Riders on the Storm - After the Flood

16.06.2010

Repairing the lines damaged in the 2009 flood. Not as much damaged as hoplessely burried underneath thick layers of fine gravel, sometimes more than 0.5m deep. Runtime 1.5h

17.06.2010

Further  line repairs. Around 800m mark I started looking for the continuation of the way on, which at the time I thought would be before the end of my line from 2008 at 850m. With breathing becoming more and more difficult (seemed like the unit was getting flooded) I decided to abort the dive before the search was completed, I bailed out and started the return.
I was a bit anxious wheather I had enough of gas as it was my first serious bailout that far inside the cave but it proved I had plenty: before I reached my 6m stop I used 200b from one Alu 80 and 150b from another, leaving 2 Alu 80 untouched. I tried to go back on the unit during my last stop and I managed to finish it breathing carefully in some rather vertical position and flushing the loop often with 02. When I open the unit on the surface the canister was 1/3 filled with water and all sofnalime well soaked.Runtime 3h

17.06.2010

I was back two days later and after some epic search at the end of the line I finally found the way on – after two years and 4 dives to the end of the line.  What happened is that the passage at the  previous limit of exploration (850m)gradually turned north and closed down in a very silty and low alcove. It was very confusing as the Polltoophill was somewhere to the south or south east so I thought I must have gone wrong somewhere before that point. So I kept searching  and thoroughly inspecting the passage between 800 -850m.  With no more incidents with flooded unit I completed the investigation of the right hand wall but it didn't reveal any side passage or junction. Then i attatch a 30m search reel that I brought especially with me on this dive to the end of the line and jumped off to the left to investigate a left hand wall.I expected  it to be a maximum three metres away but I found it suspiciously further - five, perhaps six metres away. I moved a couple of metres south keeping the wall at my right hand side.At first I thought I was going back upstream but deep silt and solid 1m undisturbed vis suggested that I hadn't passed that route yet. I did some zig zagging  and after not finding any line in the passage I realised I found the way on.

Now, looking at the sketch you must be thinking that I must be some sort of half idiot if I needed so much time and  so many dives to find the continuation but keep in mind that with 1m  visibility which is usually quickly down to 10-20cm after only a short presence in the passage filled with a soft silt things look, or 'feel' I should rather say, very different. 

From the 'breakthrough point' the silty passage continued soutwards for another 200m at the depth between 30 and 40m and I tied off the line at 1070m from the entrance. Runtime 4.5h

26.06.2010

I continued from my previous end of the line and after a while I arrived to a huge mudbank with a very steep slope of 60 plus degree. I secure the line at the bottom of the slope with a siltscrew and carefully started my way up. At the top, at merely -20m or less the ceiling of the cave was very low and  I was moving on with a great care and difficulty using the siltscrews frequently as the passage was passable only in certain places. Viz was deteriorating very quickly. I was absolutely convinced that I was only metres from the connection with my 2009 Polltoophill line, somewhere on the other side of that mudbank. Suddenly he ceiling got lower but at the same time I felt that the floor of the mud bank descended steeply. Vis was next to none anyway so I turned my body around and went fin first as it was quite tight,  laying the line behind me. After few metres when the passage got bigger I turned around again. I moved ahead of a mud cloud which was now quickly rolling down the slope  and with a heart beat rate hitting through the roof I started sweeping the passage with my torch beam from one side to another in search  of my reel from Polltoophill. But there was only mud covering all he floor. The passage kept descending and at -30 I  knew for sure  itwasn't the right spot. Moreover the passage direction turned to NE and I had an impression that from some time I was moving with a slight current. No good. I went on on a depth of -40m  untill my line run out 1380m from the entrance. .I felt I must have missed the connection point but the question was where. My bet was the the top of the big mud bank. Maybe there was an other ascending passage from the top of the mudbank, that I simply missed in 0 vis. It would made sense given the fact that my EOL in Polltoophil was in an ascending passage at -23m of depth. It was time to go back to Castletown. Runtime 5.5h