You know it is going to be a big trip when you have 85.3kg of dive and photographic equipment spread across the living room floor. The next day I was on a flight to the USA which would see me travel to New York, Florida, Denver, Las Vegas and finally San Francisco. Upon my arrival at Jacksonville airport I was hit by the heat and humidity; at this point I knew I was in cave country. After settling in and assembling my gear I came to the realisation that my rebreather electronics were indeed broken, meaning no CCR diving for me.

After drinking away my sorrows Plan B was invoked; beg, borrow and steal enough OC gear to put together a usable twin rig. It wasn’t pretty or balanced, nor DIR worthy but it got me in the water. With twin 18 litre cylinders on my back and a couple of stage cylinders we set off on the inaugural Ginnie Springs dive. My buddy Ryan decided that he wanted to lay line in Devil’s Ear (thanks Ryan!) – so into the fray we swam. It’s like swimming into the eye of a storm as you fight your way in against the ferocious flow (current). My only saving grace was the amount of steel on my back allowed for a super negative descent; though being my first real OC dive in four year I’m not sure whether an out of control negative descent into a cave was such a good idea! Eventually we made it to the main line and were then able to navigate our way up to the lips, through the gallery and then the key hole. A thumb ended the first dive soon enough and we returned to the surface broken, sore and worn out. Not a great start to a cave diving trip. Determined, we returned to the water for a second dive that was executed with far more grace. With camera in my hands I even managed to snap a few shots worth keeping.

The trip continued on to Marianna and Merritt’s Mill Pond, home to the famous Jackson Blue, Twin and Hole in the Wall caves. Today, we had scooters so it was going to be an easy day, well at leastuntil my battery died. We pushed on however using our fins and managed to have a gooddive none the less. The following two days at the Mill Pond put us in much better stead and we did some nice long runs into Jackson Blue and Hole in the Wall. Diving the caves on the Mill Pond is something not to be missed if you’re in the area, with Jackson Blue perhaps being my favourite of the three.

Over the next week or so I was like a vagabond; I’d move from one buddy to the next, diving with anyone that would have me.  In all I managed to tick off the big name Florida caves including Little River, Ginnie Spring and Madison Blue as well a few more off the track ones. I also had an eventful dive at Lafayette Blue, where a cut main line and low vis made for an interesting situation. My local buddies decided to do a repair on some line that was laid 30 years or so ago; things didn’t go so well though and we ended up in a bit of a pickle. I quickly bridge the gap with my spool and we left the cave better for the experience in the end.

We finished off with a few big scooter dives at Ginnie Springs. Of note was a visit to the Insulation Room and the Henkle line. It’s amazing to see the difference in the cave condition and topology as you get further back. Looking forward I’ll definitely be back to Florida but am looking forward to furtuer trips to Bahamas and Mexico.

A full collection of images from the trip can be found at Flickr.