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Old 10-22-2013, 10:21 AM   #1
jadairiii
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Ft. Lauderdale
Posts: 1,904
Woodville Karst Plain Project (WKPP) safety weekend

I had the extreme privilege to participate (as a guest) in the Woodville Karst Plain Project (WKPP) safety weekend in Tallahassee/Wakulla, Florida. In attendance during the weekend were some of the best cave explorers in the world. If you ever wonder how the WKPP can explore miles of cave at 300’ deep safely, it is because of weekends like this. There were no prima donnas, everyone humped tanks and gear to the sink and participated. First day was CPR/first aid/Oxygen administration class for all the participants. Saturday was in water rescues, requiring all team members to swim an “unconscious” diver (doubles and one stage bottle) out of the cave opening and then ascend to the surface of Emerald Sink cave from 60’ of water while being supervised by Global Underwater Explorer instructors. Once on the surface the instructors would critique the divers, giving suggestions, answering questions and giving positive feedback on how to do it better, then back down for another round. All and all everyone learned from the experience and had a great time.

Now you may ask, “what does a cave dive safety weekend have to do with us open water spearos/tec divers?”. Well, when was the last time any of us attempted to bring an unconscious diver off the bottom? There is more to it than just depressing the person’s inflator and shooting them to the surface like a lift bag. A controlled ascent with a stricken diver that protects you and the other diver takes practice and training. It is something we all should practice from time to time in the event we ever need to do it.
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