with one less concern, knowing the trough would be waiting for them when they arrived. They started gearing up, ultimately getting underway at 13:20. A small crew stayed behind at Turner throughout the afternoon and well into the night, periodically heading downstream to check for the unexpected return of Casey and Jarrod. In the event of a major gear failure early in their dive, they would have turned around and we would have had to rapidly shift support from Wakulla to Turner. At Wakulla, John Kendall and Richard Walker remained on-call, geared up and ready to go in to retrieve the deco gear on short notice.
Meanwhile, after a short surface interval, we discussed how Doolette and Liew should proceed with the trough, and they resumed their dive. They picked up lead weights from the 50ft ledge, returned to 30ft and clipped them to the trough to make it a little negative, and then dropped down to 120 leaving the trough in the sand near the main line. They quickly checked the 6500 team, then moved the trough into position and added a little gas to it. Given the very uneven surface of the ceiling at this point in the cave, positioning the trough is fairly challenging, even more so in limited visibility. After returning the weights to the ledge, Doolette and Liew completed their long and very productive dive around 14:40.
Dean Marshall and John Bailey began their shift at 14:50. Their primary assignment was monitoring and assisting the 6500 team, but because of the morning’s trough shenanigans they would also need to swap flowmeters at the vent. They followed the line and sampling tube to the vent at 190, stopping along the way to check the 6500 team. At the vent, they removed the real-time meter from its stand, replacing it with a recording meter. They returned to the surface, checking the team again along the way, decompressing as they ascended. After a surface interval, they dropped to 120 to check the trough placement and inflate it the rest of the way, again checking the 6500 team as they passed in each direction. At the 50 trough, they assisted the 6500 team out of their rebreathers and into deco harnesses, later ferrying the breathers back to the surface. They reported that the team O2 bottle we leave at 20 for the support divers was running a little low, so we retrieved another large O2 bottle from the trailer and sent it in with them to be swapped. After assisting the 6500 team into the habitat, Marshall and Bailey completed their dive around 18:15.
At 19:30, Bill Oigarden, Antonio Giorgetti, and Claudia Milz began their support dive, tasked with assisting the 6500 team out of the habitat and monitoring them during their final ascent. They began with a quick check of them in the habitat, and returned to the surface with a refined estimate of when they’d be getting out of the habitat. Returning about 30min later they assisted the guys back into the deco harnesses, and began the slow ascent to the surface.
Meanwhile, at 20:00, Chris Werner and Doug Mudry entered the water to begin the checks for arrival of Casey and Jarrod. They dropped down to the vent, peered through looking for lights, and returned to the surface. About 45min later they repeated the process, with still no sign of them.
While these teams were in the water, the storms that had been blowing through all day began to strengthen. We got a call with reports of wind damage and tornado warnings to our west, and scrambled to break down all the canopies and secure all gear that had been left standing in the grass lot. We broke down all but one of the canopies near the beach, packed up as much as we could, and held onto the remaining canopy to keep it from being blown away.
With Oigarden, Giorgetti, and Milz each shadowing one member of the 6500 team, they began surfacing… at 21:15, 21:20, and 21:45. When we’re unable to provide a dedicated support diver for each gas diver the gas divers need to surface together, but when completely staffed the gas team can separate somewhat and ascend in the order they exited the habitat. After each diver spent 20min on the surface they stood up and walked out, leaving their gear at the water’s edge for us to retrieve when the storm subsided.
Meanwhile, at 21:40, Werner and Mudry left the beach again to check for Jarrod and Casey. Success! They were back, safely decompressing on the main line around 140, and celebrating the completion of the traverse. Werner and Mudry surfaced with the news and numerous spent bottles and scooters. We called over to Turner to let the support team know they could start wrapping up the site, made a few other calls and sent a quick announcement to the team email list, and got back to work. Werner and Mudry descended again, this time meeting the guys at 120. They helped Jarrod and Casey out of their rebreathers, brought the units to the surface, and pulled some of the remaining gear from the 6500 team, ending their shift at 23:00.
Gideon Liew and Mario Arena began their shift at 23:15. Werner didn’t feel like getting out of the water yet (he’s a big ball of energy when cool dives are unfolding), so he joined them for their first descent to check Jarrod and Casey at the 120 trough. The trio assisted Jarrod and Casey into their deco rebreathers, and returned to the surface with an update. Werner got out at 23:45, while Liew and Arena continued making periodic checks until the end of their shift at 2:30 Sunday morning.
Antonio Giorgetti, John Kendall, and Paul Gore began a shift at 2:50, periodically checking the decompressing divers throughout their ascent. They assisted the guys out of their deco harnesses at the 40ft trough, and then into the habitats, signaling the end of their support shift. They surfaced at 6:02. With the decompressing divers in the habitat for a couple hours, and all other divers out of the water, we could finally take a moment to relax.
John Bailey, Richard Lundgren, and Mario Arena began the final support shift of the weekend at 7:54, assisting Casey and Jarrod out of the habitats and monitoring them during the slow ascent to the surface. While the surface crew was cleaning up as much of the remaining gear as we could, a crowd began to gather at the Wakulla beach to greet Casey and Jarrod. They surfaced at 9:00 in beautiful weather to an enthusiastic group… team members, family members, guests, park staff, The Friends of Wakulla, GUE members, local cave divers, and a few members of the news media.
Casey and Jarrod spoke to the crowd during their required time on the surface. Meanwhile, Bailey, Lundgren, and Arena waited quietly nearby. After 15min, they descended for a final sweep of the troughs and habitats, cleaning up all remaining gear, pulling the team O2 bottle, pulling the flag. We were done.
Throughout the day and night, and very deserving of mention, we had continuous surface support from family members, guests who are on the path to joining the team, and a visiting international group of GUE divers. They worked tirelessly, allowing us to stretch our resources through the long weekend, allowing most of the team to get a little sleep. Thank you!
Absolutely everyone involved busted ass this weekend, but worthy of note is the entire Turner crew. They braved the same heavy storms as us in a far tougher environment, and continued working and diving through brutally long shifts with far fewer people than we would ideally have liked to assign to the task.
Thanks are also due to The Friends of Wakulla, who provided food and drinks Sunday morning to the divers and all who showed up to support and celebrate completion of the traverse and other recent accomplishments.
The WKPP is a remarkable organization. Drawing on the skills and energy of a diverse group, we’re able to pull together to minimize risk and successfully complete some very complex and aggressive dives. This weekend was a high point, and a great way to wrap up 2007.
Summary of Wakulla in-water support shifts:
| 07:15-09:00 | Gonzales/Baldwin |
| 07:45-10:30 | Mudry/Lundgren |
| 11:00-14:40 | Doolette/Liew |
| 14:50-18:15 | Marshall/Bailey |
| 19:30-21:45 | Oigarden/Giorgetti/Milz |
| 20:00-23:45 | Werner/Mudry |
| 23:15-02:32 | Liew/Arena |
| 02:50-06:02 | Giorgetti/Kendall/Gore |
| 07:54-09:45 | Bailey/Lundgren/Arena |
by Dawn Kernagis
After assisting with the early morning effort at Wakulla, the Turner support crew left to set up for the start of the traverse. Starting around noon, Marc Singer and Scott Cox did multiple trips to carry deco bottles, stage bottles and scooters into the cave for the traverse team to collect on their way in. Claudia Milz suited up and worked as the surface swimmer for the placement team, helping them move and sort gear in the basin. Antonio Giorgetti also assisted with surface transport of equipment as a large crowd started to gather to see the guys off on their journey to Wakulla Springs. Media crews gathered to interview Jarrod and Casey before they geared up, and Todd Kincaid presented an overview of the team's work to the press and other onlookers.
After receiving the call from Todd Leonard that the 6500 team had successfully delivered their payload, the guys were ready to start the dive. At 13:20 Saturday, Jarrod and Casey left the surface of Turner Sink to begin the traverse to Wakulla Springs. Cox and Singer stayed in the water so they could escort the guys at the beginning of the dive. Richard Lundgren and Doug Mudry were also in-water so they could video the start of the dive.
Scott Cox, Marc Singer, and Todd Kincaid ran check-up dives throughout the course of the afternoon/evening just in case the traverse team had to return for any reason. The late night surface crew of Kell Canty, Carol Deegan, Curtis Baldwin, and Dawn Kernagis persevered as thunder, lighting, and pouring rain moved across the area. At approximately 22:00 they received word that the traverse team had successfully reached Wakulla. The team of Cox and Kincaid went into Turner to pull the remaining decompression bottles (left up until that point in case the guys did return for any reason), the Turner crew packed up, and everyone left Turner to join their teammates at Wakulla Springs around 1:00 Sunday morning.
Weekend Support Staff
North American WKPP Members:
John Bailey
Curtis Baldwin
Frank Blanco
Diana Borrero
Kell Canty
Robert Carmichael
Scott Cox
David Doolette
Shellie Foss
Mark Garland
Antonio Giorgetti
Jarrod Jablonski
Dawn Kernagis
Todd Kincaid
Todd Leonard
Dean Marshall
Casey McKinlay
Mark Messersmith
Claudia Milz
Doug Mudry
Bill Oigarden
David Rhea
Anthony Rue
Marc Singer
Sonya Tittle
Chris Werner
International WKPP Members:
Mario Arena
John Kendall
Gideon Liew
Richard Lundgren
Rich Walker
Guests and Family:
Cory Bell
Jesper Berglund
Carol Deegan
Suzy Garland
Adam Gonzales
Paul Gore
Helene Hagerman
Maren Isigkeit
Corey Jablonski
Rasmus Lauritsen
Kate McKinlay
Kelly McKinlay
Reese McKinlay
Renee Neuman
Karen Oigarden
Claudio Provenzani
Derk Remmers
Elena Romano
Nick Schoefflera
