Journey Underground - TDI Mine 1 - Day 5

Dive 1

Once we got to the mainline, we started out missing diver drill. We had already discussed this as a buddy pair, as I had a spool and my buddy had a reel they were going to head off to find the diver while I stayed on the line to provide a point of reference. First thing was to cover our lights and see if we could see anything. Unsurprisingly we did not see anything, so it was time to move on with the drill. While my buddy got her reel out, I dropped an arrow on the line pointing home, and as a team we tied into the line. Then we had an issue, my buddy’s reel jammed, after a minute I signalled her that I would use my spool to do the search and she would act as a lighthouse.

I tied my spool into my arrow and headed off into the Mine, Rob had hidden him self down behind a little wall so we would be unable to see him from the main line. When I reached him, Rob was unresponsive so locked my spool off, grabbed him and dragged him to wards the light of my buddy on the line. Once Rob was on the line, he tried to head off the wrong direction, so I had to take his hand and move it onto our line and give him a shove to head off towards home.

With the drill done we went back and tidied up our reels and spools and headed back to the surface for a debrief. The main feedback was that we did well, communication was good and that if a reel jams underwater then it’s probably best to swap to something else as unjamming it underwater is not an easy task. 

Dive 2

The second dive was going to be the out of gas drill, I was going to be donating first.

We headed part of the way down the line to just get comfortable. Then my buddy gave me the sign that she was out of gas. I donated my long hose got them to hold onto my rear bolt snap so I could keep an eye on them (if I could see). We set off down the line. Once we were on our we closed our eyes to simulate blackout conditions.

This went well other than having to reposition a few times to keep away from the wall. The only major issue was when we got to a large belay and I ended up following part of the belay instead of the line and had to work out which way I should be going. This reinforced that if you think you might be unsure of the way home then the best thing to do is to drop a line marker.

With the drill over I tided up my long hose and we settled back into heading back the other way down the line.

Michael signalled to me that it was my turn to go out of gas, I gave the signal to my buddy and received the long hose (this was not as quick as I would have hoped). My reactions kicked in and I almost went onto the donated regulator, and only caught my self at the last second and put my own back in. Holding on to my buddy’s rear bolt snap and with my eyes closed we made out way out of the mine.

With the drill done we headed back to the surface for a final debrief. Michael was happy with my drill but wanted to go over gas donation with my buddy. 

Dive 3

As I had completed all the drills Michael asked if I wanted to go for a fun dive with Rob. I did so we dropped down and headed along the line to Dive base 2 and back. On the way I removed my line marker from our reel and headed to the surface for the last time.

We all made our way out the Mine, I took one cylinder back on the first trip and most of my dive equipment, as well as keeping my harness on. This meant on my final trip I would only need to bring out one cylinder.

We got changed and then removed the final cylinders from the Mines, and with this we were done with the course.

Michael had a chat with me and asked If I would feel comfortable coming back here or to another Mine without him, I responded that I was. He said that was good and that I had passed.

After 5 days of diving, 500 odd miles covered, and 3 different dive locations. Including two different mines with a lot of walking and carrying kit. I was passed and certified as a TDI Mine diver 1.