Since last weeks disappointment we had found out from the land owner that in the week before our previous dive attempt a farmer further up the valley had sprayed the bracken in his fields. In light of this information we now assume that it was the chemical that had stained the water, produced the bad smell and the foam. Since there had been a small amount of rain at the beginning of the week we hoped that the stained water had been washer out.
At the sump pool things did not look good. The water was still stained but at least the smell was weaker. A short dive into the first sump showed that the staining was localised to the sump pool and the vis in S1 was clear. Both divers travelled along S1 and into S2 separately. Both divers were equally disappointed to find that the water in S2 was heavily stained with vis being limited to 1 m or less at the start of the sump. Progress was made to the end of the line and a new line reel tied on, the route then meandered through a low bedding for about 25 m until a cross rift was met. The line was cut at this point at a good belay, leaving a loop for attachment of new line on the next dive. The visibility at the bottom end of the sump was better that at the start, but was still not good enough for a proper inspection of the cross rift that is the current known limit of the cave.
Throughout the lower section of S2 both divers detected flow and were nearly deafened by various noises thought to be coming from a waterfall landing on an undiscovered water surface and gas pockets moving through the sump. The staining of the water starting at the beginning of S2 may be significant. It is possible that there is an inlet that feeds into the passage that lies below the canal passage that links S1 and S2. This will need investigation because if it exists it will drain an area of land that the cave has no known connection with.
It must be really strange to be under water (a place a non-diver like me imagines to be totally silent – a bit like outer space – after all, there’s no air) and yet to have so much sound! Weird to think of a massive waterfall crashing into the surface – somewhere unknown – of the sump you’re diving! Exciting stuff…
So, do you think it’s going anywhere? Well, obviously you do or you wouldn’t be putting the effort in, but, where d’ya think? ❓
The cave has formed in an area with lots of faults and the joints between different rock types. The water resurges a good distance away and several streams in the catchment area are normally dry. We know there is passage there, it’s just a question of where, if it’s flooded or not and is it big enough?