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Exploration in the Dominican Republic
Interesting video of paleontological exploration by the DRSS
Aachquelle der "Waller" by Stephan Schild
Cow by Lamar Hires
pretty little video of Lamar and his son Jared in Cow Spring, Florida
watch on facebook
Dan´s Cave – 3 years of exploration by Brian Kakuk
The Butterfly Forest and The Pineapple Pool
Date: 7/15/12
Location: Abaco Island, The Bahamas
Site: Dan's Cave, Northern section of the cave (Badlands and North)
Diver: Brian Kakuk
Maximum Depth: 80 feet
Bottom Time: 2 hrs. 40 minutes.
Total Dive Time: 3 hrs. 25 minutes
Mode: Side Mount, with 4 stages.
Gas: EAN 33 and Oxygen for decompression
It had been just about a year since I had the time to get back to the area of the Bonsai Tunnel area in the northern part of Dan's Cave.
(see UPDATE – Navajo Passage and the Bonsai Tunnel Date: 7/18/2010 below)
I was so enamored with finding the massive Bonsai Tunnel and where it might possibly lead, that I had ignored the possibilities of the continuing shallow passages that had gotten me there. Through the Bad Lands, The Good Lands, The Sanity Room, Helictite Haven, Gray Pool, The Navajo Room, this 75 to 80 foot deep labyrinth of white-walled, and unbelievably decorated rooms is overwhelming and inspirational to say the least.
Yesterday I completed a 70 minute set-up dive and installed 2 stage cylinders of Nitrox 33, one in the Sanity Room and the other just past the "Operation" restriction, a tight, and extremely fragile restriction engulfed by curly "angel hair" helictites. Passing through the spaghetti sized formations in this restriction reminded me of playing the game Operation as a child, whereby, should the player accidentally touch the sides of the "patient" while extracting one of the various cartoon internal organs, a loud buzzer would sound and the player loses the game.
Here the outcome of touching the sides was not a game and the results more permanent with the sounds of breaking glass hitting the floor of the cave should an errant tank (or my head, fins, or elbows) move too far to the left, right, up or down. As usual, I held my breath and pushed the final stage through the restriction with my body at a 45 degree angle to the floor and fins low and held close together…….no broken glass. I win!
With stages set, I was ready for today's push back to the shallow passages surrounding the Bonsai Tunnel. Carrying two more stages of Nitrox, and side mounts, I would have a nice long bottom time using a total of 6 cylinders throughout the course of the dive with an additional decompression cylinder of pure oxygen back at the entrance. Movement through this section of Dan's Cave is long, slow and tedious. Trying to move this much equipment (4 cylinders on my person at once) through the fragile parts of the cave can become monotonous and your mind can wander, with great consequences to the cave.
Focus on spatial awareness was the only thing in my head while pushing two stage cylinders ahead of me through the crystal filled rooms toward the first drop site. A sigh of relief bubbled from my regulator and I left the first stage near the Good Lands, about 800 feet into the cave. Now my balance was much better and the pace more efficient.
There is a definite difference between an exploration swimming pace and a tour pace. Breathing, swimming and trim are at maximum efficiency. Bumping the cave or formations is not only bad for the cave, but it also slows you down, throws off your balance and focus and these in turn degrade gas consumption. In other words, the more efficiently you can swim, the less gas you breathe, the further your penetration, which was my main goal today.
I felt like Keyes' mouse Algernon as I maneuvered as smoothly as possible through the myriad of passages, restrictions and forests of crystal pillars toward the cheese, or in this case, cave that no one else had ever seen.
Along the way, two more stages were dropped and picked up without remembering having done it. An hour later, as if waking up from a deep sleep, I arrive at the "balcony" of the Bonsai Tunnel and the last stage was dropped. I groped for an over-filled reel of line on the back of my harness and quickly tied it into the existing line at the balcony. While tying in, I peeked over the edge and into the abyss of the giant tunnel below for just a second. The lure of this deep, blue water tunnel tries to suck me in, but I reluctantly turn toward the first shallow lead I can see, keeping my eyes on the prize.
The first lead is a total stroke of luck on my part. Of the three that I could see in the area of the balcony, my first choice takes me south and then west, zigging and zagging between forests of crystal columns stained black with encrusting bacteria in small, white walled limestone passage. The floor is so eroded and irregular, that it would be impossible to tread here if these passages were drained of water.
Only 50 feet from my where I tied in the reel, I round a corner and immediately have to put on the brakes. It takes everything I have to stop my sideways momentum while rounding the corner and I use fins and fingers, spastically flapping backwards before my right hand finds a column sturdy enough to bring me to a stop with my nose only inches from the edge of a sea of clear crystal soda straws.
I float there for a second, cross-eyed at the formation closest to my face, and hold my breath while I use the thick column to pull myself backward to a safe distance. "Slow down!" screams loudly through my head while I realize the entirety of the room in front of me. A tall, flat-roofed room, with a 30 foot wide mound in the center is filled with every shape of crystal formation I have ever seen, and some that I have not. The crystals reflect my light back at me, bouncing from one formation through and to another, creating a whitish-green aura in the space. It is as if someone had placed lights throughout the room.
One of the columns has a series of soda straws encircling it. The straws that start in the ceiling several inches away, yet they descend at 45 degree angles and converge about mid-way down the column, attaching themselves like spokes on a wheel. I have never seen un-broken soda straws take on these angles and the site reminds me of the funky lamps of the 70's where oil droplets run down monofilament fibers simulating rain drops, but the Tiffany marvel in front of me is infinitely less tacky. I am in awe.
I started scanning the room for possible ways through the crystal clogged room. The space on the left side looks wider and I can see darkness on the far side, possibly indicating more cave beyond. I carefully floated into the space, twisting and contorting my body and tanks to avoid the chandelier obstacle course. I've made these contortions hundreds of times before and feel like the movie thief passing through the laser grid of a non-existent alarm system. I wish I could remove my fins at this point as they feel more like axes among the thin crystals. I keep them low and together using only my finger tips to gently pull my way through.
A fortunate natural gap in the crystals eventually allows me to float through without destroying anything and I pass into the small dark void behind the formations only to find a dead end. Thankfully there is room to turn around here as backing out would have been catastrophic. The line is reeled back up to the last good tie off point and now I try the right hand side of the room. I am immediately met with an odd, red (and very large) flowstone formation barely hanging on to the wall near the ceiling. There is only a very small gap on the floor beneath the formation that will allow me to pass. While sliding beneath the formation with head down, I think that knocking the heavy crystal guillotine down from its hold on the cave BEFORE going under it might have been a safer option. After all, with very little material actually holding the massive crystal in place, it falling to the floor was inevitable.
My fins clear the trap and I can breathe. Once again, I raise my head and come to sudden stop. This time though, the way on was clear but the site takes my breath away. I entered a room, probably 30 feet wide, 12 feet high and more than 100 feet long. The room is absolutely filled with white soda straws, hanging from peach colored rock walls and ceiling. Each straw has small, horizontal angel wing helictites. There are hundreds if not thousands of them. It's as if I have entered a room filled with crystal butterflies, each hanging on to its own crystal flower stem.
I find a solid stalagmite, tie off and set the reel down. My need for finding more cave is squelched by the need to just look. I float there, holding on to the mite, trying to absorb it all. I can't see enough. It is overwhelming and I have a hard time making sense of it, like one of those visual images that turns into something else if you stare at it long enough.
I can see from my perch that the room continues and the soda straws and butterflies only increase in numbers along the way, their tiny wings beckoning me on…"come this way" and I have no choice. I am paying much more attention to the sites than I am to exploring the cave. The butterflies eventually give way to larger columns, but the way on is still easy enough. The floor past the butterflies begins to change from the eroded limestone, to a more flat, crystal flowstone. Rim stone dams and crystal pools begin to dominate the floor, each one becoming larger and more crystalline the further I swim.
After another 200 feet or so, I glide over to a short, sturdy, white stalagmite to tie off. As I make the motions around the mite, my eyes are forced to the right side of the small passage. I secure the reel and drop it, stunned at the formation on the floor and moved closer, lying on the floor next to it. I muttered to myself, "no way".
In front of me was a kidney shaped pool of yellow dog tooth spar crystal, maybe 10 feet long and 3 feet wide. The smallest crystals in the pool were maybe 2 inches long with the larger ones 4 to 5 inches long being clustered together and sticking up at different angles, resembling the leaves on pineapple tops. I must have spent 3 or 4 minutes gawking at these amazing crystals. I have never seen anything like this. It seems impossible. I could feel my heart beating in my chest when I reached out and touched one of them, as if trying to make sure I wasn't imagining them. They were real enough.
I checked my tank gauges and was still a few hundred PSI from my required turn-around pressures. I carefully moved away from the pineapple pool, picked up the reel and began laying out more line. I only went another 20 feet around a corner before the cave stopped dead. Normally I would have been disappointed, but this time, I was feeling fortunate and giddy. This cave continues to give and give and give some more, each discovery more mind boggling that the last. Sometimes it seems as if the cave is just playing with me, seeing how many more ridiculous sites I could stand before it was just too much for my brain to take. Sensory overload is a complete understatement here.
Overwhelmed, I decided to stop looking for leads in the fragile area and use the extra gas to take my time exiting and making sure I did not destroy anything on the way out of the new area. I cut the reel free, left a marker and started a very slow, but utterly fascinating trip back out through the newly discovered Pool Room, The Butterfly Forest, and then beneath the "Guillotine", back out into the relatively spacious passages near the Bonsai Tunnel.
At the last stage drop near the Bonsai Tunnel, I stopped and reeled down one of the other obvious leads. Over 100 feet of line came off the reel before I decided to save it for another day (no need to be greedy). I reeled it all back in, picked up the stage and headed back through the hour-long crystal obstacle course between me and the entrance.
The dive was a lot of work, but easily one of the most rewarding I have ever done. With set up and clean up dives, a total of 15 cylinders, more than 6 hours of bottom time (most of it swimming) and 3 days of diving was required to put in only 610 feet of line. Every single foot was worth it. This is not a place that many people will see, but for the few who will eventually make it there, I can only say, "prepare to be amazed".
Fred's Room
Date: 10/22/11
Location: Abaco Island, The Bahamas
Site: Dan's Cave, Fred's Room and beyond
Depth: 151 feet
Bottom Time: 180 minutes
Gas: EAN 32, EAN 27, Oxygen
New distance explored: 990 feet.
Today I found myself slowly swimming toward the south eastern part of Dan's Cave, heading for some lines laid by cave diver Fred Davis, back in 2003, or 2004. An "old school" cave diver, Fred had spent nearly 10 years living on his small boat and exploring caves here on Abaco Island before a serious bends hit ended his diving career and he sailed back to the states to take on new adventures. Resembling a sort of junk wagon (all I was missing was some pots and pans banging on my sides as I swam), I was laden with side mounts, 3 stages and two of Ken Smith's "cave pingers" the latter which I would drop at designated sites along my path swimming into the cave. Meanwhile, Nancy Albury would begin locating them on the surface in our continued efforts in validating the footprint of the cave passages for our conservation proposal protecting this and other amazing caves in the area. There are very few lines that I had not checked out in this cave over the last 6 years, but this is one that I had only seen once before and never gotten around to investigating it. The first pinger was set near a junction 600 feet into the cave which leads to the back side of the beautifully decorated Crystal Palace. The second was placed at the junction that is on the farthest side of the Crystal Palace and is also my first stage drop, where I leave my 32% nitrox stage before descending to deeper portions of the cave. Having now dropped both pingers and my first stage, I was able to increase my swimming pace and begin making some real progress. The next stage was dropped at the far end of the "deep way", a 150 foot deep section with smooth scoured rock and small, delicate "pools" of dried brown mud that show cracks resembling spider webs, indicating that this section of the cave was once as dry as a bone during lower sea levels. After this the cave begins to rise into a ridiculously decorated chamber of white and red formations of every size and shape. Passing through this chamber and beyond, I eventually came to the line I was looking for. This part of the cave has been rarely visited and it is a great feeling knowing there are still parts of this cave that have rarely, if ever been seen by human eyes. The last stage is dropped near a T in Fred's old line and I opt for the right hand side of the T. This line ascends into yet another amazingly decorated chamber, with a 20 foot-high vaulted ceiling and one side of the chamber containing a massive, 20 foot high and 10 foot wide crystal waterfall made up of thick white crystal draperies. Fred's line passed by the bottom of this waterfall and continued on through a crack in the wall, where once again the passage opened into another wide, decorated room. I followed this line to the far side of the room where it suddenly terminated at a low, oval, solutional side mount-sized tube, carved out of the beige, limestone wall at a depth of 120 feet. I quickly tied in a full explorer reel and moved into the small, solutional tunnel which after only two body lengths, turned into a horizontal crack that got so low that I could only fit in with my head turned sideways. Fortunately, the floor of this small gap in the rock had several eroded stalagmite "nubs" which made convenient line tie offs. I inched forward, exhaling and pulling in the low tunnel when I saw a small slit in the rock with black behind it. I pulled myself sideways toward the crack and suddenly broke into a chamber so large, the beam of my light was simply absorbed by the blackness.
Emerging from the small tunnel was both exciting and a relief, but at the same time, knowing the return trip through the tiny opening might take a while, I decided to reserve extra gas for the exit. I swam into the large room, panning my light from side to side, when a crystal grotto appeared in the distance, a dark blue void behind it indicating a decent sized passage continuing on. I floated through the middle of the grotto and swam on into the blue beyond. Large slabs of limestone lay haphazardly across the floor of the 30 foot wide passage, creating holes and bridges, but none of them appeared to continue into any real passages below. Eventually I emerged into a tall chamber with a steeply descending floor heading down into a classic "drain trap" passage, while the middle of the chamber opened up to the right.
Trying to stay shallow to conserve gas and to keep my decompression obligation as low as possible I followed the expanding chamber to the right around some large boulders. As I rounded the boulders I glanced up near the ceiling and could see dark gaps between slabs of flowstone covered rock, indicating a shallower room above the chamber I was in. I selected the largest gap in the boulders that I could find and carefully slipped between them, cautiously ascending into a small, well decorated room. The room was made up of pure white, sculpted rock that was sporadically "frosted" with old and eroded crystal formations. There were several possible leads in the Swiss-cheese rock of this shallower, 75 foot deep passage, and I tried at least two dead ends before I found one that continued on for any distance. Here the reel began spinning faster, and the line ran out seconds later.
There at least two more leads in this area, but I pulled the line free of the reel, tied it off and placed an arrow on the end. Surveying my way out, I fell back through the ceiling slabs and into the large descending chamber. I looked hard toward the bottom and could see at least two dark tunnels that might continue on into more cave beyond. At this point my main concern was getting back through the tiny warren where I first began laying line and I decided to save the survey and gas supply. I swam through the slab-strewn tunnel, back through the crystal grotto and across the large blue room toward the tiny opening. As I approached, the hole wasn't even visible and my mind began to envision the tiny hole having filled in after I swam away from it on entry. From this distance is seemed as if the line simply disappeared into the rock and no opening was actually visible. Once I was within a few feet, the phantom crack reappeared, and though it did seem smaller from this side, it was obvious that it was still intact. Once again turning my head sideways to fit into the gap, I expelled all the air from my harness. I removed all my accessories such as empty exploration reel, safety reels and spares pouch and pushed the lot ahead of me as I exhaled and committed to the crevice. On the second attempt, the crack accepted me and I moved forward a few inches at a time until I reached the portion where I could actually lift my head and enjoy the smooth, crystal-encrusted dimensions of the space. Anxiety fell away and within a few more breaths I was out of the small tunnel and back into swimming space. I took my time on the way out of my new surroundings, enjoying in awe, the size and quantities of amazing formations in what I now called Fred's room. To me, a place of such stunning beauty and age is something that needs to be savored and appreciated in that first moment of discovery. It will never be new to me again, and there is a feeling from that first experience that will just not be the same on following visits. So I just stopped and looked, absorbing the intricacies of both the positive space of blinding white crystal details, and contrasting negative space of the blue and black voids behind them.
As has happened so many times in this cave, I floated there, staring and shaking my head in disbelief at what can only be described as impossible.
The swim back to the stage cylinders and the hour of decompression at the entrance were all muscle memory. Both happened automatically while my brain was busy sorting through the images of discovery that had just been burned into it, much like seeing the outlines from a camera flash even after you close your eyes….the images remain, eyes open or closed, and no matter what the rest of you is doing. When it comes to exploring this cave, it is a sensation I highly recommend having.
Pan's Labyrinth
Date: 8/18/10
Location: Abaco Island, Bahamas
Site: Dan's Cave – Pan's Labyrinth
Diver: Brian Kakuk
Time: 11:30
Bottom Time: 124 minutes
Depth: 79 feet
Mode: Side Mount Open Circuit
Gas: EAN 33 Side Mounts, and 2 stages, Oxygen Deco Last week while searching for leads in the extreme northern end of Dan's Cave, I ended up making a last minute diversion onto an older line that runs parallel to the extensive and highly decorated passages of the Sanity room and other passages nearby. The passage I had chosen was similar to the others in size, but not in decoration or extent. A few weeks ago I had removed a cylinder to squeeze between a "jaws" shaped crystal formation only to find the passage beyond blocked by formations a short distance further. On last week's dive, I was surprised to find myself through the "jaws" once again, and arrived at the end of this line in fairly short order. The line ended in a 5 foot diameter passage that was completely blocked by thin bars of crystal and soda straws, which was in stark contrast to the relatively boring passage I had travelled to get to there. It was as if someone had decided to turn on a crystal making machine right at this point and left it on, blocking the passage all together. During last week's dive, I had found a narrow gap between the left (western) wall and the densely packed formations and decided to try passing it with a jump reel, the only extra reel I had with me at the time. At a snail's pace, I angled myself up into the gap with my head turned sideways and against the side of the passage, trying not to break any of the soda straws and small columns that bordered the small gap. A large, thick helictite growing out of the side of the wall, made for a convenient place to route the line and after two body lengths of squirming through the gap, and a final, odd, inverted turn, I fell arse over elbows into a small decorated area which require a stretch of the imagination to be considered a proper room. Fortunately my efforts were rewarded with a maze of larger columns that that continued on out of sight. That dive ended there at the end of the jump reel, but the labyrinth of columns leading off into the distance stayed in my head and todays dive was would be an attempt to push through the place I was now calling Pan's Labyrinth.
Once again I pushed a cylinder ahead of me through the "jaws" and after reassembling my kit, quickly tied in a new explorer reel. Once past the odd twisting gap, I set my sights on the labyrinth of columns showing the way into virgin cave. The dense maze of 5 foot high columns though close together, always left a gap just large enough for a diver to slip through without much effort, as if someone had intentionally left a zigzagging path. After 200 feet or so, the labyrinth gave way to a series of 10 foot high vertical rifts in chalky white breakdown and smooth, eroded passage. The vertical gaps showed multi-.level erosion, making it obvious that water had moved up and down through this passage at very different times in history. The percolation of my bubbles hitting the ceiling created a milky haze in the water that was siphoned into small, oval "rabbit holes", lined up along the upper ledges of the rifts. The water moving through these holes was a sure sign that there was indeed more cave somewhere beyond the holes and I just had to find a way around. After back tracking a few feet, I looked low on the floor and found a low horizontal gap between the eroded floor and the white wall that seemed large enough to pass through. I stopped half way through the gap and stirred up a little silt with my hand just to check the water flow and it also slowly siphoned past me further into the crack. Eventually everything that was horizontal, turned vertical and I found myself once again in small meandering canyons of white limestone until the passage I was in abruptly came to a halt, leaving me to decide between a small vertical crack which doubled back to the left, and a smaller horizontal crack in the ceiling on the right hand side of the passage.
As I stuck my head up into the shallower lead, I could see a halocline just inside, so I figured this lead may go up into shallower room. I squeezed past the ceiling crack and found myself in very wide, 3 foot high room that was completely filled with short crystal columns, helictites and soda straws from floor to ceiling. The room is a twin of the glass factory in Ralph's cave and I had to keep my head and fins down near the floor in order to keep from breaking anything. As I began to work my way though the formations, I kept scanning the sides of the room for any indication of a drop where I might find a way out and beyond it. Approximately 150 feet across the chandelier of a room, I found the far wall had a gap between it and the floor. I squeezed down through the slot and ended up back in a series of vertical rifts that continued on in the same direction. Unfortunately, none of these rifts really went any great distance, and I ran out of line just near the end of the longest one I had checked. Once again I swirled some silt from the wall to check the water flow, and there was none to be found. Eventually I came back up into the low chandelier room. The fine ceiling silt from my bubbles had stratified out in long horizontal swirls throughout the crystals. The milky swirls stayed motionless, so I knew I had lost the flow back down in the vertical rifts just before the gap in the ceiling. Although I was annoyed I had missed the going lead before the high room, I was still in awe of the crystal forest that now enveloped me. The room was a beautiful distraction, but my thoughts were now back at the vertical lead that had back tracked on the left wall right before I entered this room.
Once I arrived back at the missed lead, I stirred up a little silt and sure enough, it took off down the vertical rift out of sight. Without any line left on the exploration reel, my efforts now turned to counting knots on the line as I slowly surveyed my way back to the "jaws" restriction. I pushed one of the side mount cylinders ahead of me and ducked my head to pass through the jaws, but something on my back had caught on one of the crystal "fangs" that hung from the ceiling. I backed up and tried again….and then again… and then again. I deflated all of the air from my harness to reduce my profile, but this did nothing. Eventually I backed up far enough to where I could remove the second cylinder and pushed it ahead of me as well, giving me room to move more to my left and away from the "fang" that was trying to keep me in the cave. I passed through the jaws in seconds and reassembled myself on the other side. I'm not sure why had been able to pass this restriction before without issue, but today murphy was giggling at my erratic attempts and profanities as I eventually gave in and de-kitted to pass the restriction. None the worse for wear, I took my time swimming back out, picking up my stages one at a time and just enjoying the scenery. Pan's Labyrinth is a great dive if you don't mind working for it just a bit. I have come to love the dives where a little "grinding" through multiple restrictions will pay off with amazing rooms and more passages to explore. I'm looking forward to seeing where the missed vertical lead will take me next. Maybe another amazing room, or maybe a dead end. Solving the puzzle is my favorite part of it all. It also doesn't hurt that the puzzle happens to be in the most beautiful underwater cave on earth either.
Update 8/2/10
A land far, far away Date: 8/2/10
Location: Abaco Island, Bahamas
Site: Dan's Cave, Badlands – Past the Gray Pool
Diver: Brian Kakuk
Time: 12:16
Bottom time: 182 minutes
Max Depth: 162 feet
Gas: EAN 32 Stages, EAN 27 Side Mounts, O2 deco.
Mode: OC Side mount
Today's dive was a huge relief. Two weeks ago, while meandering in the distant but shallow passages in the northern part of Dan's Cave, I literally stumbled on a window into huge, deeper cave running below the maze of crystal filled tunnels.
Since then, the short glimpse I was able to get into the huge blue void at the very end of the dive has been burned into my brain and I had been obsessing with getting back to the end of the line. So for me, today's dive was like a kid chasing the ice cream truck with a fist full of quarters and finally getting it to stop. I was where I wanted to be more than any where else on earth and my "prize" was waiting for me at the end of the line.
I carried three stages of nitrox, which I thought would get me close to the new discovery, but the 3500 foot swim there seemed to take forever. I was well into my side mount cylinders by the time I finally got to the balcony leading into the massive tunnel. Tying off the fresh, over-filled reel, I was already looking for my next tie off point on the boulder pile below before my fins ever cleared the balcony.
Once I reached the bottom of the slope, the vastness of the tunnel really sank in. At least 40 feet tall and 70 to 80 feet wide, I could not believe that this huge, empty place had not collapsed and filled in at some point in the cave's history, which is at minimum, 350,000 years old. Swimming down this tunnel, I found myself feeling much further from the entrance than I actually was, with an overwhelming notion that the shallower passages above were somehow friendlier, even "warmer" and more inviting than the massive abyss I was now kicking through. I felt tiny and insignificant, and sure that no one would ever be able to find me should fate decide that I stay here.
I tried to shake the dark feelings as I swam a bit faster, hoping somehow, that if I reached the end of this gargantuan tunnel, I would find a rise back into the shallower and more inviting levels of the cave. Three more tie-offs along the floor, and I could finally make out an "end" to the tunnel. I swam even faster, now aiming for what appeared to be a small gap in the top of the massive collapse that marked then end of the passage. Unfortunately the collapse turned out to be complete and I swung both right and left of the breakdown pile in search of a gap in the boulders that might lead to more passage.
I back tracked 30 or more feet and on the right hand side, near the bottom of the tunnel found a sloping, smooth passage heading deeper and away from the boulder strewn chaos of the massive tunnel. Even though depth increased greatly, the smaller size and smoother walls of the new lead felt much more comfortable, and the dark feelings began to fade with the excitement of finding going passage.
Reaching a depth of 160 feet, I was at the limits of my gas mix and hoped that the passage would begin to rise quickly, or I would have to turn the dive. I passed by smooth, water worn walls, and floors of bright red, cracked mud, left over from the days when this cave was dry. The deep, even cracks in the mud remind me of Spanish tiled roofs, and I marveled how these "tiles" could have managed to stay intact since the caves flooded more than 13,000 years ago.
Immediately, the passage did begin to rise, but the walls and ceiling became fretted and loose with huge chunks of limestone seeming like they would break off and squish anyone who might be sending up bubbles to break them loose from their precarious ledges. I found two small alcoves that seemed like going leads in the frail rock, but both of these ended in diver sized rooms, making turning around difficult. I decided that the end of the second lead was a good place to end the dive, tying off the end of the line and placing a line arrow.
As I slowly turned around in the confined, little space, 4,000 feet from the entrance, a small, but heavy piece of the ceiling decided to give up it's hold and landed squarely between my shoulder blades with a soft thump. I'm sure the view was hilarious as I gave up all efforts at some sort of proper swimming technique and spastically kicked and grabbed at the floor boulders, pulling myself out of the "collapse" that I was certain was happening above me. A few feet away from the danger zone and I looked back to see the cloud of silt I had created, but the ceiling of the cave stayed put.
My composure regained, I was glad no one was there to see my frantic "escape", which on the surface would have been equated to a little girl screaming and running from the monster in the closet.
On the way back out of the deep section, a large, rounded area on the left hand side of the tunnel seemed smoother, and the red mud floor had been washed clean, revealing a flat, almost polished, white limestone floor at a depth of 162 feet. I believe that this area will end up being where the next major lead will be found, but my time on this dive was done, and I headed back out in to the huge tunnel above.
I ascended up the entry slope, and just before I reached the balcony I could see off to the left side of the tunnel, behind the mound, that a wide, flat passage continued on into the distance, opposite of the direction I had gone.
The shallower passages were a welcome sight and I tried to take my time and enjoy the amazing decorations on the way out. No matter how many times I go through one particular area, I always find things I've never seen before. It is a hard place to leave, but I know I'll be back.
The next dives in this part of the cave will be logistically difficult. It will require at least one set up dive to get additional cylinders far enough through the myriad of restrictions and fragile crystals in order to push farther north. Three hours after beginning the dive, I breathe the surface air again and as the mask comes off my face, I feel warm summer rain and thunder booms in the distance. The frogs in the entrance are sounding off in a chorus of squeaky balloon noises, and I just float there for a while and think about the cave.
Even though it was only moments ago, it almost seems as if the dive never happened, like it was a land far, far away. I float there, listening to the frog songs, knowing these, deeper passages will now take over my thoughts and I'll be obsessing about them until the next time I can return. Exploring this cave is a never ending cycle of seeking and finding and I hope that I can continue seeking for a very long time.
UPDATE – Navajo Passage and the Bonsai Tunnel
Date: 7/18/2010
Location: Abaco Island, Bahamas
Site: Dan's Cave
Time: 10:30 AM
Maximum Depth: 103 feet
Total Time of Dive: 2 hours 27 minutes
Mode: Open Circuit Side Mount with 2 stages
Gas Used: EAN 33 travel stages, EAN 32 side mounts, O2 for decompression
The last few exploration dives in Dan's Cave have been some of the best dives I have done in my 20 years of cave exploration and none have been as rewarding as todays. The Northern part of Dan's cave includes the areas known as (from south to north) the Badlands, the Good Lands, The Sanity Room, Helictite Haven, The Gray Pool, and as of last week, The Switch Backs, where the line ends at a distance of 3,321 feet from the entrance in the northern most part of the cave.
On the last dive through the Switchbacks, so many leads were found, that I was sure that the lead I had finished in was not the main way on as it has turned completely around and headed south. On today's dive, I decided to check out some of the promising leads on the left hand side of the passage approximately 3000 feet into the cave.
At 3,050 feet, I tied in full reel to the main line and headed back to the north in a nicely decorated passage approximately 10 feet wide by 8 feet high with white walls and brown, crystalline formations. Only 100 feet from the tie in point, the passage zigged to the left once again but continued on for another 100 feet or so before I ended up seeing my own line from a previous dive up ahead of me.
I reeled up almost all of the line I had just put in and tried a smaller lead that had no silt, and the floor was a series of gray rim stone dams. The small, clean dams gradually ascended into a series 45 degree angle rifts with soda straw ceilings and hard, flowstone floors, but less than two feet between the two.
After the last rift, I fall into a small room. The floor of the room is a series of conical silt mounds with scattered hard bottom and older red formations that have been eroded over the aeons. I floated over the steep silt mounds and noticed that many of them had red striations sloping down toward the bottoms. I could see that the red marks were actually places where small, powdery chunks of Sahara dust and fallen from the ancient eroded formations on the ceilings and walls and rolled down the mounds creating straight, but odd patterns as gravity kept the dust particles moving toward the bottom of each mound.
These immediately reminded me of old Navajo sand paintings I had seen as a child in school, with a whitish back ground and the dark red "sand" creating the artist's images. I quickly dubbed the passage the Navajo Passage and continued on hoping that I would be able to find the main way on again. After another 200 feet or so, there were more leads and more decisions to be made. Over the last few weeks, I had been lucky enough to pick "the plum" with most of the leads that presented themselves and I was wondering when this luck would run out, and I would have to begin the "hit and miss" style of systematically checking each and every passage before finding the main route again.
Today I picked the plum once again but this time more so than any other. When I had first found my way into the Sanity Room a month or more earlier, I had found a deep cleft around the margins of the room, with one particularly large opening dropping down to a depth of 110 from the shallower 75 foot deep passages of the Sanity Room. It was obvious to me that this collapse was an indication of deeper cave below, but the Sanity Room collapse was complete and I could not find my way into deep passage below.
In the back of my mind, I knew there was deeper cave below the new passages being explored and there just had to be a way down into the deeper section of cave somewhere in the labyrinth of the shallow passages I had been exploring.
The passage I was in today had switched back to the north so I felt like I was making real progress and hoped that the trend would continue. I came to a large split in the passage and just as I was about to decide right or left, I saw a section of the floor sloping down in the middle of the split. Still hoping to find a doorway into deep cave below, and potentially thousands of more feet of cave to explore, I slowly moved toward the top of the slope as the reel began spinning faster with the last few loops of line coming off.
The reel ran out exactly as a small balcony revealed itself with nothing but black void seen below it. I stretched the line a few feet so I could look over the precipice and see a 40 to 50 foot wide by 20 foot high passage with cobalt blue water stretching off at the bottom of a massive boulder pile.
I quickly pulled the loop off of the reel at a distance of 3,550 feet from the entrance and tied it to a perfectly translucent stalagmite that was situated on the right side of the balcony. I had to see if the massive void below me was simply a large room or if it was going passage. I threw on a spare jump reel and leapt from the balcony floating down the huge slope, my arm stretched out as far as it would go with the light head in hand, thinking it would show me the wall were the room would end. I never saw any wall. What I did see was a huge, round, white-walled tunnel stretching on into blue darkness.
I hung there shaking my head in disbelief. Somehow I knew this passage was here but the odds of me finding it in the ridiculous labyrinth above seemed insurmountable. Yet here I was. The Bonsai tunnel in front of me just begging for line and one more stage cylinder. Instead I began reeling up the jump reel and looking to the side of the talus mound that I had just floated down. A very large tunnel, the opposite direction I had just gone, was also wide open. It seems my balcony was simply a window above a partial collapse of a huge, deeper tunnel with huge, continuing passage at both ends.
I don't remember the trip out. I feel like I was transported back through the tiny holes, painted mounds, spastically decorated crystal helictite walls, ceilings and floors and back to my stages. I was no less than out-right giddy as I swam back through now familiar territory of the new-er passages. All the way out, I was planning future stage drops, set up dives, gas mixes, double explorer reels, and lots of deco gas for what I am sure is going to be incredibly exciting exploration before the end of the summer.
Date: 6/13/10
Diver: Brian Kakuk
Location: Abaco Island Bahamas
Site: Dan's Cave – The Good Lands
Time: 11:51
Bottom Time: 2 hrs, 9 minutes
Depth: 78 feet
Mode: Open Circuit Side Mount and 2 stages
Gas: EAN 32 and Oxygen for decompression
Yet another stunning push past the Badlands and into unknown territory today. A single stage of EAN 32 was left in the cave yesterday, approximately 800 feet from the entrance. This was picked up today just as I hit 3rds on the stage I was carrying, giving me a bit more distance before having to switch to the side mount cylinders.
I had only used 200 PSI out of each side mount cylinder before I reached the lead that I was hoping would give up some new passage. This entire section of the cave, dubbed "The Good Lands" is one of the most densely decorated pieces of cave anywhere on earth. Moving through this area is slow, and some divers would consider diving here tedious. Breath control becomes key in moving between thin rods and columns of crystal and fins are essentially useless here. Simply having un-even pressure in the side mounted cylinders is enough of a weight difference to throw the diver's trim off potentially destroying everything within their reach.
The vertical orientation of the calcite "bars" requires the diver to rotate side ways with one cylinder up and one down. At one point, the only way on between the columns requires me to turn up on my side and bend at the waist, in a sort of fetal position as I haul myself along slowly with anything solid enough to handle being pulled on.
Eventually I reach the end of my old line and I tied in while balancing between the white and black crystals, the latter being stained by black bacteria, which gives the place it's flash fire/smoke damaged appearance. Another back bending shimmy through the bars that protect the new lead and I am headed off again into a white, walled passage. I notice how the soft limestone walls are devoid of the black staining of the bacteria, while any crystal formations are nearly covered. Yet another mystery to be solved, but not today.
I pass through two small canyon-like passages, and end up in another rising area of dense columns nearly barring the way on. I swim back and forth along the picket fence of thin crystal bars, trying to figure out which gap will allow me to pass into the rising room beyond, without destroying the cave. A gap near the middle seems to be the best choice, and once again, I'm turned up onto my side, doing what I now call the "Crystal Column Shimmy"….turn on your side, breathe in, wiggle, slide, glide, settle down, then exhale and look for the next possible point of least resistance, again , all while lying on my side.
The gap in the middle pays off and after two body lengths, I am able to lay flat again and use short frog kicks from my ankles to meander into the rising room. When I get to the top, I stop and make a tie off on one of the shorter, more solid stalagmites. After the tie, I rise up off the floor and float there looking at another forest of soda straws, 1 to 2 inch crystal columns, and an occasional large, brown fluted Roman column, usually laying on it's side, with relatively newer white stalagmites growing off of it at different angles.
I notice that I have ascended all the way back up into the halocline and my light hits the fresh water interface like a prism with white, red and blue light running horizontally across the crystal forest in front of me. I look at my computer and see that I have come all the way back up to 62 feet, fairly deep for a halocline on Abaco, but with recent rains, it makes sense that it could be this deep.
Once again I have to try and find a way through crystal. The right hand side looks best and I begin the slow contorted trip to the other side of the room. The back of the room descends into soft, white breakdown boulders, but I can see a gap below that will allow me to pass. It is almost a relief to get out of the crystal above and be in a place where I can actually swim without fear of breaking something. My relief is short lived and after less than 100 feet, I hit yet another rising, delicate area. Two attempts on the right hand side prove fruitless, and I have just enough gas reserves for one more attempt on the left side.
There is one small gap between several thick, white stalagmites, with nearly identical opposing stalactites less than a foot above, creating a sort of round toothed shark like smile of a formation. After sizing up the gap, I try to slide my head through the "jaws" and to my surprise it goes. I figure if I can get my shoulders through, the rest of me will follow. Putting one arm in front and one arm back along one of the cylinders, I am able to push my way through the formation down to by pelvic bone. Here I am able to take full breaths again and I stop for a second to get a few full breaths.
While I am laying there, my mind wanders to the opposing formations that have my lower back and pelvic bone squished for the moment. Not painful, but I certainly know it's there. I think about what would happen if the "jaws" decided to close while I was in this position and decide that I have rested here long enough. A quick pull on my left cylinder valve and a deep exhalation and I am through to the other side. I fall into another black stained room of formations as the reel runs out. There is good water flow back here and I can see my silt being pulled further into the caves, past the black bars ahead.
I drop an arrow on the end of the final tie off and turn back to the jaws. They seem smaller now than they did on the way in, but a few wiggles and tank adjustments let me pass with about the same effort as was used on entry. I look at the computers as I clear the restriction. It has taken me more than an hour to get to this point and I know it is going to be an ever slower trip out between the maze of bars and the silt I have stirred along the way.
Another 504 feet of line was added today into what I can only describe as ridiculously decorated passages and rooms. The trip back to the entrance is easy and I spend the 15 minutes of decompression watching birds on the surface climbing down the leather ferns and drinking the sweet fresh water at the surface of the cave. They have no idea I am there and it is as if I am looking through a liquid one-way mirror. They calmly drink without fear or nervousness as the bubbles are purged from my body. A perfect ending to a perfect dive.
Update – The Sanity Room
Date: 4/10/10
Location: Abaco Island, Bahamas
Site: Dan's Cave – Bad Lands/Good Lands
Diver: Brian Kakuk
Time: 09:31
Bottom Time: 152 minutes
Max Depth: 79 feet
Gas: EAN 34, O2 deco.
Mode: OC/Side Mount and 2 stages
Today's dive was my last opportunity for exploration in Dan's cave for the next few months, so an all out assault, with another 800 feet of knotted line, side mounts and double stages was the plan of the day. Since this part of the cave is so low and decorated, I decided to run the stages out in front of me, with the valves clipped off to the harness, but the ends of the cylinders out in front of me. The aluminum 80 stages have perfect buoyancy for this, so swimming along the circuitous passages of the Badlands was easy with the first stage cylinder being deposited at the usual place, and the second a short distance past the place where I had been accosted by the cave two days prior, now called "The Good Lands".
Today I took much more time to appreciate the thousands of different formations that represent the cyclic history of high and low sea levels this cave has seen come and go. Red, ancient formations resembling Roman columns, probably more than 350,000 years old, are wrapped and frosted in white crystal blankets of relatively newer crystal from the last sea level drop between 13,000 to 20,000 years ago. I find myself visualizing this room when it was dry and the constant, relentless dripping in the darkness, which only ceased when the sea once again drowned the stone forest.
Exploring this portion of the cave would have been impossible when it was dry. There is simply no where to stand or crawl between the millions of columns, stalagmites and fragile and deeply eroded floor rock. The button my by buoyancy jacket is the only thing that allows me to safely glide between the columns and over the crystal pools without destroying everything in my path. I feel fortunate to be here in this place, in this time, where technology allows me to see and experience this it in relative comfort and ease.
I pass over a timeless rim stone dam and it's bounty of stunning crystals on the way to the end of the line. A loop in the end of the old line makes for an easy tie off and I enter into new passage nearly without stopping. A smile comes over my face as the high but narrow passage opens to a wider passage filled with crystal columns and at least 3 dark leads head off in different directions. The first lead runs through a forest of thin formations most of which are covered in small wing and finger shaped helictites. Long, but splinter-thin soda straws gather in bunches along the more massively decorated areas, all evidence that this place has been undisturbed for aeons.
About 500 feet past the tie off, this passage is suddenly blocked by a mass of thin columns and soda straws so thick, that passing them is impossible without destroying them. I'm frustrated as I can see large passage heading off into the distance behind the fragile obstacle, but I cut the reel free and tie the line off next to the crystal barrier before back-tracking to find a way around.
Half way back, one of many possible leads looks as if it will circumvent the blocked passage and allow me to continue on in the right direction. A new T is placed in the line and the reel begins to spin once again, though this time, the passage stays small, almost too small with fragile glasslike formations making it necessary to hold my breath and coast through some of the tighter places.
As I progress, the passage begins to change drastically, and the formations begin to regain their white and cream crystalline colors. Cascading crystal water falls, with more rim stone dams become the more dominant structures and I pass pool after pool of calcite within a short distance. After only 200 feet, I find myself in a small dead end chamber that ends in another pool at the foot of small, but amazing frozen water fall. The room virtually glows as my light is reflected in all directions from the white calcite walls and floor. I tie off to a short stalagmite, cut the reel free once again and begin the tedious swim out of the delicate passage.
Once I reach the high, wide room, I tee into the line once again and try the left side, hoping that the dark passage in front of me will continue. It does and while I pull the last few feet of line from the reel, I suddenly realize that I have had the song "You are my sanity" by Dave Mathews and Tim Reynolds ( http://www.lyricszoo.com/dave-matthews/you-are-my-sanity/ ) playing in my head the entire dive. As I look out over the ridiculously decorated passage, I feel like maybe this music, and not words best describe this place. In my mind I can see the cycle endlessly dripping water slowly dripping to the music, building the forest in front of me, only broken by the current rush of water that has now filled the void and allowed me to come here. I dub the room the "Sanity Room" and the music stays with me all the way back to the entrance of the cave.
Date: 4/8/10
Location: Abaco Island, Bahamas
Site: Dan's Cave, Badlands – Wonderland area
Diver: Brian Kakuk
Time: 09:32
Bottom time: 103 minutes
Max Depth: 104 feet
Gas: EAN 34, o2 deco.
Mode: OC Side mount
Today the push to the north in Dan's Cave continued. Still elated by Sunday's discovery, I found myself on automatic, swimming through the labyrinth of the Badlands section, dropping the stage cylinder in the usual place and working my way over the 7 or 8 T's that lead out to new discoveries . I was so focused and intent on getting to the new section of cave, it was as if I had been wearing blinders for the first 20 minutes, and I simply "appeared" at my destination without remembering any of the trip there.
I tied off a new reel filled with 800 feet of freshly knotted line, and just as I finished placing a yellow arrow on the T, I was completely blindsided when a 15 pound piece of crystal gave up it's precarious hold on the ceiling and came crashing down on the front of my helmet, pulling my mask down to my chin, my regulator to my chest, and gashing my right hand as it made it's way to the floor a few feet below.
It took me a 3 or 4 seconds to even realize what had just happened. I pulled my mask out of the way so I could recover my regulator, which thankfully, was undamaged and only inches from my mouth. Once I replaced the mask and regained sight, I looked at my attacker lying on the floor, an eroded and withered section of crystal comprised of 3 stalactites staggered in size from large to small, fused together at the tops resembling a heavy, but beautiful Pan's flute. I could not believe I had been hit. I was 3 or 4 feet from the ceiling, and had made no contact with anything in the area, so the formation must have given up it's millennia old grip on the overhead simply from the vibrations of my bubbles crashing into the ceiling. After regaining my composure, I hung there, wondering if the cave was trying to tell me that today's efforts were unwanted, and that I would be smart to run home.
Since no one has ever accused me of being smart, I rechecked my helmet, back up lights, both regulators and contents gauges before timidly finning into the new lead. Line began to roll from the reel, when I noticed my skinned hand was leaving tiny, red, lava-lamp like globules in my wake. At the rate the red globules were weeping out of the wound, I figured I could easily finish the dive and get back to the entrance before I was empty of the stuff, so my mind refocused on finding more cave.
Swimming less than 100 feet from where the cave had attacked me, I found myself once again weaving between hundreds of 6 foot high and 1 and a half inch diameter bars of clear, calcite crystal. The bleached white limestone passage made harsh 90 degree turns back and forth and I was hard pressed to find areas wide enough to pass through the column choked tunnel.
Eventually the passage once again began to rise slightly and then widened into an incredibly decorated room, very similar to the Dopamine Dome room several hundred feet back. I entered the room and had to decide right or left. Both directions led into long, dark, highly decorated areas and I was sure that I could dump the entire reel in either direction. I made a tie in the middle and went right, but only swam 20 feet before I realized that further down the side of the room on the right hand side, a deep cleft led into dark, descening passage below, but with a ceiling made up of precariously stacked boulders.
It had only been a few moments since my last attack from above, so I held my breath as I glided down through the cleft into the deeper passage. At a depth of 104 feet, I knew the passage could be heading for depths of more than 150 feet, and although excited, my gas was a little too rich for any real time down deeper, so I chose to save this section for another dive when I was better equipped.
I headed back up into the shallower and more decorated section of the cave and continued on around the right hand side of the room where I knew I would be able to finish off what line was left on the reel.
At the far side of the room, two good possible leads begged for attention, and I chose the left this time, thinking I might be able to find a way completely around the room in a counter clockwise direction. The passage was beautiful but I had gone little more than 100 feet before it dead ended completely. I rewound the line onto the reel all the way back to the intersection where I had gone left, and now tried right. Again this passage appeared to dead end, but a small, oval and angled hole high in the wall looked worth poking my head into.
The snow white limestone oval lead to a short drop on the other side and once again I was in impeccably decorated passage, with at least 3 leads begging for line. I chose left, and after one squeeze through two large crystal columns, I was rewarded with and incredible site laid out before me.
The formations in this part of the cave, though absurdly white and crystalline, had become slightly tainted with a black bacterial coating that made the entire cave look as if some ancient fire had left behind everlasting smoke damage. The "soot" covered every thing, but didn't quite hide the whiteness of the crystal formations beneath. I swam a few feet further down the passage, squeezed through one more set of bars, and before my tanks had even cleared the crystal restriction I was stopped in my tracks by what was laid out on the floor below me.
I hung there, not stuck by the restriction, but stunned by the largest, crystal filled, rim stone pool I have seen in the Bahamas. At least 10 feet long and 5 feet wide, with several different sections, the pool held hundreds of thousands of tiny star like crystals, all with a slight coating of the black soot. I stayed wedged between the columns, staring in disbelief for over a minute before moving over and past the amazing formation.
With only several more wraps of line left on the reel, I began looking for my final tie off. I followed the passage around a right hand corner and found a hefty piece of eroded floor rock to make the final tie. A narrow, high walled passage continued on in the distance and I could see many more formations as the room widened beyond sight.
The circuitous swim back to the stage took longer than I expected, slowed by my insatiable searching for more leads on the way out. Before picking up the stage, I made one quick diversion down another T to recover a jump reel I had left a week before.
To say that Dan's Cave is inspiring would be an understatement of great proportion (thus the ranting logs over the last week or so). As of today, April 8th, I have been in this country for 23 years, making this an anniversary dive of sorts. In all the years and thousands of cave dives that I have done here during that time, I have still never stopped feeling the way I do today, which just happens to be exactly the way I felt on my first exploration dive in Guardian Blue Hole back on Andros 21 years ago. Each cave has slowly given up pieces of it's individual puzzle, some large, some small, but always in a manner that leaves you breathless and aching for more. Happy Anniversary to me!
Date: 4 April, 2010
Place: Abaco Island, Bahamas
Site: Dan's Cave: The badlands
Diver: Brian Kakuk
Time: 09:44
Bottom Time: 90 minutes
Max Depth: 78 feet
Gas: EAN 34, o2 deco.
Mode: OC Side mount
Understanding addiction – I get it now.
Today's dive was a continuation of a series of dives over the last 3 days trying to figure out the maze of tunnels and small rooms that make up the Badlands in Dan's Cave. The last two dives were spent checking leads that I had found in the past and learning the outward passages in order to determine the outer limits of this section of the cave. In those dives, many loops were closed, new circuits created and tons of line arrows placed for safety.
As I swim into the cave today, I am elated to be heading back to a new discovery. I'm trying to keep my breathing rate down to maximize my time, but it's more difficult today than usual. I'm too excited. A new, extraordinarily decorated doorway that I found yesterday holds promise of unseen beauty on the other side, and I cannot get there fast enough. I drop a stage cylinder at the appropriate T, approximately 900 feet from the entrance and continue on, gliding through the increasingly white and fragile passages.
When I reach the doorway, I fumble with the full reel, wishing I could get it tied off faster, but my excitement only slows me down and affects my dexterity. The line finally Tee'd in, and the marker placed, I am now where I want to be, heading through the small, crystal doorway with nothing but clear, blue water and white crystal columns on the other side of it.
The small passage meanders through a forest of white and red stained-glass columns, often times requiring me to crawl at a snails pace and turn on my side to squeeze between them. After 400 feet of zigging and zagging through one of the most densely decorated passages I have ever seen, I enter a domed room that rises and opens in front of me. I am stunned. I try to think of words to describe this place but I can't. Even calling it a place is insufficient. It is a feeling. It is an experience. It's impossible.
Fairly small in comparison to others found in this cave, this room is only the size of my dwelling back on the surface, but there are very few places on earth that I can think of that compare with the beauty I was floating in front of. Crystal formations of every possible color and texture fought for space across the room. It seemed as if the void in the rock, created eons ago, was trying to heal itself. It was trying to grow back together with tens of thousands of crystal formations attempting to fill in the gap that is the room.
I tried to look through and past the forest of crystal columns in order to find any possible passage around them. I chose the right side of the room first, carefully dodging narrow stalagmites and columns that had formed long before we were considered homo sapiens sapiens. My mind wandered as I floated along, searching for the easiest gaps in the formations. I could not believe what I was seeing. My arrogance had me thinking that no one had ever seen a place like this before. That no one could have ever felt what I was feeling as an explorer being given the opportunity to see and experience this place before anyone else.
I was drunk with discovery. I kept thinking to myself; " This place is mine. All mine. I found it first". I was simply overwhelmed. I stopped, floated, and tried to take in what was all around me, eventually realizing that I belonged more to the place, than the place belonged to me.
A few hundred feet of line later, I had decided that this side of the room did not have the exit I was looking for, so I cut the line free, tied it off and doubled back to the entrance of the room. I tied off once again and headed off down the left side, which was a little wider and easier to swim through letting me pay more attention to my amazing surroundings than to spatial awareness and not breaking anything. At least two leads on this side look promising but as the reel neared empty, I realize my time is up.
One second of muscle memory interrupts my high and I check the metal and plastic gauges that remind me of my frailty. They are my interventionists. They bring me back to the reality of what I am, and reaffirm the fact that I am not really meant to be in this place. My eyes well up behind the rubber and glass that have allowed me to experience this place so clearly. I don't want to leave and I try and rationalize staying just a little while longer. But I can't. I roll the last few feet of line off the reel, tie it off near the best looking lead I can find, and leave a marker.
As I begin to leave, more than an hour after entering the cave, I am flat out giddy. I realize what this place and others like it have done to me (or for me). This is my vice, my high, my addiction and I know that in the end, I will do what ever it takes to experience this again and again. Over the last two decades, I have created a life for myself in these islands that have fed my addiction, often times with room for little else. This is what I need. This is what I crave. I have joked about being consumed by these places in the past, as if they were a drug, and kidding that I was always "Jonesing' for my next fix. My experience today has exposed my feelings for what they really are.
Hi, my name is Brian and I'm a speleoholic. (Man if feels good to get that out.)
|Date: 1/25/09
Location: Abaco Island, Bahamas
Site: Dan's Cave
Time: 10:58
Bottom Time: 2 hrs.
Total Time of Dive: 3 hrs. 22 minutes. (202 MIN.)
Maximum Depth: 163 feet.
Gas used: EAN33, EAN 26, Oxygen
Mode: Open Circuit, Side Mount
Today's dive was an attempt to explore new cave in the South West part of Dan's Cave. The passages here are massive with one room known as Wrigley Field being 500 feet long by 200 feet wide. Two weeks ago, Brian Kakuk found a restriction in some breakdown near the end of Wrigley field that had good water flow coming out of it indicating more cave beyond. He passed through the restriction and into a passage that ran at a depth of 160 feet. The end of this passage became breakdown boulders once again, but led up to a shallower gap that opened into a very large room, still leading to the south east. 400 feet of new line was laid on this dive from the end of Wrigley Field.
Today Kakuk picked up at the end of the line. Using 4 stages and 2 side mounts, of EAN 33 and EAN26, the first stage was dropped (EAN 33) at 800 feet near the Crystal Palace. The second stage (EAN 26) was dropped at 1300 feet at the end of a passage called the Deep Way (depth 146 feet). The third stage was dropped near the end of Fangorn Forrest (2500 ft. penetration), and the 4th was dropped at the end of Wrigley Field.
After tying in to the end of the line, the passage continued to the south west but slowly descended into another breakdown. In a near mirror image of the 160 foot deep passage discovered a few weeks before, a small tunnel was found that eventually led to yet another breakdown. At the top of this breakdown a low, but wide, scoured bedding plane restriction was passed leading into a 60 foot wide, by 15 foot high tunnel. This tunnel was filled with white, eroded micrite boulders, with the sides of the tunnel being 20 feet deeper than the flat upper portion. This passage was dubbed "Micrite Mesa".
Micrite Mesa continued for approximately 400 feet where it then slowly descended into a small grotto of stalactites and stalagmites at a depth of 155 feet. The end of the grotto slowly ascended a large boulder pile and when it was topped, yet another huge room, bigger than the Micrite Mesa was found screaming off into the distance. The line ran out here and a terminal tie off was made just at the top of the boulder pile and a distance of 3,885 feet from the entrance at a depth of 102 feet. The new room was continuing on in a south east direction.
The return trip was uneventful and Kakuk made it back to the entrance with a 2 hour bottom time and another 90 minutes of decompression. Further exploration will require set up and clean up dives. There are many rooms and passages along the way that are much too fragile for scootering, so swimming is the only viable option. There are at least half a dozen restrictions along the way that will not allow rebreathers to pass, so we are stuck with good old fashion open circuit side mount and stages. But still we can't wait to get back to the end of the line!
Dan's Cave Exploration Update 4-11-09
Brian Kakuk's Dive Log:
Location: Abaco Island, Bahamas
Site: Dan's Cave
Depth: 163 feet
Time: 11:22
Bottom Time: 226 min (3 hrs. 46 minutes)
Water Temp: 74
Mode: O/C Side Mount
Gas: EAN 32, EAN 25 with O2 Deco
Today's dive was a stage push to the end of the south east passage of Dan's Cave to try and lay more line. I chickened out when I got to the site and decided to leave one stage in the van after thinking about how cold I would get during a 4 hour plus dive in 74 degree water in a wetsuit.
I had placed two aluminum 80's of EAN 25 in the cave yesterday, one at 800 foot penetration and the other at 1300 feet penetration. These were used today with an addition to 3 stages of Aluminum 80's (1 of EAN 32 and two of EAN 25) and two steel 85's of EAN 25 for side mount gas. One Al 40 of O2 and one Al 67 of O2 were staged at 20 feet in the mouth of the cave for decompression. All went well and stage pick ups and drop offs went smoothly. I thought that pushing a stage through the deep restriction just past Wrigley Field (2800 feet penetration) would be difficult, but there were no snags and the final stage (5th) got me through the entire 160 foot deep passage. I dropped it just outside the grinder restriction at the entrance to Micrite Mesa (3,600 foot penetration).
Just a few hundred more feet and I hit the end of the line at the entrance to a very large tunnel at 3,885 feet penetration. After tying in the new reel, I pulled out a compass and tried to keep a southeast heading in what I thought was a massive room, but turned out to be a 150 foot wide and 105 foot deep tunnel heading in the right direction. After swimming only 200 feet, the passage turned left to the east and continued at the same depth. The passage width varied from about 100 feet to nearly 200 feet wide in most places with one short speleothem framed "squeeze" of only 30 feet wide and 20 feet tall.
I had to swim from side to side down the passage to make sure I was not missing any big leads that headed down the sides of the room out of view. Even though visibility was in excess of 200 feet, it's amazing how large tunnels can be missed just because of depth perception and rock color. I ran out of the extra line arrows I had brought to mark any possible leads I might find, but kept one for the end of the line.
As I rolled the last bits of line off the reel, I realized that I had been fooled by a large oval divot in the wall to the south and had turned to the wrong side of the passage for the last 100 feet or so. After setting the terminal tie and leaving my last arrow, I swam off the line a bit and saw the rather obvious tunnel I had missed continuing on my original course of southeast. I placed a cookie on the line where I had made the wrong turn so that I can tie off here next time and continue in the right direction.
The swim out was frustrating as I had no more line arrows to mark several more large leads I could see while swimming down the opposite side of the large tunnel. Oh well…. sucks to be me.
When I got back to the restriction at the Micrite Mesa, I felt like my progress was slower than before so I stirred up some silt at the entrance to the grinder restriction to check flow. I quickly realized that the cave was siphoning a bit more than normal. The flow in the inland caves here on Abaco is rarely strong enough to be taken into consideration in the dive plan, but being so far back, I began to wonder how much time and gas I would lose on the more than 4,000 foot swim out against the flow. During the swim back, I realized that we were just coming off of a full moon and the tidal movement would be stronger than usual. Subconsciously I must have been more concerned about the flow than I let myself believe, because I got back to the entrance faster than I had gotten to the end of the line going with the flow! It's amazing how the mind and adrenaline work.
I reached the first deco stop at a depth of 40 feet at 2 hours and 15 minutes. Decompression was not as cold as I had envisioned and the crystal clear entrance pool allowed me to see a rarity up on the surface 20 feet above. While watching the clouds and birds up on the surface, I noticed people looking down into the cave (and throwing rocks at me!).
After a moment I realized that the rock thrower was actually cave diver Gene Melton from St. Augustine, who had stopped by while on vacation with his family here on Abaco to see how my dive had gone. After signing to Gene above that I still had another 40 minutes of decompression, he and his daughter Sierra snorkeled down to the 20 foot stop, and after exchanging OK's, the two began relieving me of my stages and carrying them back to the surface (and then the van) which was very much-appreciated after a long swim.
Up on the surface, just as the advertisements say, the Bahamian sun was warm, the conch salad was cold and you couldn't ask for a better exploration dive. So now the end of the line in the southern part of Dan's Cave is 4,565 feet from the entrance. Hopefully the next dive will put it past the one mile mark!
QDT / DRSS collaboration in cave diving
Wow, great video of the two teams exploring the Domenican Republic and Mexico, go guys!
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Food on the 15th is the recipient of
The William Donald Schaefer
Helping People Award from
the Maryland Comptroller, Peter Franchot.
Click on link for the video!
No minimum age to volunteer!
Learn about Food on the 15th in this video by award winning filmmaker, June Soh, of Voice of America.
Read the corresponding VOA Article in English The story has been translated into several languages and broadcast throughout the world.
Thank you to all the volunteers in our community who make Food on the 15th so successful. This wouldn't be happening without each of you!!
Our Mission
Our student and adult volunteers collect donated non-perishables and deliver the groceries each month to low-income senior citizens in Howard County. Julie and her daughter explain the program in this video by the Association for Community Service video honoring Julie as the 2013 recipient of the Audrey Robbins Humanitarian Volunteer of the Year award.
Our Motivation
Hundreds of senior citizens in Howard County assistant living homes, through paying for prescriptions and other expensive necessities, run low on money by the third week of the month. For low-income senior citizens, some may have to decide whether to buy. No one should have to make such a choice! The senior residential buildings were chosen because everyone in building lives on less than $31,000 per year, with some living on as little as $9,000 per year. Transportation and physical limitations make it difficult for senior citizens to get to food banks.
In addition to helping low-income senior citizens, Food on the 15th enables students to make a meaningful difference in our community, exposing children to philanthropy and community service at a young age by participating in all steps in the process: promotion, collection, organization, preparation of groceries and delivery.
Food on the 15th is an award winning program. We are proud to operate on $0 overhead. We have been in existence since 2006 and have delivered over 40,000 free bags of groceries and toiletries to economically disadvantaged senior citizens residing at:
Around the 15th of each month Food on the 15th brings in healthy, nutritious, non-perishable regular and DIABETIC foods for economically challenged senior citizens who live in Howard County, Maryland. Food on the 15th sorts, bags and delivers the bags of groceries directly to the senior citizens' homes around the third week of each month.
Summer Deliveries
Over the summer, New Hope Seventh-day Adventist Church on Hall Shop Road in Fulton has supported the program by collecting and delivering food to the seniors.
We operate on with $0 overhead as all food is donated and parents and children volunteer their time to make the free food deliveries. Using this model over the past 12 years, we have been able to deliver over 40,000 free bags of groceries and toiletries.
This domain name sponsored in loving memory of Jerry Wells by his wife, Myra Wells.

subset: commoncrawl


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THE SQL Server Blog Spot on the Web
Jamie Thomson has posted a great series on the SSIS 2008 Data Profiling Task.
The Data Profiling Task allows developers to quickly assess key statistics about data in a database table. When I say "statistics" I mean things like column value and length distribution, column null ratio, column patterns, and functional dependencies. You can learn more in Jamie's series or at MSDN.
One very cool feature is the ability to set up a Single Table Quick Profile to quickly configure and capture desired statistical data.
Once you capture the data, you use a separate stand-alone tool for viewing the results: the Data Profile Viewer.
SQL Server 2008 CTP6 (February 2008) includes a functioning version of the Data Profiling Task in SSIS 2008.
:{> Andy
If you would like to receive an email when updates are made to this post, please register here
Subscribe to this post's comments using
At the risk of being completely self-promoting, if you like the data profile task but want to have an easier way to control what tables it profiles, take a look at this:
Basically, it walks through how to make the task a bit more dynamic, using expressions and a "hidden" property.
You do outstanding work sir. Promote away!
How does one query out a column in a table using the Data Profiling task?
What I mean by this, is you have table with Column ABC which has data A, B, C repeatidly and you want ot query it out to only have data with A under Column ABC. How does one do that using SSIS and using the Data Profiling Task tool?
I would like to share the new Melissa Data SSIS Total Data Quality Toolkit TDQ-IT, including SSIS Data Profiling 2005/2008.
Melissa Data SSIS Total Data Quality Toolkit TDQ-IT offers a wide range of data transformation and cleansing functionality including data profiling, parsing, cleansing, matching and monitoring functionality built right in to SSIS. And, TDQ-IT leverages SSIS to provide a flexible, effective solution for your organization's data quality and master data management (MDM) initiatives. Request a free trial today.


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Fredi will gauge use of replay during spring
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez discussed Major League Baseball's expanded instant-replay system while meeting with Joe Torre and Tony La Russa at the Astros' Spring Training complex on Friday afternoon.
Torre and La Russa are currently traveling through Florida to help managers get a feel for this expanded system, which will be utilized for the first time this year.
"After [Friday's] meeting, you feel comfortable that you can work with it," Gonzalez said. "I'm going to go into Spring Training looking for every play that you can challenge."
Gonzalez plans to go through the Grapefruit League season gaining a better feel for how to best utilize the one challenge managers will get through the first seven innings of every regular-season game. At the same time, he will have a chance to better understand how it works during the five Braves Spring Training games in which the replay system will be in place.
"I think it's one of those things, the more you get used to working with it, the more comfortable you're going to get," Gonzalez said. "We talked a little bit about the strategy end of it and some of the reasoning why they went with one challenge and no more than two."
When the regular season begins, managers will have the ability to communicate with an individual in the clubhouse, who will be assigned the task of reviewing replays of contestable calls and quickly determining whether a replay challenge will be used.
The Braves have not yet determined who will handle this task. But they are currently evaluating former players, who would have the necessary knowledge and also have the ability to assume other pregame responsibilities, like throwing batting practice.


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Conservation through Education
Home | The Animals | World of Lemurs | Black and White Ruffed Lemur
of Lemurs (Prosimians)
The Lemurs of Madagascar are one of the most critically endangered and one of
the oldest species on Earth. This
WORLD currently features three species/subspecies of Lemurs.
Common Name: Black and
White Ruffed Lemur
Genus/Species: Varecia variegata variegata
The island of Madagascar. A
population of black-and-white ruffed lemurs was introduced and continues to
reside on the small island of Nosy Mangebe.
Natural Habitat:
The black-and-white ruffed lemur dwells mainly in the eastern rainforest of
Madagascar. They are separated from the red ruffed lemur population by the
Antainambalana River. The ruffed (both red and black-and-white) lemurs are tree
dwellers and are the most arboreal of the true lemurs.
Physical Appearance:
Physical appearance may slightly vary depending on geographic area. Black-and-white ruffed lemurs are among the larger of the true lemurs, weighing
between 8 and 12 pounds. They have a long bushy tail, a neck ruff or mane, a
fox-like muzzle and thick fur.
Black-and-white ruffed lemurs can give birth to up to 5 young. They breed
seasonally, and gestation is just 102 days. The female does not carry her
infants but rather builds a nest where she stays with them for almost two weeks.
If the female needs to move the infants, she does so by carrying them in her
STATUS in Natural Habitat:
Cool Fact:
Field studies suggest that black-and-white ruffed lemurs, like red ruffed
lemurs, may be found in monogamous pairs or in loosely organized groups.
Individuals scattered about the dense forest communicate through loud booming
Click Here For Daily Activities Schedule


text:
Export 62 results:Author Title [ Type] Year
Filters: Author is P. Casaseca-de-la-Higuera [Clear All Filters]
Journal Article
"Multiple comparator classifier framework for accelerometer-based fall detection and diagnostic", Applied Soft Computing, vol. 39, pp. 94–103, 2016.,
"Multiple Comparator Classifier Framework for Accelerometer-Based Fall Detection and Diagnostic", Applied Soft Computing, In press, 2015.,
"Nonlinear analysis of actigraphic signals for the assessment of the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)", Medical engineering & physics, vol. 34, no. 9: Elsevier, pp. 1317–1329, 2012.,
"A novel infrared video surveillance system using deep learning based techniques", Multimedia Tools and Applications, vol. 77, issue 26676, 2018.,
"Optimal real-time estimation in diffusion tensor imaging", Magnetic resonance imaging, vol. 30, no. 4: Elsevier, pp. 506–517, 2012.,
"Relation between Myocardial Infarction and Cyrcadian Rhythm in Patients Attended in a Prehospital Emergency Service", Medicina Clínica, vol. 139, pp. 515-521, 2012.,
"Robust detection of audio-cough events using local Hu moments", IEEE journal of biomedical and health informatics, vol. 23, pp. 184–196, 2019.,
"A Second Order Multi-Stencil Fast Marching Method With a Non-Constant Local Cost Model", IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 28, issue 4, pp. 1967–1979, 04/2019.,
"Stochastic Modeling of the PPG Signal: A Synthesis-by-Analysis Approach With Applications", Biomedical Engineering, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 60, no. 9: IEEE, pp. 2432–2441, 2013.,
"Unsupervised 4D myocardium segmentation with a Markov Random Field based deformable model", Medical image analysis, vol. 15, no. 3: Elsevier, pp. 283–301, 2011.,
"Utility of the statistical and nonlinear analysis for the actigraphic sleep pattern characterization", Sleep Medicine, vol. 14: Elsevier, pp. e181, 2013.,
"Weaning from mechanical ventilation: a retrospective analysis leading to a multimodal perspective", Biomedical Engineering, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 53, no. 7: IEEE, pp. 1330–1345, 2006.,
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Audi Club North America quattro de Mayo Event Report
by, 05-10-2012 at 09:15 AM (57212 Views)
If you've ever thought about joining a club like the Audi Club of North America and weren't sure why, here's one very good reason. quattro de Mayo is an event that combines your favorite German car with the legendary Tail of the Dragon and many, many more like-minded owners. This year's event (the eighth on record) just went down and writer Elaine Bak filed a report and gallery over at QuattroWorld.com. We'd suggests you check it out and also consider joining the club via the links below.
Full Story - quattro de Mayo Event Report
More Info - Audi Club North America


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You might not know this, but more than one of the members of the Pol Position staff, while attending the Old Greenwich All-Boys Academy for Wayward But Wealthy Youth, has been known to hold their own through six chukkers. That being the case, we thought we would challenge Prince Harry to a friendly pre-match game on the Island's pitch.
Apparently, this Prince Harry fellow is quite the big deal, and without British Consulate press credentials, the closest we could get to His Royal Highness was the sideboard at the far end of the pitch. We shouted at the prince, offering up friendly challenges, but he refused to take us up on our dares. Pol Position: 1; Royal Crown: 0.
Turns out that Prince Harry's team won the match, besting the team led by Argentine hunk and "the face of Ralph Lauren fragrance" (as the announcer kept reminding the crowd) Ignacio Figueras. Can anybody say "fix"? We knew we shouldn't have taken the points and bet against the prince's squad!


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By DAVID GREEN
Fayette food services director Sue Repp never before applied for the state Department of Education's Stellar Award for Best Nutrition Practices, at least not until last year.
Now she knows the school has a stellar cafeteria service—one of the few honored in Ohio.
In Repp's eyes, the award serves as a great validation of the food program. Parents and students alike can see they're doing the right thing, she said.
Twenty-two food service programs were awarded in 2009, the seventh year of the Stellar Award.
The award is based on six categories that show evidence of a healthy school nutrition environment.
• Type of meal service: In addition to the traditional school lunch, Fayette began serving breakfast when the move was made to the new school building. After-school snacks are also served to students participating in the 21st Century program.
• Quality of meals: This includes following protocol established by the national Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
• Availability of healthy choices in á la carte items and in vending machines.
• Continuing education for staff.
• Efforts made to provide a pleasant eating environment.
• Nutrition education and activities that target students, staff and the community.
In that last category especially, Repp receives help from Audra Roesti and Gina Veres of the county health department.
"I get a lot of support from them," Repp said. "They bring in ideas for food and training. They're just on top of what's out there."
Repp, who chairs the school's committee, continually looks for new ideas.
"I attend as many wellness and healthy kids meetings as a can," Repp said. "I go over the ideas with the staff and we try to implement them."
Repp has taken a special approach with the elementary school. She spoke with principal Dr. LuAnn Boyer about setting up a food council to work on menu changes.
The elementary student council—Bailee Smith, Grant Reinking, Travis Wagner and Joslin Miller from the fourth grade; Jason Stuckey, Jennaya Hibbard, Austin Lopez and McKenzee Schaffner from the fifth grade; and Garrett Reinking, Taylor Griffiths, Mackalyn Figgins, Emilie Keiser, Valerie Nofziger and Kaela Seiler from the sixth grade—fill the role.
They created survey sheets and went into the classroom with samples of new food items. Repp has seen good results with the taste tests.
"They go out and see what people think," she said. "It really helps."
She intends to extend that concept to junior high and eventually to high school.
Repp intends to keep the food healthy while also keeping it interesting.
"I like to give the kids a variety and I like to try new things," she said.


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AOL Beats the Street, but Domestic Ads Droop Again
If you bet on AOL at the beginning of 2012, you ended up picking one of the hottest stocks in tech. Shares are up 135 percent this year.
Now we'll see if Tim Armstrong can keep it going with his third-quarter results. The good news: AOL beat Street estimates for revenue and earnings, and its revenue number didn't decline — the first time that has happened in seven years.
Not-so-good news: The company's key domestic display number slipped 3 percent, and overall display sales were down 1 percent. AOL's overall ad business was up 7 percent in the last year, though, pushed up by AOL's network ads and its search business.
Here's AOL's explanation of what happened to display sales. Note the shout-out to Patch, Armstrong's controversial bet on local: "Domestic display revenue declined due to a reduction in the sale of reserved inventory, but was partially offset by an increase in the number of impressions sold through Ad.com, growth in reserved pricing due to the increased sales of premium formats and video and strong revenue growth from Patch."
Another positive sign for Armstrong: He has reversed the declining traffic numbers for the sites AOL owns. Those are up 4 percent over the last year:
We'll see how Armstrong positions the company to investors during his conference call, which starts at 8 am.


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Cook of the Week: Feeding family, friends all in a day's work
As a young mom, Nancy Annino relied on processed and often frozen meals to feed her sons, Dustin and Daniel.
But after remarrying 12 years ago, Nancy discovered that cooking doesn't have to take as long as she once thought. Her husband, George, helped show her that with planning, she could create meals family and friends would rave about.
"There's a perception that it takes so long to cook a good meal that the only option is to throw in a frozen meal. Now I know better," the Elgin resident said with a laugh.
Even though the children are grown, Nancy still doesn't want to spend three hours preparing a dinner. Planning minimal grocery trips, mostly to buy produce, she puts together meals that include fresh meats and vegetables. George, whose parents are both Italian, often makes homemade pastas to accompany the meal.
Nancy said she's picked up tips as she and George watch television chefs such as Rachael Ray, Gordon Ramsay and Bobby Flay (her personal favorite), who showed her, via the screen, how to cook meat properly.
Her signature dinner is pork tenderloin flavored with soy sauce, ginger, pepper flakes and lime juice -- "I can do that blindfolded now" -- but she also loves to make soups. Today she shares her spaghetti soup that combines fresh meat and veggies and gets helped along with store-bought sauce.
Since learning her way around the kitchen she has found she loves to entertain and has hosted as many as 100 guests.
"I enjoy seeing people enjoy my food," Nancy says.
After a friend suggested she sell her food she launched a business, Gourmet Express Catering, offering such homemade hot lunches as meat loaf and mashed potatoes, sloppy Joes and bacon cheeseburgers. When the lunch business grew, she decided to cater to a larger crowd and in 2005 opened a restaurant, Backstage Grill and Pizzeria in Lake Villa.
Due to the struggling economy, her restaurant closed in 2008, but Nancy found another way to do what she loves, now working as regional catering sales manager for Panera. She also has tried to use her cooking skills in competition, auditioning for "Master Chef" and "Hell's Kitchen." She said she thinks she did not make the final cut for the latter because she was not "crazy enough."
Back in her kitchen, Nancy continues to be inspired to whip up meals using fresh ingredients and trying new cuisines such as Indian, Jamaican and French.
When she thinks about her work and meals she presents at home, she responds with a laugh, "15 years ago I would say the last thing I thought I'd be doing is working in the food industry and cooking good food.
"Never say never."
• To suggest someone to be profiled here, send the cook's name, address and phone number to email@example.com.


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A customer has asked to conduct a pen-test on the phones of employees. The target is text messages in the phones. Text messages are stored on the SIM for security reasons. Physical access to the phones is allowed only when the phone is turned off. The customer has asked for what approach we're going to take.
I came up with the following, but nothing is satisfactory.
Break the pin-code which is asked when the phone is turned on by cloning the card 1000 times and brute-forcing the pin-code. Idea is that if after 3 tries the first card locks, i can continue with the second card. This way I have more chances for brute-forcing the pin.
First question: Is this a good idea or are there any flaws in this approach?
Second question: Can you advise me a better/easier/cheaper approach?


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Posts Tagged writing.com
Keeping It Real [on dialogue]
Posted by stevengepp in Writing on February 13, 2014
Ahh, the joys of reading… I've been reading a bit over on a site called writing.com where I occasionally go. I do reviews, have a few pieces there for people to read, that sort of thing. Generally, it's a place I go online to read some short pieces of fiction (and occasional essays and the […]


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27 May, 2014 | (01 hr)
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Organizations that have an intentional approach to creating inclusive climates and diverse-by-design teams effectively journey from workplace diversity to an environment of collaboration and innovation. Changing the organizational landscape to be more inclusive, and shaking up project teams composed of standard "go-to" people enables organizations to harness more discretionary effort from more contributors, creating enhanced engagement and producing breakthrough ideas and results. In this session, you will learn about the benefits of creating and deploying diverse-by-design teams on mission-critical projects. We will also discuss how to assess multiple dimensions of diversity to expand the pool of "go-to" performers.
Audience: Diversity Practitioners, Legal Professionals, Compliance Officers, Business Line Leaders, Education and Learning Leaders, Human Resources Vice Presidents, Directors, and Administrators, Chief Talent Management Officers, and Organization Development Professionals.
This program has been approved for 1 ( HR (General)) recertification credit hour toward PHR, SPHR and GPHR recertification through the HR Certification Institute. For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HR Certification Institute website at www.hrci.org.
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David Eaton
Mr. Eaton's focus addresses the human side of any culture change or business transaction, while the company works to ensure efficient and effective execution and sustainability of desired change via cultural integration and individual and team performance, which can have a direct impact on bottom...Full Bio
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In January of 2010 Mr. Stallworth joined the Kimberly-Clark Corporation as the Director of Diversity & Inclusion (Roswell, GA) and has just concluded phase I of an intensive global leadership development project addressing the unique D&I challenges of employees in: Sydney, UK, Johannesbur...Full Bio
Steve Bartomioli
Steve is a senior business leader and human capital expert. In his current role, Steve is responsible for the development and delivery of The Conference Board's programs and peer networks focused on contemporary human capital topics. Prior to joining The Conference Board, Steve was VP &...Full Bio


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The six Bit.Trip] games are headed to the Nintendo 3DS is one package, with a new level of 3D depth added to their pixelated graphics and distinctive chiptune music.
The Bit.Trip Saga package includes Bit.Trip Beat, Bit.Trip Core, Bit.Trip Void, Bit.Trip Runner and Bit.Trip Flux, previously only available as individual downloadable titles for WiiWare, PC, Mac and iOS devices. Each game involves rhythm-based gameplay, 80s-style graphics and a chiptune soundtrack from artists such as Nullsleep, Anamanaguchi, Bit Shifter and Bubblyfish.
Aksys Games, who will be publishing the 3DS version, hasn't yet announced when the Saga package will be available or how much it will cost, but look out for more information soon.


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Pics now up
Quote from: Scott on February 15, 2008, 10:52 AMPics now upI'm lazy...where?
I did not remember the thing looking like a bat and being so pale like E.T. in the rain. I thought it was a bit more dinosaur like and beefier but with the quick flashes and night scenes I suppose it was hard to tell.
KAY-BEE STANDARD RESPONSE: "All we have is 1990's 'Robocop' toys."WHICH MEANS: "Holy ******* ****, please shoot m
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Product Description
Custom printed #10 (3.875 x 9.25") invitations on extra thick paper. Includes white envelope with printed return address.
Please include your exact wording below. Feel free to keep our wording, or write your own! And remember that we can customize any of our designs to fit any type of occasion.
If you would like a color other than the ones listed, please select "other" and let us know the color you prefer in our "special instructions".
Once you place your order, Walnut Paperie will email a proof within 5 business days. Upon final approval, your order will ship within 1 week via usps priority mail.
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