Area cave divers set distance record
The two divers were underwater for 16 1/2 hours and covered a total of 26,930
feet.
By Nicole Wiesenthal
Correspondent
The Gainesville Sun, posted Nov 15, 2016 at 2:02 PM
Two local divers set a new world record Nov. 5 for the longest dive into an
underwater cave without resurfacing. Jon Bernot and Charlie Roberson spent
about two-thirds of a day exploring Cathedral Sinkhole in Live Oak as part of a
mapping project led by Karst Underwater Research. The project is an effort to
learn more about the aquifer and impacts of surrounding developments.
“By knowing where the system actually goes, it gives us a better idea of how
the water is flowing underground,” said Bernot, the owner of Cave Country Dive
Shop in Live Oak. “From a hydraulic standpoint, that gives a definitive idea of
where the actual water is coming from and potentially what sources of pollution
impact that system.” Bernot and Roberson, who lives in Gainesville, went on
more than 20 dives in preparation for the explorative dive, Bernot said. The
dive was 16½ hours long and covered about 5,500 feet of new passage, traveling
a total of 26,930 feet. They beat the previous record of 25,776 feet.
Because modern mapping techniques like GPS don't work in a submerged cave, the
team had to use a more simple method of measurement. The divers measured the
distance by the divers, who tied a knot in string every 10 feet and took a
compass reading.
During the trip, the pair used 23 SCUBA cylinders of air and 15 closed-circuit
rebreathers, Bernot said. The duo used the knotted string to find their way
back out of the cave. The dive went smoothly, they said. “We thought (the cave)
was shutting down a couple of times and we would go through these lower bedding
planes and every time, it would just open back up into this canyon-like
passage,” Roberson said. “The cave just keeps going.”
Bernot and Roberson both work with Karst Underwater Research, a nonprofit
organization dedicated to documenting and researching Karst aquifer surface
features and underwater caverns. From their dive, Bernot and Roberson learned
that the visibility and conditions don’t improve further into the caves and
that several aquatic species still exist in the system, which Bernot said was a
good thing.
In the future, Bernot said he would like to dive even further. “The cave
passage is still going,” he said. “The next dive will probably be approaching
20 hours.”
http://www.gainesville.com/news/20161115/area-cave-divers-set-distance-record
Jerry Atkinson
jerryat...@aol.com
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