Bahamas Rebreather Expedition Report

Lost Reel Croc – Friday, July 10 – Bahamian Independence Day (Junkanoo)

The cave is a non-descript water hole on the side of the main north/south highway. There’s a trash heap in the parking lot and the water stinks of sewage. Garbage floats in the brown water and a home-made ladder is tied to a pine tree. It’s not very inviting. We’ve come to this site to investigate a fully articulated crocodile skeleton and its trail of fossilized feces. Given the small passages, hydrogen sulfide, sliding peat avalanches and lack of visibility, Wes trims the team down again to Kenny Broad, Brian Kakuk and myself. Three of us dive our Megalodon rebreathers in order to minimize the percolation and Wes opts for open circuit sidemount gear.
We descend through wispy veils of hydrogen sulfide and dodge branches and tree trunks that choke the entrance. We follow a loose mound of collapsing peat down to a deeper layer that has a little bit of visibility. It is there that we find huge petrified turds. It seems this crocodile had an enormous digestive tract, large enough to pop out something the size of a human baby. After descending to 100 feet, we follow a silty passage to a small alcove, dodging crumbling formations along the way. Brian ties in a line and we cautiously follow to the resting place of the large croc. Bringing up the rear of the pack, I have lost all visibility and can no longer see my displays. Luckily my heads-up light keeps me in contact with pertinent information about my life support. I know we are at the croc site only because I can hear Brian and Kenny yelling measurements and depths. The pace of Wes’s bubbles tells me he is fine too. For twenty minutes, the guys try to document and retrieve a long bone for dating. Wes is off the line attempting to film the event. Once completed, the only way to get Wes out of the murky recess is for Brian to gently pull the camera lens to safety. Wes hangs limp and rides the camera in trust to get back on the line. Our exit is completely silted out, so we follow the line and play “bump and go” to get to our decompression stop. Seventy-eight minutes in complete milk. The dive is a great success.   Jill Heinerth

Comments

[troude 29 retraited]

For sure Captain Neemo
protect Oceans like the person
if not the addition
is saled and the wrecks....
im student like jan i learning
i understand recently that the Oceans its more rich that a museum mad not?

[Captain Nemo]

Jan i think that Aquanaut
Astronaut or Cosmonaut cave
specialists or
specialist world in environment
aren't jobs or hobbies
for dwarfs of garden
it's my opinion.
Ojamo in Finland; meet
whales dolphins
lamentin in Floride
diving on the wrecks
isn 't like try prepared
a pizza or a pudding

Pretty website Jill.

[jan student 69]

i know a dude, Dr ,its first diving (there are for longtimes) was on a Aquilon regulator sometimes he dives without bubbles sometimes.
It's a big specialist of the Seas
i learning everyday with him.

jan of lyon .

[Dr. Peri Blum]

Sounds like you had fun, & congrats on the retrieval!