tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51483882570706111912024-02-20T23:56:07.477-08:00Hell & High WaterCave diving, technical diving, underwater cave exploration, tec courses, Padi DSAT, cavern diving, Artur Kozlowski, nurkowanie techniczne, tec40, tec45 ,tec50, full cave, intro to cave, nurkowanie jaskiniowe, kursy techniczne, szkola nurkowania, tec trimix, Ireland, IrlandiaArtur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-84320514091423013812011-09-02T10:45:00.000-07:002011-09-02T10:45:11.060-07:00CUEVA MOLINO at BUSTABLADO, CANTABRIA<iframe width="480" height="295" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bws8RC6LngQ?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-5606075820963085912011-07-27T21:08:00.000-07:002011-08-01T21:01:12.746-07:00Reports from Hell - June. Towards the Highway to Hell.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXGrms9JnGeL1U4mqJeI4vJELNfUeL2TdrgstUXG50IWxwAlT7pJg5afPhaI2FbWy0DyZp4bVTFN16keKOJWIvFJzFuKPCf3n4WycobK0Ru0KdoMoFpN_koOTjcCCZe74sfkWuBrgH/s1600/4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXGrms9JnGeL1U4mqJeI4vJELNfUeL2TdrgstUXG50IWxwAlT7pJg5afPhaI2FbWy0DyZp4bVTFN16keKOJWIvFJzFuKPCf3n4WycobK0Ru0KdoMoFpN_koOTjcCCZe74sfkWuBrgH/s320/4.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
You know that feeling when things go so brilliant for such a long time that you know it's just a
matter of time when you gonna screw everything up? And so I did... Exploration is an obsession, once you taste it nothing else will taste remotely as good. It will give you all you ever wanted: self-fulfillment, the wildest childhood's dreams come true, people's respect, illusion of grandeur and the equally illusive promise of eternal life but it's a jealous and possessive bitch and if you don't keep it on a tight rein it will destroy everyone around you...</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
Exploration wise I was about to embark on things that
needed me at my best but I clearly wasn't there.</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Did I become complacent? Or lazy? I've been lazy all my life but
more than anything else I've lost motivation... I didn't see that the source of it, my inspiration, got destroyed by the obsessive nature of what I was doing. </div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I had the open leads all over the country, burning mysteries just waiting to be resolved and I was sitting at home doing nothing, feeling sorry for myself , my life slowly slipping away through my fingers ... What happened to that guy from 2007 who
would jump on a bus with a twinset and three other tanks, tent,
sleeping bag, drysuit, 5 sets of regulators and bag of spares just to find a few metres of virgin passage?!</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Despite of all my vanity and self-indulgence I used to have an ability to get myself off the floor when I hit the rock bottom; now I was almost there again and it was time to act. Somehow I knew straight away what to do: I had to go
back to where it all began for me, to Hell Complex in Doolin, the place that shaped my best qualities as a cave diver, to where time and tide ( and something EELSE as I was soon to find
out) awaited my attentions.</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>20th of JUNE</b></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_geHnq12w45hv-9YIqhnmo4YJbmUhdZWQ7y8iQCx8gW9REi07B0vdfnu115bzPhq4ZiDXsHZwUSzcRyEmb2amsQ1s9u8UkPdoIlif-jyNqtNrymE6q9U0c03guPwXXVFooF1lt9Et/s1600/2011-06-16+17.14.26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_geHnq12w45hv-9YIqhnmo4YJbmUhdZWQ7y8iQCx8gW9REi07B0vdfnu115bzPhq4ZiDXsHZwUSzcRyEmb2amsQ1s9u8UkPdoIlif-jyNqtNrymE6q9U0c03guPwXXVFooF1lt9Et/s320/2011-06-16+17.14.26.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The decision to go was rather
spontaneous and moments after I started looking for the excuses not to go. As you do. I could give at least five valid reasons that
would make the hole venture look daft, utterlly impossible or simply
life threathening, the most solid of them being the fact that I could hardly
walk: two days earlier I was swept downstream by an underground river
in a cave near Westport and I injured my front thigh muscle when I
hit it against some submerged boulder. Sounded like a pretty good
excuse to me given the fact that I would have to carry three
cylinders and all assorted diving/cave diving gear across the country with no car. And then down to the Hell, one way or another.
Unfortunately I knew it was just an excuse. Pretty good one, all
righ, but just an excuse. Over the last couple of years that I
spent in Ireland I have come up with a system to conquer my laziness and to get things done. You see, there's always some important reason that prevents you from doing things that require a substantial effort. But since I couldn't really trust
myself when it came to decision which of them were valid enough to
give up and which were not, my approach was to always dismiss all of them
as the creations of my "lazier half " that preferred to mellow out and just lounging. With this
approach I can guarantee you pretty much two things: first , you'll
get the things done whatever it is you want to achieve, and the
second, it will fuck up your personal life sooner or later if you
still have any at that stage. You get to choose ...;)</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And if you back it up with a basic
research of the area or the cave you're going to ( it's funny like some
people think that I'm just a thick Pole who instead of contributing
to the national GDP wanders randomly nights and days around the
country and accidently keeps stumbling upon new caves, passages and
connections) I guarantee you that sooner or later you will start
discovering new stuff. Either that or I'm simply good, I can't rule
out the latter possibility completely...;)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
10 hours, one Dart, two buses and one mile walk later I was at Doolin Point. I carried all three tanks to the edge
of the cliff above Bedding Cave entrance and then spent some time
lowering them down on a limestone ledge just above the water level. </div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I first tackled the site in late 2007 when I was looking for an inland
breakthrough in the Hell Complex but even though I was sidemounted
back then it seemed like I would get nowhere without a lenghty
underwater dig. So I dug. Through a sticky glutenous mud I dug. And I got
nowhere. Then I moved to the underwater dig in the Honey Pot chamber and I almost killed myself during the return in the late November. A planned 45min dive turned into a 2h drama during which I ticked off ALL possible cave diving sins...but that's the story for another time. I had realised (apart from a few other things;)) that I didn't have to kill my self while 'creating' new passages by digging underwater - I could still do it while exploring the existing ones. Somehow the second option sounded better ;)</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But the tide has changed and now I was back in Hell. I planned to have a look in a small passage near the Bedding Cave entrance that seemed to be going towards the Mermaid's Hole, the other big system just north of Hell Complex. Although 'small' was a substantial understatement; after shifting some boulders I could squeeze through first 10m sidemounted with Ali 80 (11 litre tank) and steel 12l, to move any further I had to swing the Ali in front of me and to pass yet another squeeze I had to leave the 12l behind... Riding a single tank in front of me I got through (just about) yet another constriction 2 m further. Even though I've been eaten by the guilt for breaking a fundamental cave diving rule - breathing gas redundancy - I must say it felt so good, so free...almost right ( here we go...GO ON Mr Sneaky Peevalve, report me! ). From there the way on led underneath some offending, a few tonnes boulder and testing its stability seemed like a pure lunacy, even according to my standards. I was done there.</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Not having enough gas for any serious investigation in the other parts of the system I looked at the start of my dig from 2007 in CJ's Despair passage, only metres away. A quick look there and <i>Hey!</i> My old line from 2007 was still there ending at a pile of small boulders with some decent size continuation visible behind! I got to the job right away and after few minutes the way on was open. Well, it would be with a bit extra work with a shovel :) I already knew where my next dive would be.</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
On the bus back to Dublin I analysed my old sketches from four years ago and I couldnt believe my eyes! Suddenly it was so obvious! The CJ's Despair (1) must have been the continuation of the main Hell's tunnel, the way from where the water that created all the known Hell passages came initially. For all those years, since 2007, I haven't seen the whole picture
even though I had all pieces of the puzzle in my hand...</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A word of explanation here. Hell Complex is a maze of big tunnels which have solutional origins. It means that they were created and shaped by the fresh water , an underground river that descended from Burren hills long time ago and discharged into the sea when its level was lower.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbEnVQ3a4UtuXg9cLNIXTGnh2Nchpu_mKCnbpykguK9o_SSqUTgsPQdrDLTAiiyLZ5KaKnHpblNEATwS8RAZmTCQ0F-JRQYZ5ZVbhGRd5NFeoMuSzyiHbH4AfFXkNZ-TmLnh6AZL8T/s1600/Hell+3+maps.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbEnVQ3a4UtuXg9cLNIXTGnh2Nchpu_mKCnbpykguK9o_SSqUTgsPQdrDLTAiiyLZ5KaKnHpblNEATwS8RAZmTCQ0F-JRQYZ5ZVbhGRd5NFeoMuSzyiHbH4AfFXkNZ-TmLnh6AZL8T/s400/Hell+3+maps.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CLICK TO ENLARGE</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So Hell was just an end section of the system, a spot where the river came out from the underground. It came from east via a possibly single
tunnel. So what happened to this tunnel and most importantly, where was it? I already knew where: three big mud blocked passages in Hell ( marked 1,2, and 3 on the sketch below) had the very same mud deposit encountered nowhere else in the cave (except for the Mermaid's Hole system which was explored for over 1km from its submarine entrance). I would imagine that somewhere further inland they were joined together in a one big passage size of a highway, a Master conduit, the Highway to Hell.... Of course they were almost completely filled by mud and there was a chance that only metres further the fill would reach the roof. But there was one thing no one or only very few (Chris James himself (CJ) and possibly Martyn Farr) knew about CJ's Despair passage: like in the Mermaid's Hole system a strong tidal current flows for hours into the passage and then, after the tide changes, out of it. Which pretty much meant to me this:
somewhere beyond there is a vast air space being filled with sea
water with every flood tide and emptied with each ebb tide. A dry, possibly unknown cave, passage or chamber somewhere inland. And judging from the size of its resurgence ( the whole Hell complex) a bloody big one. Wishful thinking? Maybe. Sure there will be lot of smartasses proving scientifically the unlikliness of that. No bother. If I'm wrong I'm wrong, life goes on. But if I'm right I'll be on the Highway to Hell soon... </div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>23rd of JUNE</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOSLbQHFvS0f8_HbAosGONapDBifFv5cY8t2aGJgPAMaXJGQ7c11_OUEkZWwhbX8CLz5T3ZSv0wB-x8Z_OZkfATD0RLOBlGDO1ev_QJ_UvSubERrGM0jtzoYTThHUlVQTeEXNdjxCt/s1600/2011-06-23+22.19.12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOSLbQHFvS0f8_HbAosGONapDBifFv5cY8t2aGJgPAMaXJGQ7c11_OUEkZWwhbX8CLz5T3ZSv0wB-x8Z_OZkfATD0RLOBlGDO1ev_QJ_UvSubERrGM0jtzoYTThHUlVQTeEXNdjxCt/s320/2011-06-23+22.19.12.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I arrived to Doolin on the half past
nine bus from Galway, checked in the hostel and walked to the Doolin
Point with all the gear I needed for the dive:<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>2x Alu80 (11 litre cylinders)</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>1x3 litre steel cylinder</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>shovel</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>80m 4mm polypropylen reel for the jump </i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>100m 3mm nylon for the exploration</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>Farrworld sidemount harness with 2kg
weight on it</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>once 5mm wetsuit</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>3 sources of light and the rest of diving instruments.</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It was a fine evening, the eve of the
St John's night and the hills surounding the village were dotted with
the bonfires.</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I was a bit heavy at the start of the
dive but once I staged one of the Ali80 on the line in front of the
dig my buoyancy was perfect.</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After I removed some medium size boulders from the innitial squeeze three days ago the possible way on continued in the corner of the passage, along the left hand side wall (Crossection A). In order to move foreward I had to lower down the floor by digging but with the shovel the work advanced briskly and in a short period of time I gained an extra 5m of the passage.I kept both of my tanks (Ali80 and 3l) sidemounted and dug only enough space to get through. I was about to pass another low, dug out section so I tilled my head on one side ( to lower my profile and to prevent the reg from ploughing into the mud) and pushed my upper body through. It didn't go. <i>Ok, </i><i>it needs more digging, </i><i>let's reverse .</i> But I couldn't . There was no space behind me to reverse into, I got stuck. I'm not a particularly claustrophobic
type but this didnt feel right. I stopped to relax. I closed my eyes
and focused on breathing. Before the dives like that I always calculate my air reserves expressed in minutes of breathing. I do it BEFORE the dive coz I know that first reaction when the stress hits will be GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE IMMEDIATELY OR YOU WILL RUN OUT OF AIR AND DIE!!! Which is rarely true. But you might be too distressed to realise or quickly calculate that you have a plenty of gas to stop, relax and think yourself out of the trouble.</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So I relaxed. I had 30min
of gas in Ali 80 and another 10min in the 3l, I could afford a short
snooze down there. But it didn't change the fact that I still
couldn't move.</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Now, why is it that tight behind me?</i> I
closed my eyes again to picture the way I laid the line. <i>Close to my
right hand side and away from the passable route, in the bedding </i>(
this way you can keep the line at the arm length and avoid
entanglement once the visibility drops).<i> So why the fuck are you
trying to reverse straight into the line? Seriously Artur, did you
consider a career in some less task loading business?!</i></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I moved 20-30cm away from the line and
probed the way behind with my fins. Yeah, way more spacious there...
A minute later I was back out of the squeeze.</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Unsurprisingly I decided to leave the further digging for the next day.
Out of water past midnight.</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>24th of JUNE</b></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Rain pissing since 5am. A failed
attempt to get up at 8pm. Same at 9, 10 and 11am.
</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
11.15am. Come on you lazy bastard!</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinZRadOXh1WdojaVlmX3XgcBF9f-Mk9X_8rTqNAw0wmmc21S2sgh-sg0NdRmC0rzKWYIO5pom5nQjNqCLK1_JxLQvAT2CaDxzNwBo4ObgrsU-fWv4cGFItLtW_VAMjBaiQSJw6HDfn/s1600/Hell+New+stuff+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinZRadOXh1WdojaVlmX3XgcBF9f-Mk9X_8rTqNAw0wmmc21S2sgh-sg0NdRmC0rzKWYIO5pom5nQjNqCLK1_JxLQvAT2CaDxzNwBo4ObgrsU-fWv4cGFItLtW_VAMjBaiQSJw6HDfn/s400/Hell+New+stuff+1.JPG" width="286" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CLICK TO ENLARGE</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Straight into Hell's Kitchen and CJ's
Despair passage </i>(1)<i> with a single unmounted Alu80 pushed in front of me </i>(an attentive reader will notice that I dropped the 3l cylinder somewhere on the way. I'm not gonna elaborate on that ;)<i>. Smoothly through the
squeeze, then I tie the reel into the end of yesterday's limit and I
keep wriggling ahead through another muddy constriction. I dig my way
through along the left hand side wall and after an 80 degree turn to
the left which I secure with another silt screw I get into a small
chamber 1.5m high 1.5m wide and 2m long. I let my self to take a
fuller breath and to float up to the roof for a 20 second break. It's
going well, let's hope it stays this way. You wished! The way on
continues low, less than 40 cm along the left wall. There's a gravel
underneath the mud and the silt screws don't hold in well. Luckily
there are decent size rocks in the chamber so I bring two of them and
use them as the belay points. Two metre long legs between belays seem
a bit ridiculous but hey, whatever keeps your mind at ease! It's my
call and I don't need to explain myself in front of anyone. It's me,
not anyone else who has to make his way back to safety. </i></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>I'm facing another constriction but
even though it doesn't look too challenging I already feel I won't
make it today. There's only such amount of pushing you can do on a
one go and I feel I reached my daily quota. I hesitate for a moment
but no, that's it. It's enough for the day. Pretty good job man, it
was a really tough shit, you can be proud of yourself. All right,
cut that mental masturbation, focus on the return. </i> </div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
to be continued...</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
WARNING: SOME OF THE PROCEDURES AND TECHNIQUES DESCRIBED HERE ARE NOT USED OR ACCEPTED IN RECREATIONAL CAVE DIVING COMMUNITY, PLEASE DO NOT TRY THEM YOURSELF, ANY ATTEMPT MAY CAUSE AN ACUTE DEATH AND ETERNAL BURNING IN HELL<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwp_50iyCi6HZm7XjidsXI6hP94da1DdJltOVMlvaCxRjOkrkI5fydoi5qBJgKY4EcQMWqVS5AwEtgRk8DdLzjdlXMRWxAYGFAg6z7llnKvVWp0DgizgKAc3fX5bx5kCKlP2Ru99KG/s1600/2011-06-23+22.19.31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwp_50iyCi6HZm7XjidsXI6hP94da1DdJltOVMlvaCxRjOkrkI5fydoi5qBJgKY4EcQMWqVS5AwEtgRk8DdLzjdlXMRWxAYGFAg6z7llnKvVWp0DgizgKAc3fX5bx5kCKlP2Ru99KG/s320/2011-06-23+22.19.31.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1NJJxSc6PIWl7Q10C_udyMBGIqCK5H9jyIzj3Iu12_tUJg4Sg_DXFqlH9PwwICe-owhu7Bxo04Dc47mZGFvp5lPz0SsqkII45ddCl2IhDp7j7wHzmEAKz0Ac4LOeH1SzJlPYkIfKx/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1NJJxSc6PIWl7Q10C_udyMBGIqCK5H9jyIzj3Iu12_tUJg4Sg_DXFqlH9PwwICe-owhu7Bxo04Dc47mZGFvp5lPz0SsqkII45ddCl2IhDp7j7wHzmEAKz0Ac4LOeH1SzJlPYkIfKx/s320/2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-84419669611282722452011-07-21T05:18:00.000-07:002011-07-21T12:43:53.543-07:00Introductory Cave Diving course in Ireland. Report<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKLJiU2P6rtQWgDuMpv3cThEAQ54zcg0vt6qShsJwTt-0GpZJ4RBZBAbmX7QpOJYrcC-Eccb8Kt3SVgbsnmKj_3PuGmU-BhU4606PojDWNGVyHBRWH-1yKhSwU8UFarmO-pJmlgTwk/s1600/P7100135small.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKLJiU2P6rtQWgDuMpv3cThEAQ54zcg0vt6qShsJwTt-0GpZJ4RBZBAbmX7QpOJYrcC-Eccb8Kt3SVgbsnmKj_3PuGmU-BhU4606PojDWNGVyHBRWH-1yKhSwU8UFarmO-pJmlgTwk/s320/P7100135small.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">By MATTHIEU</span><br />
So I had enrolled in a cavern course with Artur some time ago, did an open water dive in Sandycove, laying some line, do some belays, that kind of things, but the weather didn't really work out in Doolin for a while. Finally the stars aligned for the 9th and 10th, and off we went. In the meantime, owing to a little misunderstanding, the course had become Cavern+Intro. Yeah well, I wanted to see what cave diving was like, anyway, so cool.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">First overhead dive is a demonstration dive. Artur would lay a line, I would follow. Simple. We go down. And back up. "You don't have to hold the line all the time." "Ah, right." Back down. 3m. A couple of belays later, Artur turns around, "out of air". Pass primary over. Put secondary in my mouth. We start back. Cut. So it begins… A couple of extra belays, we're over a drop to 10. Rock below, rock on both sides, rock above. Really cool. I'm not a big fan of caves in the dry. Cold. Damp. Oppressive. But just floating there, motionless, (dry, warm</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"><img alt=":)" class="smiley" src="http://forum.technicaldiving.ie/Smileys/default/smiley.gif" style="vertical-align: bottom;" title="Smiley" /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">), it's… different. Better. Much. Anyway. We drop to the bottom. A belay there and we turn right into a passage that turns into a big room. Lit passage on the left (an exit? yup), and in front of us the mudblock Artur told me about, reaching all the way to the ceiling. We follow up a bit, then it's time to turn around. Follow the line… Down, up, left. Out.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Recalculate the sixths, let's go back in. I was a bit worried I wouldn't be too keen at this point, not being a cave person. But no. It's cool. Let's go</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"><img alt=":)" class="smiley" src="http://forum.technicaldiving.ie/Smileys/default/smiley.gif" style="vertical-align: bottom;" title="Smiley" /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">This time I'm laying the line. In, down, left! Into Anemone Arcade. We pass Brittlestar Boulevard on the left, turn around… Lights out. I reel us back to the cavern zone, where the line goes up, check gas, then we turn north (left) and up towards the exit there. Nice to have a snoopy loop attached to the reel, that way if you can only drop it 10cm, not meters, or you can have two hands to make a belay. We don't actually go for the exit, Artur signals that I am to stop; he's going to take a look down a hole on the left, make sure it's what he thinks it is - our exit for tomorrow, as it will turn out. He comes back up after a couple of minutes. We head back.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Longer break this time. For one thing, I have to top up, I'm down to 120. Time to be told what's next, too… I am to lay line for tomorrow, and do a jump, arrow and spool, to a permanent line in Brittlestar Boulevard. Then "something will happen". Or might, you know? Right.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">We're going back in the Arcade, past Brittlestar Boulevard (the permanent line is indeed there, cool), until the reel runs out, and leave it there. That's our line for tomorrow. I was kinda worried about leaving it just like that on the floor, but I was shown an advanced technique for this situation. Piling big stones on it. There, it's not going anywhere. We then turn around and I make my jump. Arrow. Spool. Attach to line. Arrow. All good. We move in for a bit, to the chamber there, then back to within a couple of meters of my spool, then… Guess what? Lights out. Hand on the line, follow, two lines, one's got an arrow on, pointing forward (thank god), follow that… A T :-) Arrow on the right… Pointing right, check, follow that, gradually I can make the outline of the exit into the main chamber, then the line going up…</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">After a quick UW sixth calculation - that I fucked up -, we go back down, this time to lay a line down that hole Artur went in on dive 3, Spider Crab Crawl. Down the first line, arrow up, attach second line, head towards the hole. Easy, yeah! Wrong. No snoopy loop on this reel… Dropped it a couple of times making one belay. Grrr! Anyway. Artur goes in first, very impressive head first dive, very smooth. I'm next. Not quite like Artur. More like the opposite in fact. But, okay, I'm on the bottom, no silting, not much, anyway, I got the reel, and the line is straight from my last belay to where I am. Belay here, then follow the expert. We go in a bit, make a final belay, then head back out. All set for tomorrow.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Read the rest of the report at: </span><a href="http://forum.technicaldiving.ie/index.php/topic,3277.msg18410.html#msg18410">Full report from Introductory Cave Diving course in Ireland</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_KyZWyndAvBjZGq5r4VNE4LZGXRMk1bI-KbXvITOOKVey1xIwHfP7ua54eSiy11Ob7ojyipiol9E2uwbwDQT9pLrU-IqolmOrpvp18zU4g_HB-7DYX4Vb2M9Oqk696aK2KnwUtg5x/s1600/frog+kick+doolin.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_KyZWyndAvBjZGq5r4VNE4LZGXRMk1bI-KbXvITOOKVey1xIwHfP7ua54eSiy11Ob7ojyipiol9E2uwbwDQT9pLrU-IqolmOrpvp18zU4g_HB-7DYX4Vb2M9Oqk696aK2KnwUtg5x/s200/frog+kick+doolin.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dry frog kick demonstration</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju815ia8Qed0NC6rqXwCVtmAlgPOUY7LY6O92f4YVowWSXFIx9HSzgm9bqJsfUY5hTieaZ4TTchW1fLzCXPdONPo3gMoPtM8nDosyX1UQb1r1sh36X6xcZmS76_OzHGr6sOp783Ff_/s1600/DPP_0006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju815ia8Qed0NC6rqXwCVtmAlgPOUY7LY6O92f4YVowWSXFIx9HSzgm9bqJsfUY5hTieaZ4TTchW1fLzCXPdONPo3gMoPtM8nDosyX1UQb1r1sh36X6xcZmS76_OzHGr6sOp783Ff_/s200/DPP_0006.JPG" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cave simulation ;-)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh78nZWoc7pB4kuCaxyHg8Tj00JDy2HedVEuZzr4FW21VH8ApLo8vnHfID_qTkiV9DMo71eoHyOdLiEKy5DKytnVL2Cp5HcqiiKGANTINAcMRIWoXemOvQ4HGUiGvD5mM6LaKg5KP3M/s1600/2011-07-09+13.45.25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh78nZWoc7pB4kuCaxyHg8Tj00JDy2HedVEuZzr4FW21VH8ApLo8vnHfID_qTkiV9DMo71eoHyOdLiEKy5DKytnVL2Cp5HcqiiKGANTINAcMRIWoXemOvQ4HGUiGvD5mM6LaKg5KP3M/s200/2011-07-09+13.45.25.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Land drill: passing a belay</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjf7PX68VDL20pGV83OtJhzoMVRPwNl3aozSYLKkW5qJD-8xJWrQMCGEjQnWasVIrJEYwD6zuShyPXYd83gORNmIVei7fwRzE3kDdD4YikgN6PNUs9GJ5FQvYdc2EPmCtBz8LMQ-CN/s1600/2011-07-10+12.24.40.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjf7PX68VDL20pGV83OtJhzoMVRPwNl3aozSYLKkW5qJD-8xJWrQMCGEjQnWasVIrJEYwD6zuShyPXYd83gORNmIVei7fwRzE3kDdD4YikgN6PNUs9GJ5FQvYdc2EPmCtBz8LMQ-CN/s200/2011-07-10+12.24.40.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seriously ?! Down there?!?<br />
You must be kidding...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGG8DN2BzyPn3Gl_Wnu9PdWMIeHLbwvH_kW4y_-QdIsjU_6K-0aMRis4pe9_IhIj-nhBlKfNMY6YaCNf05GikMDNS5yxrkw3PSxJjrSaIW0uLK8Kuv49ZfHYmjejeh_eJqFO_x0Uai/s1600/2011-07-10+12.33.21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGG8DN2BzyPn3Gl_Wnu9PdWMIeHLbwvH_kW4y_-QdIsjU_6K-0aMRis4pe9_IhIj-nhBlKfNMY6YaCNf05GikMDNS5yxrkw3PSxJjrSaIW0uLK8Kuv49ZfHYmjejeh_eJqFO_x0Uai/s200/2011-07-10+12.33.21.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Easier than it looked...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqiz9K2I9OuEKz264jwyUkAMdDyd3FwUCRrB79Hv3c0redAfPkOqNZpoXuXkg8vx1waik6mo45l_dTy6RYxsGD9ga2ZrTjIu-0qXAjMnGqsXAqj-LsX6Ksrj_QQLd8qqriyQAR9iea/s1600/2011-07-10+12.27.38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqiz9K2I9OuEKz264jwyUkAMdDyd3FwUCRrB79Hv3c0redAfPkOqNZpoXuXkg8vx1waik6mo45l_dTy6RYxsGD9ga2ZrTjIu-0qXAjMnGqsXAqj-LsX6Ksrj_QQLd8qqriyQAR9iea/s200/2011-07-10+12.27.38.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fecking Hell...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO5oIokrkt4hD4USVielq5WqRtJa_EJJ1b4r1Z1KIZvM8jsTf1V39tUHfVgHMnfi_hocv23HLlBMalyApvvyleUPFbbTupAa4gePzxvF5HY2J4l1Weof3h4FUgB6z2easvI1VAxGuQ/s1600/284418_2028102835631_1635876139_1973537_3222566_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO5oIokrkt4hD4USVielq5WqRtJa_EJJ1b4r1Z1KIZvM8jsTf1V39tUHfVgHMnfi_hocv23HLlBMalyApvvyleUPFbbTupAa4gePzxvF5HY2J4l1Weof3h4FUgB6z2easvI1VAxGuQ/s200/284418_2028102835631_1635876139_1973537_3222566_n.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here we come...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijQ3XHWGp7noJpL8sewCvdK0wBndJ3bqkFos3iY4ZYV94bGdTtNTGH73Xvg8oEmya8p_YELDtCW11OhrtPGmGomeaZS5UprmJ3NKxCe9GfTk1T1PsqnQm_hjymhonEPGtWgoyINK6G/s200/P7100119.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="200" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Time to relax...and sunbathing...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKXOXFU-tgycJ5a1xUCxeWsBuUWphD4ScbKA82lorLJm2hiC1sVHXWIX82uRNLokMhkLkU0TMjri52Ug1k6aCGXdAXp396vQy5-nEEc2uQXqzeZUL2GpLWRsFoboCUKDphSy0uP1nP/s200/284083_2028103235641_1635876139_1973538_1907929_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="150" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Almost ready...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div>
Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-18490147940328348972011-07-16T12:41:00.000-07:002011-07-16T12:42:30.638-07:00Diving in the Hell Complex, Ireland. UNEDITED.<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Sgh4ORXqE8c?fs=1" width="425"></iframe>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-25969645159442909712011-06-22T21:08:00.000-07:002011-06-22T22:20:02.916-07:00SIDEMOUNT DIVING IN IRELAND<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBseb-LysqcbvExQXIVlQRhMC2DWE6yNLTZv4lgBaBrz15sZKOtq_j8Q3Rkhc3oinHD4OdrUrrOQjEdl2A66ia3rYoDkyR8_4-X3rtUXet80C3EjOISOyOabOPu6p5qPREaC4xU_IC/s1600/MARTYN+Farr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBseb-LysqcbvExQXIVlQRhMC2DWE6yNLTZv4lgBaBrz15sZKOtq_j8Q3Rkhc3oinHD4OdrUrrOQjEdl2A66ia3rYoDkyR8_4-X3rtUXet80C3EjOISOyOabOPu6p5qPREaC4xU_IC/s320/MARTYN+Farr.jpg" width="211" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Martyn Farr</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #999999; font-weight: normal;"> In UK and Ireland cave diving is practically a synonime of sidemount diving due to the nature of the underwater caves and difficult access to the most of them. Contrary to some people's beliefs sidemount diving was not born in the recent years in Mexico but many years earlier in England. For long Britons were breaking cave diving world records using sidemount configurations : in 1981 <a href="http://www.farrworld.co.uk/">Martyn Farr</a> and Rob Palmer made the world longest underwater penetration in Bahama Blue Holes and in 1991 Geoff Yeadon established world record through dive from King Pot to Keld Head... nowadays this great sidemount tradition is continued by people like Steve Bogaerts in Mexico.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #999999; font-weight: normal;">I've learnt sidemount diving and cave diving under the direct supervision of <a href="http://www.farrworld.co.uk/">Martyn Farr</a>, Britain's foremost sidemounted diver and cave explorer. Since his first visit in Ireland in 1978 Martyn made many astonishing discoveries in Ireland, both in dry caving and cave diving. I had a privilige, over last four years to continue many of his projects only to confirm what he had already suspected: that Ireland indeed has one of the most unique system of underwater caves in Europe.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKUe2Lr-A9yBMlS6DvlbSoibKomfVBEGXZSnkqkRBHGwc0qDYKkYk966f7Aqk6nfuWmj-7vje-8SsvtLfuxUnFjm2ziiI2CzkyzG5xgaxl8NtkF-hq4cajC4FjgoLlOUrF9X2yvOsm/s1600/DSCF3965.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKUe2Lr-A9yBMlS6DvlbSoibKomfVBEGXZSnkqkRBHGwc0qDYKkYk966f7Aqk6nfuWmj-7vje-8SsvtLfuxUnFjm2ziiI2CzkyzG5xgaxl8NtkF-hq4cajC4FjgoLlOUrF9X2yvOsm/s320/DSCF3965.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">Extreme conditions in John Thomas' cave in the North</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #999999;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Since 2007 I pursuit exploration in most challenging Irish underwater caves using </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">sidemount </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">rig in various configurations: drysuit, drysuit plus wing, wetsuit plus wing, wetsuit (optimal buoyancy), multistaging (8+), no mount (diving bottles pushed ahead of a diver, hand held, to nogotiate extremely tight, body size underwater constrictions). From the very beginning I used the sidemount system as a necessary tool for the exploration and not as a gimmick that simply looked fancy or cool ( although thanks god it does as well....).</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #999999;">Last 4 years have seen many important projects being moved forward in Ireland, mostly in sidemount configuration :</span></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: small;"><i><b>2007</b></i></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b></b></i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>- Long sought connection between Hell Complex and Robertson's cave in The Reef cave system in Doolin, county Clare.</i></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="clear: left; color: #999999; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivKIu8UAVyx0AhdQKLtG56veOLRysOLZRPGSLKGEJcWgeBJW5LArliMvzfykZXbCjd8Y-xrnjnvSPbDw7FO5jlCIwT_5YEAoMfAaOnrfSrbVdE4ySJGCyHjc5_U8LltbIVEYAg_M76/s1600/return+from+marmeids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivKIu8UAVyx0AhdQKLtG56veOLRysOLZRPGSLKGEJcWgeBJW5LArliMvzfykZXbCjd8Y-xrnjnvSPbDw7FO5jlCIwT_5YEAoMfAaOnrfSrbVdE4ySJGCyHjc5_U8LltbIVEYAg_M76/s320/return+from+marmeids.jpg" width="320" /></a> </span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">Returning after 3h push dive in Mermaid's Hole</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: small;"><i><b> 2008</b></i></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: small;"><i>- Exploration of Pollatoomary Rising in county Mayo - the deepest underwater cave of Ireland and Britain recorded at -103m - sidemounted, through 30cm wide underwater squeezes, in constant 0.5m visibility. <a href="http://arturconrad.blogspot.com/2008/12/dark-rising-deepest-on-isles.html">Dark Rising</a></i></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: small;"><i>- Beginning of exploration underneath Gort Lowlands in county Galway, 2km of new underwater passages discovered – sidemounted and backmounted</i></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: small;"><i>- Mermaid's Hole in Doolin, the longest marine cave of British Isles pushed to 1025m from the entrance – sidemounted</i></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgazDW8aRxrGOGxq7FX7_V0uO2COLNG6HCawAAKIkNZUxU4BknAx8AMan_PACZGgaiv7QmumfppS55AbVRTZoTtKub1_IOZLovfN6RuJGV4ei2fFzKsqSeMXLrSMfW9q9fYzlp0V4QS/s1600/On+the+Beach+in+newly+discovered+Northern+Way.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgazDW8aRxrGOGxq7FX7_V0uO2COLNG6HCawAAKIkNZUxU4BknAx8AMan_PACZGgaiv7QmumfppS55AbVRTZoTtKub1_IOZLovfN6RuJGV4ei2fFzKsqSeMXLrSMfW9q9fYzlp0V4QS/s320/On+the+Beach+in+newly+discovered+Northern+Way.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">Reaching surface in a virgin cave passage - Marble Arch</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: small;"><i><b>2009</b></i></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: small;"><i>- Beginning of exploration in Marble Arch System in county Fermanagh, connection with Cascades created the longest cave of Northern Ireland, 9km - sidemounted <a href="http://arturconrad.blogspot.com/2009/11/green-lake-marble-arch-prods.html">Part 1</a>, <a href="http://arturconrad.blogspot.com/2009/11/swanns-way-marble-arch-prods.html">Part 2</a>, <a href="http://arturconrad.blogspot.com/2010/05/connection-marble-arch-prods.html">Part 3</a>, <a href="http://arturconrad.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html">video footage</a></i></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: small;"><i><b>2010</b></i></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="color: #999999; font-weight: normal;">- Marble Arch System extended to 12km through various underwater connections, second the longest cave in Ireland - sidemounted - <a href="http://arturconrad.blogspot.com/2010/05/cradle-holes-connected-making-second.html">Cradle Holes connected</a></span></i></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="color: #999999; font-weight: normal;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">- A new important cave found near Gort and explored for 1km at -80m. Potential for the longest uw cave in Uk and Ireland and one of the longest siphons in Europe/world - sidemounted and Megalodon ECCR - <a href="http://arturconrad.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-deep-underwater-cave-discovered-in.html">Discovery of Pollindre</a></span></i></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: small;"><i><b>2011</b></i></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: small;"><i>-mythical source of Fergus River was pushed further into the mountain – the limit of exploration is now 240m in sump 3, somewhere 2km from the entrance. <a href="http://arturconrad.blogspot.com/2008/12/dark-rising-deepest-on-isles.html">Fergus River Cave - April push</a></i></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: small;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: small;"><i>- I'm still ALIVE..!! ;)))</i></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Personally I look at the sidemount course as an introduction to technical diving </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-GB">and traditionally sidemount diving was applied mainly there. The most popular reasons the divers choose to learn sidemount diving is to participate in </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">cave/cavern diving, w</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">reck penetration </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">or in tec courses using sidemount configuration. That's why I decided to combine some of my entry level tec and cave courses with the sidemount training. Apart of the </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Sidemount course</b></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> which is run over two days and consists of four dives I run combined </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Sidemount + Tec40 </b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(2-3 days, after that students may continue to Tec 45, Tec50, Tec trimix 65 and Tec Trimix 90 sidemounted) and combined </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Sidemount + Cavern </b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(again, 2-3 day, and after students may continue Intro to Cave and Full Cave sidemounted)</span></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfMd7ZKgTyE9UBH5o0MMHKU9fJTXBAuX6t3FtdLCQPhIhXJfn7w325bVcFWhdBGXg1fWQLzzsjUWJuPtx4iolk7-Rbd7liYCNV_JFzD2Z8q4Sr4HfYFZDgeYxwavu6KwZxiHFkZ61F/s1600/Harnesses.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfMd7ZKgTyE9UBH5o0MMHKU9fJTXBAuX6t3FtdLCQPhIhXJfn7w325bVcFWhdBGXg1fWQLzzsjUWJuPtx4iolk7-Rbd7liYCNV_JFzD2Z8q4Sr4HfYFZDgeYxwavu6KwZxiHFkZ61F/s640/Harnesses.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">Different custom made sidemount rigs from left to right: <a href="http://www.farrworld.co.uk/explorer-1-harness.html">Martyn Farr's Explorer</a>, <a href="http://www.hlbdive.com/lang-en/ultimate-side-mount/118-ultimate-side-mount.html">Ultimate</a>, <a href="http://utdequipment.com/product_info.php?products_id=211">UTD's Z harness</a> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">and <a href="http://www.gosidemount.com/">Steve Bogaerts' Razor</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #999999; font-weight: normal;"><br />
</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #999999; font-weight: normal;"><br />
</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #999999; font-weight: normal;"><br />
</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #999999; font-weight: normal;"><br />
</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #999999; font-weight: normal;"><br />
</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #999999; font-weight: normal;">During the Equipment Workshop the students will have a chance to customise and adjust their sidemount rigs either it's Razor, Z-harness, Explorer, Ultimate or a self-made one. If their don't have their own rig they're welcome to try some of mine harnesses free of charge for the duration of the course ( I'm not a dealer of any of them so I don't try to sell them before or after the course) </span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The offer till the end of the summer:</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></div><div style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><b>Sidemount course ( 2 days, 4 dives) </b>– <b>200</b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>€</b></span></span></span></div><div style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Sidemount + Tec40 – 350</b></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>€ </b></span></span></span></div><div style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Sidemount + Cavern - 350€ </b></span></span></span></div><div style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">For a detailed info on the sidemount course or any of the combined courses please contact me at:</span></span></div><div style="font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="mailto:artur.conrad@gmail.com"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">artur.conrad@gmail.com</span></a></span></div><div style="font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'm off to Doolin on the west coast of Ireland to continue one of my projects in Hell system for next couple of days (sidemounted of course...;)) but usually I'm replying within 24h ...;-)</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-22652931454288410982011-06-19T16:54:00.000-07:002011-06-19T19:29:57.539-07:00A RITE OF PASSAGE – (re)discovery and exploration of the Creevy Rising Cave in co. Monaghan<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><b>This month Archaeology Ireland magazine (no.96) features an article "EXTREME ARCHAEOLOGY: Going Underground in Monaghan" by <i>Marion Dowd, Alasdair Kennedy, Artur Kozlowski </i>and<i> Sam Moore</i>. It provides a scientific insight into the possible date, origins and functions of the man made structures that we found during the exploration in the Creevy Cave in 2008. Read my account of the research, discovery and exploration of this magnificent cave: <i>A Rite of Passage. </i></b> </span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj_YuJUjLo2nR1MmwGC7oKqT112tDKjzjSaR6GrQLdGGIYmwRjOqg0YgT9P1z6JzYk5hsGu_mfOFEmG1xwnSFh0Z0bN1GixZHgFRwZEr36nMLhne17Wl3yOegBNQJItSbA8HlSj80R/s1600/Archaeology+ireland.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj_YuJUjLo2nR1MmwGC7oKqT112tDKjzjSaR6GrQLdGGIYmwRjOqg0YgT9P1z6JzYk5hsGu_mfOFEmG1xwnSFh0Z0bN1GixZHgFRwZEr36nMLhne17Wl3yOegBNQJItSbA8HlSj80R/s320/Archaeology+ireland.JPG" width="234" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Let’s face it, County Monaghan was never much of a caving region: the whole area was investigated in 1964-65 by members of Irish Caving Club (ICC) and as a result only three major caves with active streamways were described and surveyed: Fin McCool's Cave (400m of passages), Tiragarvan (300m) and Poll'd (a 70m long passage containing a 13m pitch). Since then, some small extensions were made by diving in Fin McCool’s Cave and in the Tiragarvan River Cave in 1973; in the latter an estimated further 135 </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-GB">metres</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> of dry passage was discovered. But as the Irish Troubles worsened County Monaghan became a caving backwater, its border with Northern Ireland making it a convenient Republican bolt-hole and consequently a no-go area for cavers. No further exploration took place, and its known caves became quietly forgotten in caving circles.</span></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Much of the winter of 2008 I spent on research and it was then when I came across the first edition of the Irish Caver journal from 1965, almost entirely devoted to the area north of Carrickmacross town. This was where the ICC had published the outcome of their Monaghan exploration. Although it was a fascinating read, the journal didn’t leave much to dream of in terms of further exploration: according to the ICC </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>“the chance of finding anything else in this area comparable to these three caves is now 0%”</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i> </i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Not that I was particularly disputatious of their bold statement, but it was just asking to be challenged! Ironically taking the lead from the first Irish Caver it was clear to me that</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> the Creevy Rising should be re-checked first.. The ICC had investigated it in 1964 for about 10m, reaching a narrow rift that closed down to water level with </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>“submerged arches visible under the water”</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">. That was all I needed to read to start my trolley rolling.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"></span></span></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8NuE7_i9gGmnUjsn-FPDsRJwsqKduUwXPsQ2brJGLInvF3_TrZ98sx1cORlgzBoPIW38ly7dRN9MshUx3E9S4oCMk_eTSxQfgdzqle-xnjuN7elccl9FzBe24GtRBXok0bvdgwtBn/s1600/Artur+Creevy+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8NuE7_i9gGmnUjsn-FPDsRJwsqKduUwXPsQ2brJGLInvF3_TrZ98sx1cORlgzBoPIW38ly7dRN9MshUx3E9S4oCMk_eTSxQfgdzqle-xnjuN7elccl9FzBe24GtRBXok0bvdgwtBn/s320/Artur+Creevy+3.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>Divers’ despair</b></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">For the trip I teamed up with Al Kennedy who earlier that year pushed the nearby Finn McCool's Cave </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">together with Paul Doig</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">. Not aware of the existence of The Irish Caver journal, Al had some other sites in mind for checking but after reading the ICC's description of the Creeve Rising the agreement was unanimous. We arrived in Carrickmacross by bus from Belfast and Dublin, two social outcasts going cave diving in the middle of the week. The sun was shining and local girls were waving hellos as we strolled out of the town pushing our trolleys loaded with diving gear. So far so good. After two miles of pleasant walking the road crossed the sizeable Creevy stream, and following it upstream through a field we quickly located the rising. The first look was enough to tell that no one had been there for decades: the stream was resurging from a pile of boulders and fallen mature trees, and we needed to do some lumberjacking to clear the entrance.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></div></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibhx-_WOBKJYY6dA00FyFe1IuyWXVBtthtY5tEnLF7_qQtWaxGgWR7rVgL-JRE8UQmnGcdJ_I1iX6JVmK3W6ZUjGpsNi4d7I1KWwrxOl_sCpxfXcSINJUIvyAK2u0Q6XuYgRcsOCnI/s1600/Al+Creevy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibhx-_WOBKJYY6dA00FyFe1IuyWXVBtthtY5tEnLF7_qQtWaxGgWR7rVgL-JRE8UQmnGcdJ_I1iX6JVmK3W6ZUjGpsNi4d7I1KWwrxOl_sCpxfXcSINJUIvyAK2u0Q6XuYgRcsOCnI/s320/Al+Creevy.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></a></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The chamber behind the entrance seemed to be flooded to the roof so I kitted up and looked around with nervous anticipation for the “flooded arches”, but they were nowhere to be seen. Instead there was a small canal, one meter wide with a half-meter high roof. We followed the canal impatiently. After 30m of swimming, the narrow canal opened into a bigger chamber and the ceiling rose making the chances of encountering a sump less and less likely. It was a major disappointment for us. We had followed that, somehow controversial in British cave diving circles, line of cave divers who were sea divers in the first place. Fascinated by underwater caverns and shipwrecks we subsequently learned overhead environment and cave diving techniques. Thus our mindsets are quite different from those of cave divers who came from a caving background. It was always amusing to read cave diving reports from the 70s and 80s where the appearance of a sump was always welcomed with dismay and once in the water any possibility of surfacing was greeted with a sigh of relief. Their primary objective and passion was to find more dry cave passages behind sumps and going under water with diving equipment wasn’t something they necessarily longed for. Contrarily, perhaps blasphemously, for us dry sections of caves were a necessary evil: once in the water we prayed for the sump to keep going. And so there we were, two very disappointed cave divers in ongoing dry cave passage!</span></span></span></div></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br />
</span></span></span></div></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Following the Divers’ Despair the water became shallow and a 4m wide and 1.2m high canal continued as far as we could see. After another 100m on all-fours, combined with some desperate attempts to dive in 30cm of water (a technique applied mainly as a silent protest against the unfavorable turn of events), I was forced to drop one of his cylinders. Things looked grim. The final blow came when the passage turned west and became comfortable walking sized passage but we continued, although with little hope now of any exciting diving. Eventually we arrived at a boulder collapse and for a brief moment hoped that our ordeal was over. The choke looked precarious and common sense was suggesting that we turn back. But then there was the other voice, luring us further in with the promises of caverns measureless to man. We heeded the latter. Kindly, but also with a suddenly sharpen sense of self-preservation, I let Al go first (hence You Go First Choke) and only when ongoing passage was confirmed, I ditched the rest of my diving kit with a theatrical sigh of resignation and followed.</span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></div></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br />
</span></span></span></div></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSXRqlKsewRtvVPyyVI9ztwv5-tVAEqO0zd4FLkfyH_lJ8rnZdJh75mpNtSXNDn0j7w4O4C4yIs_1zJH_VvObu9bu23M_lDSfT6wjBHEl8l5WUZ1Bxe3fgbmUWEa-wTUusdhWPXoSL/s1600/Creevy02s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSXRqlKsewRtvVPyyVI9ztwv5-tVAEqO0zd4FLkfyH_lJ8rnZdJh75mpNtSXNDn0j7w4O4C4yIs_1zJH_VvObu9bu23M_lDSfT6wjBHEl8l5WUZ1Bxe3fgbmUWEa-wTUusdhWPXoSL/s400/Creevy02s.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #999999;"><b>Beyond Liminality</b></span></span></span></span></div></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br />
</span></span></span></div></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The boulder choke marked a change in the morphology of the cave and a change in our mental topography in which dry cave was subordinate to submerged cave. With the shedding of the final diving equipment we became cavers rather than divers in a cave. With this new mindset we gained new eyes and a new appreciation for where we were. As we passed several more short sections of canal to reach river passages of easy walking dimensions the significance of our find sunk in, and it was with excitement rather than desperation that we progressed to each corner, now hoping for the dry passage to continue! Our disappointment faded. We passed pretty oxbows and a small muddy inlet, and when we reached the section of passage we later named the Megalithic Way the walls were over 10m apart and the roof was 5m above our heads. We had found the largest chamber in Monaghan, and it was looking likely that we had also found the longest cave in the county too. Maybe dry caving wasn’t that bad after all!</span></span></span></span></div></div><div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; text-align: justify; widows: 0;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br />
</span></span></span></div></div><div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; text-align: justify; widows: 0;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVAj38N35dluM8Sq_HcqILs4NJTM58nSMi5e3jtWgpL_kSMVKyGgoMP1XWOWoKTbCn71hz8233CXO2REMN3g9YeWmzvAe_Y4KAJRfEva23vbCWoTBnOjwQ0mAu9C1JDkzmkhwCZidS/s1600/Dla+Karolinki+4.TIF" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVAj38N35dluM8Sq_HcqILs4NJTM58nSMi5e3jtWgpL_kSMVKyGgoMP1XWOWoKTbCn71hz8233CXO2REMN3g9YeWmzvAe_Y4KAJRfEva23vbCWoTBnOjwQ0mAu9C1JDkzmkhwCZidS/s320/Dla+Karolinki+4.TIF" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">After the Megalithic Way the river split, and then rejoined, before smaller canal passages and a series of ducks led to a small, rubbish-strewn chamber. From here there was a choice of a strongly-draughting but very constricted duck or a small, sandy tube. In our pursuit of dry cave we surprised ourselves and choose the tube in hope that it would bypass the duck. It became too tight, although we expected it could be dug. Here we turned back, estimating on our return that the main stream passage was 500m long. We returned the following week, and quickly regained the limit of the cave. Lower water levels made the terminal duck a more inviting prospect, and it was swiftly passed – to surface into daylight! Following the surface stream, we passed through a second, shorter cave to another pot and another cave.</span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></div></div><div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; text-align: justify; widows: 0;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br />
</span></span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH9-etFWPSr_MVrV416FBWFgrMBt-6Ood5RMDa7ynQ3Eld7FrcvNpQ7KeqGw1x0fdKCF8CwXzRAIfIVWwHWFAw314GCW-R6QFn836QLB8Z0tL6zy1bRpd9SFjI2hO8uQXxzTfej04g/s1600/5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH9-etFWPSr_MVrV416FBWFgrMBt-6Ood5RMDa7ynQ3Eld7FrcvNpQ7KeqGw1x0fdKCF8CwXzRAIfIVWwHWFAw314GCW-R6QFn836QLB8Z0tL6zy1bRpd9SFjI2hO8uQXxzTfej04g/s320/5.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></span></span></div></div><div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; text-align: justify; widows: 0;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGeD7JHXBpLjqhMIDBnfYULPYF6EUzofSQrkRZeigjYKv2yxwwy976XiyEB0t6fJ22ds_M9VP4JthWMPyOShp2z53M_WGumAdziOGrv4MzzrGLItOX1280H0VrOG5uMv6sIsgIe43E/s1600/04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGeD7JHXBpLjqhMIDBnfYULPYF6EUzofSQrkRZeigjYKv2yxwwy976XiyEB0t6fJ22ds_M9VP4JthWMPyOShp2z53M_WGumAdziOGrv4MzzrGLItOX1280H0VrOG5uMv6sIsgIe43E/s320/04.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></span></span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Having little experience in surveying dry cave passages using instruments with greater precision than a diving compass we invited Robin Sheen, a seasoned, Clare based caver and the member of many international caving expeditions to help us with the survey of our find. During the first two days of surveying we collected data from the rising up to You Go First Choke and then we moved to surveying the Megalithic Way and pushing the side passages. The 802,701 passage, which seemed to be an inlet, ended in a choke. The dry Rat Run reached another section of streamway which eventually sumped. Returning to dive the Rat Run sump in very low water we found it dried up but too constricted. Revisiting with a shovel several hours of excavating glutinous mud uncovered the Broken Time Machine, not the most impressive or spacious piece of underground passage in Britain or Ireland! This also ended in a choke. The survey suggests that the Rat Run, Broken Time Machine and 802,701 form a large oxbow to the main stream, which may also be accessible through Sump Passage. When the exploration seemed to be almost over Robin and Danny Burke found the most beautiful chamber in the cave. Heavily decorated with the flowstone, gour pools and stals, this high level chamber was later christened Robin’s Nest. In total 1024m of cave passages were found and surveyed with some further potential through digging or diving.</span></span></span></span></div></div><div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; text-align: justify; widows: 0;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; clear: left; color: #999999; display: inline !important; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></div></div><div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; text-align: justify; widows: 0;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTdrd6QuvxXuhQ1TfHGnfy5a9FlDhR5rLIUPqIPqFgjq2wVf6CdKlVe4dTeg6ArLTN0J2-ocSUaYVwntixt0P8_vz10_LYKCFIIkCW5rfbSaKGH1uS5_IEbaamJ9sqW2uAit7qg9IN/s1600/creevy-archaeo-13s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTdrd6QuvxXuhQ1TfHGnfy5a9FlDhR5rLIUPqIPqFgjq2wVf6CdKlVe4dTeg6ArLTN0J2-ocSUaYVwntixt0P8_vz10_LYKCFIIkCW5rfbSaKGH1uS5_IEbaamJ9sqW2uAit7qg9IN/s320/creevy-archaeo-13s.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><b>Mysterious visitors</b></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><b></b></span>But the most unexpected discovery was still waiting for us. On one of our early surveying trips I was checking an unpromising low side passage, and glimpsed a strangely regular heap of stones just meters ahead when my light went out. Poking at my helmet as a temporary solution to the long-ignored connection problem the light came back, together with a big shock. I was facing two neatly built stone walls, about one metre high, 0.75 metres apart and three metres long, and roofed transversely with large limestone lintels. It was a man-made souterrain. The original entrance must have been directly above its end, but had been neatly covered over by more limestone lintels. </span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4os4PtGuZCWM4sGYu-coDQdP96ZbAmM18bd0Bv_BxvUAlUeb_5-I9Bimg2e1dnEsOim5Onvx-_hmJEtOtOc0TeagdLRHieEQN1QOXBmJeWtf9WY18gYT8R-8h0vu9K0XGml9Imf7t/s1600/creevy-archaeo-07s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4os4PtGuZCWM4sGYu-coDQdP96ZbAmM18bd0Bv_BxvUAlUeb_5-I9Bimg2e1dnEsOim5Onvx-_hmJEtOtOc0TeagdLRHieEQN1QOXBmJeWtf9WY18gYT8R-8h0vu9K0XGml9Imf7t/s320/creevy-archaeo-07s.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As we exited the souterrain passage into the main stream passage we noticed other evidence of human occupation. Here the river flowed around a muddy platform, about 10 metres long and 3 metres wide, which had been raised above the level of the river by a low drystone wall. At the upstream end of the platform a horseshoe-shaped structure about 0.75 metres across has been built, and to the side of this were small heaps of ash. We had eached passed that spot many times in the last three months and we had not noticed anything unusual!</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div></div><div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; text-align: justify; widows: 0;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPIHizPoDR3oEk5w56oNwqltl6hU-MjZYTMgX7PH2wl6WvCtSzKYeU96OCbuT1fh1FlsXZ79OPzjQhoCvRlR6oMb8TZuZPLF9TPrUF5qt_CIEnQmlMh-IVA9pz3LA82g6L2Y9di67l/s1600/creevy-archaeo-06s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPIHizPoDR3oEk5w56oNwqltl6hU-MjZYTMgX7PH2wl6WvCtSzKYeU96OCbuT1fh1FlsXZ79OPzjQhoCvRlR6oMb8TZuZPLF9TPrUF5qt_CIEnQmlMh-IVA9pz3LA82g6L2Y9di67l/s320/creevy-archaeo-06s.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><div style="font-style: normal;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Perhaps we should feel disappointed that we were not the first to discover the cave, but we didn't feel that way at all. Instead, we felt privileged and somehow connected with those unknown visitors since we shared the secret of Creevy. Questions of who these people were, and what was the nature of their presence in the cave, may go unanswered. What we knew for sure was that with over a kilometre of passages Creevy Rising Cave was the longest, and the finest, cave in County Monaghan.</span></span></span></div></div><div style="font-style: normal;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div></div><div style="font-style: normal;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div></div><div style="font-style: normal;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div></div><div style="font-style: normal;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The survey of the Creevy Cave:</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTYGtt9z6t-6G7Oaqd7ZptHRN0i0dhbtGjiz_wDA3WeqpuXnoO0yD3BA7wlVoEAiZtSzj2MuAJUkmNZcKfdt1HAssXrPc6qyyutJSKEbw5NefzFYJghPLHu8BncUZuB-i5XL-krQN5/s1600/Creevy+Survey.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTYGtt9z6t-6G7Oaqd7ZptHRN0i0dhbtGjiz_wDA3WeqpuXnoO0yD3BA7wlVoEAiZtSzj2MuAJUkmNZcKfdt1HAssXrPc6qyyutJSKEbw5NefzFYJghPLHu8BncUZuB-i5XL-krQN5/s640/Creevy+Survey.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="640" /></a></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><i>All photos by Al Kennedy, text Artur Kozlowski edited and supplemented (cave description) by Al Kennedy</i></span></i></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><i><br />
</i></span></i></span></span></span></div></div></div></div>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-47921997333216680252011-06-14T08:01:00.000-07:002011-06-14T22:36:30.544-07:00POLLATOOMARY INCIDENT Part II<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br />
</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkdvV2PzfyXhwLOYTknTx4BH3vE42plkJiMFitqDKQ-gar_cERC4QicJTlc5nL4lawzVTcDuyhGbI-DASbEanTWmzobtxRQaenCXD746713JfSIR_frGUi8E_GUq6QELfbI7VY2TR2/s1600/Pollatoomary+Rising+sketch+3.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkdvV2PzfyXhwLOYTknTx4BH3vE42plkJiMFitqDKQ-gar_cERC4QicJTlc5nL4lawzVTcDuyhGbI-DASbEanTWmzobtxRQaenCXD746713JfSIR_frGUi8E_GUq6QELfbI7VY2TR2/s400/Pollatoomary+Rising+sketch+3.bmp" width="273" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">So those were my thoughts down there. I didn't give up yet but I'd spent the last quarter wandering blindly from wall to wall, from the collapsing ceiling to the boulder strewn floor and as a result my morale was quite low… No, certainly I wasn't giving up, it's just what I was doing simply didn't work... I knew I had to keep trying, trying to the last breath but what if I was doing something wrong? You can't expect good results if you do things the wrong way, no matter how many times you repeat it. I was 33 and I've learned that lesson in a past in a hard way. And I didn't have THAT much time here to keep repeating ineffective procedures. <i>I need to focus. </i>Clearly keeping going up wasn't working, the way out there was blocked.<i> But where am I in the first place and how did I get here?! </i>I understood that staying at -30 m was a bad idea – my synapses clogged by dissolved nitrogen from breathing compressed Air at that depth didn't make me the sharpest tool in the drawer plus at -30m I was using 4 times more gas than on the surface. With my current surface breathing rate surly between 25-30l per minute I was too scared to finish that calculation... <i>Focus, focus! </i>I knew I needed to go up but I needed a plan firstly. So again - <i>How did I get in that dark shithole?!</i> <i>Why is the way up blocked? </i>Feeling like a character from one of the Kafka's novel who just woke up in some strange, alien world with no recollection </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">of the past </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">( I reckon my short term memory was gone due to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">nitrogen narcosis</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">stress</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> ) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">I kept interrogating myself.<i> </i></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><i>This can't be the Main Shaft! Did I jump off into some side passage? A side passage... a side passage?! OF COURSE! The horizontal passage! That's how I got here! I must have found a parallel shaft that no one including me knew about! Jesus Christ! And what was the depth there? -20m? -23M? Something like that... </i>With a huge mental effort my mind was slowly shaking off the debilitating fog of nitrogen narcosis and the stress. I knew what to do now. Somewhere in the darkness up there, somewhere between -23 and -20m there was a small hole in the wall that would lead me through the diver size passage back to the Main Pollatoomary Passage. At least that was the current plan. <i>Content gauges. No, I don't want to look at them. I'm composed, I don't need reassurance, I know what I have to do. If I have plenty of gas left it's not going to change much now but if I'm already running low on air I might lose the composure and let the stress retake control. So fuck it. Let's keep going. </i>I've only checked if all three valves were open, I switched the regs and went straight up to -23m laying an emergency line from the bottom. The search begun. Almost immediately I felt an opening in the wall and I started squeezing in but after only a metre and a half it became too tight. <i>Shit! That's definitely not the one I came from! </i>I reversed backwards, finished a circular search around the shaft at -23m, found nothing else and then moved one metre higher. There I felt another hole, slightly bigger, which went for about two metres before it closed down as well...<i>The cave, she likes me...she wants me so badly...Fuck You! </i>Out of the crawl and back to the blind search again. I realised at that point that if I found the right hole eventually my line should be there too; there was no freaking way that the guideline, even a floating one could be pushed out of a horizontal passage since there was no flow there whatsoever. At -22m, the same level, I found another opening in the wall, nice in size, felt almost like 1mx0.5m. I investigated its edges by touch thoroughly- <i>Shit, no line... </i>Not that I could be very picky and had multiply choices of getting out of there so I decided to give it a go. I was quite bulky with my three big cylinders and when the passage became quite tight after only a couple of metres I removed one of the 11 litres tank from my side and clipped it onto a little butt d-ring on my Farrworld sidemount harness. Streamlined I could continue. The only thing was that there was no way this could be the route I came from... it felt way too tight and too horizontal while I had a strong impression that the one I came from was more spacious and gently sloping.</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> I got stuck for a brief moment but after moving some rocks aside I could continue again. <i>And how long is it?! It must be good 10m now? </i>I would be delighted in any other situation but this one. <i>Exploring to the very end</i> … I laughed to myself but there was more despair in that laugh than anything else, I knew I was at the edge of breakdown... After what felt like tens of metres the crawl opened up into some sort of small chamber or a bottom of another shaft. First thing I started examining was the floor in search of my previous belay point. <i>Nothing. Not good, not good at all...</i></span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">I rested there for a while, working on my breathing rate but the truth was that I was too scared to check the roof of the 'chamber' or the shaft, whatever I was in, scared to find out that there was no way out there either, scared to hit the roof again. I entered into the second crisis, more dangerous coz “rationally” justified: there was no line in the horizontal tight passage and there was no belay around here in the chamber. So pretty much I knew I didn't find the way back; I must have moved even further into the dark belly of Pollatoo-Mary and the chances to reach any surface there were close to zero. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br />
</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><i>I want to leave a note. </i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><i></i>The decision surprised myself, I've never thought I would come to that point.<i> </i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><i>I left so many things </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><i>unfinished</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><i> at the surface, things that I should have said to the people that I loved and cared...</i></span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">And this is probably the funniest part of the whole story: I was trying to decide whom should I write the note to, but the list was long and I didn't want to offend anyone! <i>This is a fuckin' nightmare</i> - I thought, and I didn't mean my current situation - <i>It will be easier to have another go and try to save my life instead...</i> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">Ok, it's a lie, funny or not but a lie, I've made it up. The truth is that there was only one person I could think about in that moment and whom I wanted to write to but I knew she wouldn't care so there was no point in the end... What an irony... <i>And what would you possibly say, that you were sorry? Everyone is fuckin' sorry when his number's up, get your shit together ya little bollocks and try to get your ass out of here alive! Fucking drama queen...</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></div></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">So I got a grip on myself, placed a belay and started ascending feeling the walls around me by touch but expecting to hit a ceiling at any moment. I moved on for a couple of metres up, the shape of the wall was driving me crazy as it created an overhang there but the way up was still open. Suddenly I felt some bits of a soft, flimsy line in my hand, I brought it up to my mask immediately and I recognised my old 3mm nylon line from 2008! <i>Shut up! It's probably been washed in here by winter flood, doesnt' have to mean anything! </i>I was trying to keep it real and not to get unnecessary excited but I must have admitted there was a slight chance I was back on the way out: the line was completely loose towards the surface but seemed to be solidly jammed ( or belayed!) somewhere down beneath!</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">With my rescue reel in one hand and the newly found line in the other I kept ascending. At around -16m it was still going up wide open but the old nylon line was cut there. I tied it in to my rescue line, switched the regs and kept going up. I don't know if I had ever an equally tense moment in my life before: anything was still in the cards for me, a Russian roulette with two bullets in the chamber ... the only thing I got was a bit of an old line, I knew that the reality check might be cruel ... </span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">Then at -14m a fresh, light blue 4mm polypropylene line flashed in front of my mask. I grabbed it immediately and checked its tension, then I looked at the depth gauge, then I confirmed it wasn't the line from the reel I was just using, checked the depth again and then I finally smiled. It was the nicest 4mm blue polypropylene line I've seen in a long time...I found my guideline; the long 28 minutes after I'd lost it... <i>You almost got me</i> <i>Mary... but not quite yet, not quite yet... </i>I checked the gauges: 90B, 90B and 100B. <i>Not bad, I had another 30min...</i></span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">I looked at Dr5 for my deco obligation but since I had forgotten to change the gas from Tmx 12/55 to Air it was useless displaying only the message: “YOU'RE ONE FUCKIN' LUCKY BASTARD - WELCOME BACK!”...;-) </span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br />
</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">I stopped for 3 min at -9m and moved to O2 staged at 6m by my buddy but after 5min I'd had enough for the day and I slowly went for the surface.</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br />
</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">I was trying to act normal on the surface but I guess you can't just wipe it from your face the fact that for the last half an hour you thought you were dead, you can't hide it just like that...nor your bleeding hands covered with cuts and scratches... So the team on the surface somehow felt that something had happened but no one dared to ask any questions. We started packing the diving equipment straight away, it was late and we had a long journey back to Dublin ahead. </span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br />
</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">As I walked through the field towards the car with the last bits of the equipment I stopped and looked back over my shoulder at the dark rising where slanting rays of the setting sun futilely tried to penetrate its troubled waters.</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">I'll be back...</span></i></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br />
</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">;)</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><br />
</span></i></div>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-66944704175654275132011-06-13T22:51:00.000-07:002011-06-15T06:42:58.322-07:00POLLATOOMARY INCIDENT Part I<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><br />
</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRh8qdX4DAX5SPeaTd_SehJcN6gKhuujxDwtdV1geWZji84OQCK0OfPhmb1m1AwXhrnqgxnQ2_eQ6McuLHEftHTT6JzTPvqKNCsV_bdQk_rhcbFrjr32aP1_D5ezHPKZZyCT37j2OE/s1600/218717_2079518147214_1222840863_32557964_6801473_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRh8qdX4DAX5SPeaTd_SehJcN6gKhuujxDwtdV1geWZji84OQCK0OfPhmb1m1AwXhrnqgxnQ2_eQ6McuLHEftHTT6JzTPvqKNCsV_bdQk_rhcbFrjr32aP1_D5ezHPKZZyCT37j2OE/s400/218717_2079518147214_1222840863_32557964_6801473_o.jpg" width="400" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">We arrived to Bellaburke around 2pm, briefly chatted to the landlord and had a look at the resurgence. The water levels were low but the visibility was nil, the entrance pond filled with brown murky water. A plan to bring Megalodon rebreather and to have a couple of goes through the -33m squeeze by taking off and putting the unit back on ( for a practice before a push below -103m) was immediately dismissed.</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">The old nylon line from 2008 was completely fucked and not wanting to go home with nothing done I decided to put a fresh 4mm polypropylene line down to the squeeze and perhaps a little bit beyond, -40m ish. With a single tunnel – a small shaft with a couple of squeezes going vertically down to -45m, what could possibly go wrong, right? ;))</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">Once in the water the vis turned out to be between 10 -15 cm while undisturbed. We put the vertical line down to -14m in an open shaft at which point the first constriction was encountered so I turned around and escorted my buddy to the surface. Then I dived again with three cylinders: 2x Alu80 (210 B and 150 B) and steel 12l (210B).</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">I passed the first constriction and approached the second one at around -21m. To my surprise the only way on that I could feel was kind of horizontal and quite tight, nothing like I remembered from 2008. But I was pretty sure there had been only one way on so I continued until I reached a lip of another shaft. This seemed more familiar and since I couldn't feel any sensible belay point at the top of the shaft (though no line traps either) I continued with a vertical ascent. Around -28 things got tight again (as expected) so I belayed the line to a piece of protruding rock (I remember having looked at that belay for a split second with a sort of a doubt as the rock was at a funny angle in the relation to the line and then ignoring it - <i>Will do - </i>I thought – <i>I'll keep the tension and fix it bomb proof at the bottom</i>). I staged one of the Alu80 and started wriggling down fins first. After reaching -32m no more progress could be achieved and after a very thorough examination by touch it turned out that the way down was blocked by head size, irregular shape boulders and sand. It didn't make any sense at all – it was a resurgence and I knew from the previous years that there was a good bit of a vertical shaft below that ( around 15m) so I couldn't imagine how that blockage could be created other than from a collapse above, an option that I dismissed immediately without any reflection.</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxzJCNZxoZNdJin9n29cwgnWiDAFvTrrneCJPA9vQX4vTyTcU5PllFr92iDyNdHI_z0s-H5-kURzO3isweIHsLs1coTOyt51SWdqxA7CAvJItSAxLi9dZMxgfLn1XMdpu3Sq_BXiE/s1600/Pollatoomary+sketch.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxzJCNZxoZNdJin9n29cwgnWiDAFvTrrneCJPA9vQX4vTyTcU5PllFr92iDyNdHI_z0s-H5-kURzO3isweIHsLs1coTOyt51SWdqxA7CAvJItSAxLi9dZMxgfLn1XMdpu3Sq_BXiE/s400/Pollatoomary+sketch.JPG" width="400" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">Having nothing better to do on that Sunday afternoon anyway I started removing the rocks from the constriction but after reaching 20 min bottom time and no progress at the dig I made the decision to turn the dive. The place didn't seem to be the way on I remembered from 2008 but what was it then? Some other parallel shaft? I reeled back to my Alu 80 staged at -30m, re-pressurised it, checked the content and clipped it in. I took out a knife, cut off the guide line 30cm after the final belay and started securing the remaining line on my reel.</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">I was half way through the process when suddenly I saw a glimpse of the loose end of my guideline floating up in front of my eyes and disappearing into the darkness above! <i>What the..?! Shit – that dodgy belay's gone! You fuckin' eejit, I told you!</i> I threw my free hand towards it immediately but the water, just like in a bad dream when you try to run away from someone or something but you can't because the air seems to be thick like gelatine, slowed down my movement and I missed it by inches...it was gone... <i>Fuuuuck!!!! </i>Right then the line was probably no more than a meter above me but floating away further into the darkness with each second. I had to ACT; there was no much time for STOP and THINK. I got caught off guard but I knew I could fix it in no time if I acted quickly. I got off my knees and sprung into the darkness above. With one hand holding the unsecured reel with a metre of loose line or so and with the other sharking water above my head in search of the lost guideline I was briskly moving up the shaft.<i> </i>At around -22m, still finding no line I removed my 5mm gloves and threw them away, I couldn't afford not to feel the line when I came across it. I got a short flashback from Hell in November 2007...certainly not the first pair of gloves that I had to ditch to save my life... By the time the visibility dropped from already atrocious 10cm to practically zero. I could have closed my eyes as well and it wouldn't have made much difference. I kept them open though ;-)</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">I stopped for a while somewhere in mid water to calm down my breathing which became too heavy. The gas I had was buying me time, and I needed time to sort out that shit I got myself into. I needed to calm down.</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">I got things under the control and I moved up scanning the walls and the water above me with my hands like a blind man who lost his stick. But the damn line wasn't anywhere there! Soon the shaft above me got smaller and from what I could feel it started closing down...terrible feeling...I took a big breath and my reg took some water in, I choked, coughing violently and grasping for more air...<i>Calm down! Calm down! For fuck sake... Stop acting like an amateur and CALM DOWN!</i></span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">As if it wasn't enough suddenly I was left with a chunk of the ceiling in my hand! I held my breath terrified when some more pieces of rock fell on my helmet and my shoulders...in a split second I understood the situation: not only the roof was closing down above me with no way on but it wasn't solid, it was just a boulder choke! <i>Feck ! Do I have to always get the best bits?!? </i>At least that explained the boulder choke at the bottom of the shaft...</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">It finally occurred to me that my luck just ran out and now I was acting against myself. I missed the opportunity to sort it out with one bold move, my gimmick didn't work and now I had to pull back and apply a proper emergency procedure before it gets any worse: I needed to go back to the bottom of the shaft and start a proper lost line search.</span></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJUOIf26cjN-QLZCNvjCM92yHxdiQg62vlvTp7iMKOREIJRgF-xDSc2IIhRPUoPqHjIEZtoaG3yFeOWWMr-3YOngUCWftUR4PICW4ZaEDhCfD2_HIvT9ZjubUet2yrIo4EM-H5THyE/s1600/Pollatoomary+Rising+sketch.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJUOIf26cjN-QLZCNvjCM92yHxdiQg62vlvTp7iMKOREIJRgF-xDSc2IIhRPUoPqHjIEZtoaG3yFeOWWMr-3YOngUCWftUR4PICW4ZaEDhCfD2_HIvT9ZjubUet2yrIo4EM-H5THyE/s400/Pollatoomary+Rising+sketch.bmp" width="273" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">With my heart in my throat I slowly began to descend breathing as little as possible in the given situation; it certainly gave me another incentive to calm down and keep my breathing down, God only knew what the expanding bubbles of my exhaled air could do to that boulder choke in the ceiling and although there was very little I could do about it I understood it would be a whole lot better for me to never find it out.</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">I moved down the shaft, I had to go back to the place where I'd first lost the line to fix my emergency rescue reel somewhere around and to start a systematic search for the lost line or the exit from there with a solid point of reference that you can always come back to, otherwise you can wander further into the unknown while the safety could be just metres away. Obviously I should have done it straight away in the moment when I'd lost the line but at the time I believed I could sort it out my way...besides, there was a single vertical passage there so what could possibly go wrong, AGAIN? (sarcasm<i> emoticon here</i>). But in a cave and especially in poor visibility nothing is as it seems and it's always stupid to assume otherwise: my progress to the point of the lost line at -30m was suddenly stopped at -27m where I simply reached ...a bottom! <i>HOW THE FUCK IS THAT POSSI... Fuck, there must be yet another shaft...kurwa mać... </i>I tried to picture the situation in my head and there must have been some kind of fork junction half way between the unstable roof at -17m and the blocked shaft at -32 that split the tunnel in two.<i> </i>So I went up again, feeling the walls with bare hands, trying to find the line until I got -17 m and the unstable roof again. I don't know why but I was equally if not even more shaken when the ceiling closed down above me again, as if I expected some miraculous little hole opened up in the meantime that would take me to safety. And still there was no sign of the line. It was like in a nightmare: I KNEW it must have been somewhere there yet it wasn't...</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">I worked my way down again but this time I focused on not missing the presumed forked junction which apparently was there coz I eventually reached the spot where I’d lost the line at -30m. By the time I reached the bottom of the shaft I was in a bad shape. I mean not physically but mentally... I wasn't thinking clearly, the shock of reaching the dead end twice took its toll and that's when the first crisis came<span style="font-style: normal;">: I realised I would die there.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><i>So... It's Pollatoomary...</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"> I always wondered which cave it was gonna be ... now I've got my answer... and I must say I didn't see that coming, I mean not here, not like this... I wanted to go deep here with Megalodon and I knew that things could go wrong below -100m but to perish on a recce dive, to lose the line, get lost and run out of air...no, I didn't see that coming...</span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #666666; font-style: normal;"></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #666666; font-style: normal;">… and those who never liked you but never had the courage to show it...only to talk behind your back...Now they’re gonna have their feast: 'I told you he's gonna kill himself one day, fuckin' cowboy' ... <i>Fuckin' cowards! Leave it now Artur, it doesn't matter anymore... you need to prepare yourself, get ready to take it with dignity...</i></span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">For some reason the scene from <i>Angels with Dirty Faces</i> came to my mind, when James Cagney scowls like a dog and begs for mercy while being led to the electric chair... I watched it for the first time when I was nine and I was heartbroken for him. All he had been left with was to die with dignity but then that bloody priest, his childhood friend begged him to destroy his image and to pretend to be a coward for the sake of those kids who looked up to him. My task seemed to be infinitely easier, I didn't have to pretend to be a coward, I had not to be one. But wasn't I? I didn't know the answer.</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #666666; font-style: normal;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-style: normal;">It's not that it got me completely by surprise, you sort of have to realise your mortality in a more profound way when you do this sort of thing... I mean in order to protect it coz you're more vulnerable, more exposed... Sure you can be killed by a car while coming back from a day in the office or walking your doggy but it's usually NOT your primary concern...here it’s different. I'm not paranoid about it, I never tried to put myself in a mode that “the cave was after me” ...well, maybe I should have... <i>But boy, I always hoped it would come quick, put me to sleep first, gently... if I only had my Meg(alodon) now...there would be so many better ways to go...</i></span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #666666; font-style: normal;">But she was coming in such an unhasty yet inevitable manner at my very full consciousness, and I knew it would be violent...</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #666666; font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #666666; font-style: normal;">Read Part II : </span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><a href="http://arturconrad.blogspot.com/2011/06/pollatoomary-incident-part-ii.html">http://arturconrad.blogspot.com/2011/06/pollatoomary-incident-part-ii.html</a></span><br />
<br />
</div></div></div>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-881732583669666602011-05-23T14:14:00.000-07:002011-06-13T23:22:10.852-07:00SECRET CAVE IN GORT<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgITRWYaj8WSdKSdY-6-G7eJPNlP9I-S090EzrmmydOCr_8TGyR_w-6T9N2upDzu1l1TSSQbEb-SE5INn2Ayvnot7fF9WIRrt2xlEuKz5rljvZoSFmVxW2MUjKq_v1XvBVxiKkdWRvc/s1600/Picture+102.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-RmHVCgVNHjqbqImmVl5kulzwfX7SO_XEOEYIVblz4HAAplAsXc0r7VILKzxItrqhbyEsPUSqibtc_AVLLGR4i1NHyqwWD-WbchjHQrY16utRVvokMOU9IsK8muLPIJ8rmv3fEnXX/s1600/Picture+099.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2q30KboQz87LUIafRXYi3av00b1qrXTpRPyu2eIOXdFeqopsh0Yp4sJepkben5k57enJMlAz6p4EcAfnPEne36oR9NWYOJ_YGH5gB8GhFFzCXQpPfEqBdud9GFwXSaKRgHZMCUFBf/s1600/Picture+103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2q30KboQz87LUIafRXYi3av00b1qrXTpRPyu2eIOXdFeqopsh0Yp4sJepkben5k57enJMlAz6p4EcAfnPEne36oR9NWYOJ_YGH5gB8GhFFzCXQpPfEqBdud9GFwXSaKRgHZMCUFBf/s200/Picture+103.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgITRWYaj8WSdKSdY-6-G7eJPNlP9I-S090EzrmmydOCr_8TGyR_w-6T9N2upDzu1l1TSSQbEb-SE5INn2Ayvnot7fF9WIRrt2xlEuKz5rljvZoSFmVxW2MUjKq_v1XvBVxiKkdWRvc/s1600/Picture+102.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgITRWYaj8WSdKSdY-6-G7eJPNlP9I-S090EzrmmydOCr_8TGyR_w-6T9N2upDzu1l1TSSQbEb-SE5INn2Ayvnot7fF9WIRrt2xlEuKz5rljvZoSFmVxW2MUjKq_v1XvBVxiKkdWRvc/s200/Picture+102.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgITRWYaj8WSdKSdY-6-G7eJPNlP9I-S090EzrmmydOCr_8TGyR_w-6T9N2upDzu1l1TSSQbEb-SE5INn2Ayvnot7fF9WIRrt2xlEuKz5rljvZoSFmVxW2MUjKq_v1XvBVxiKkdWRvc/s1600/Picture+102.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgITRWYaj8WSdKSdY-6-G7eJPNlP9I-S090EzrmmydOCr_8TGyR_w-6T9N2upDzu1l1TSSQbEb-SE5INn2Ayvnot7fF9WIRrt2xlEuKz5rljvZoSFmVxW2MUjKq_v1XvBVxiKkdWRvc/s1600/Picture+102.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-RmHVCgVNHjqbqImmVl5kulzwfX7SO_XEOEYIVblz4HAAplAsXc0r7VILKzxItrqhbyEsPUSqibtc_AVLLGR4i1NHyqwWD-WbchjHQrY16utRVvokMOU9IsK8muLPIJ8rmv3fEnXX/s1600/Picture+099.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-RmHVCgVNHjqbqImmVl5kulzwfX7SO_XEOEYIVblz4HAAplAsXc0r7VILKzxItrqhbyEsPUSqibtc_AVLLGR4i1NHyqwWD-WbchjHQrY16utRVvokMOU9IsK8muLPIJ8rmv3fEnXX/s1600/Picture+099.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-RmHVCgVNHjqbqImmVl5kulzwfX7SO_XEOEYIVblz4HAAplAsXc0r7VILKzxItrqhbyEsPUSqibtc_AVLLGR4i1NHyqwWD-WbchjHQrY16utRVvokMOU9IsK8muLPIJ8rmv3fEnXX/s200/Picture+099.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ht9nD4BcJv2KQlo-0q6ieL2PGgl0i0Y7-qaCSVJmAHncR7jyiKLP-9XCsjJI34kMJ6ZBN9o_sHTw-oqhNCCpdPT6MEX7UD5W3uAr6X8mVLKVjQUhYpi6cB2JVAF2rVO9JmBUZ4e5/s1600/Picture+107.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ht9nD4BcJv2KQlo-0q6ieL2PGgl0i0Y7-qaCSVJmAHncR7jyiKLP-9XCsjJI34kMJ6ZBN9o_sHTw-oqhNCCpdPT6MEX7UD5W3uAr6X8mVLKVjQUhYpi6cB2JVAF2rVO9JmBUZ4e5/s200/Picture+107.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrRA-HY_slOVdWqZ6JudVCBD0z8ylMvg45_54A_n-gMbyM0Db8CZzuaKatJMScyJmFoWsIqSwHXD1FdAkWPqEJvbOI_XnDS35FmCEx-oFuxaxAz51msJTxHC7vZlWgZa9vCfBJoVKn/s1600/Picture+105.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrRA-HY_slOVdWqZ6JudVCBD0z8ylMvg45_54A_n-gMbyM0Db8CZzuaKatJMScyJmFoWsIqSwHXD1FdAkWPqEJvbOI_XnDS35FmCEx-oFuxaxAz51msJTxHC7vZlWgZa9vCfBJoVKn/s200/Picture+105.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV84QTS9B0mYHa-zEq9nqhL2MpUOcn9Uo0lFsG59Mv1c6I9cOESL12CEeaOirVyGttbni-64nikMZmENge1lQly4LndKiBngfXPVDzwsxSCZa1F9j9ZTht40LKs5lXqvlgG8ftdEIm/s1600/Picture+104.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV84QTS9B0mYHa-zEq9nqhL2MpUOcn9Uo0lFsG59Mv1c6I9cOESL12CEeaOirVyGttbni-64nikMZmENge1lQly4LndKiBngfXPVDzwsxSCZa1F9j9ZTht40LKs5lXqvlgG8ftdEIm/s1600/Picture+104.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV84QTS9B0mYHa-zEq9nqhL2MpUOcn9Uo0lFsG59Mv1c6I9cOESL12CEeaOirVyGttbni-64nikMZmENge1lQly4LndKiBngfXPVDzwsxSCZa1F9j9ZTht40LKs5lXqvlgG8ftdEIm/s200/Picture+104.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3wMPOiAoFlAi-6ek1v-braJlX9t0JO0ac_On13W5TlA8sQJww0LjKorIDzufVhKk9KMLCkBjUOEUVuBks40TuSsydNBSlKtRBpHJALeG2bkEtvk5Hh1LOdMBdXUxXKBNKngwutOSb/s1600/Picture+111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3wMPOiAoFlAi-6ek1v-braJlX9t0JO0ac_On13W5TlA8sQJww0LjKorIDzufVhKk9KMLCkBjUOEUVuBks40TuSsydNBSlKtRBpHJALeG2bkEtvk5Hh1LOdMBdXUxXKBNKngwutOSb/s200/Picture+111.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi8K4nOpNTxjjkzngROKORO5DI3kFKCxlZL9D-j5ATb8NEj6zQZk-_lf9fL4VmoNlU238szFX9kkCjXjEBlTJHb6HUx9ut_2Gr8g5l5_l4PuZ-83teOk40IygM1br0T5skaunO4W1U/s1600/Picture+110.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW_JBEYepzYHuHN92FFvtjGKzn-KdUledW2ofTweAnxzfrEmF2_A_v5Afh9wuBtd8xMR_N0kbXX6iXCzr_wX_TODkp-2nsL4TN0j8BZOeFMsPJTm3bvpg7XaESbs2r1456_ecjrYre/s1600/Picture+106.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW_JBEYepzYHuHN92FFvtjGKzn-KdUledW2ofTweAnxzfrEmF2_A_v5Afh9wuBtd8xMR_N0kbXX6iXCzr_wX_TODkp-2nsL4TN0j8BZOeFMsPJTm3bvpg7XaESbs2r1456_ecjrYre/s200/Picture+106.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi8K4nOpNTxjjkzngROKORO5DI3kFKCxlZL9D-j5ATb8NEj6zQZk-_lf9fL4VmoNlU238szFX9kkCjXjEBlTJHb6HUx9ut_2Gr8g5l5_l4PuZ-83teOk40IygM1br0T5skaunO4W1U/s1600/Picture+110.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi8K4nOpNTxjjkzngROKORO5DI3kFKCxlZL9D-j5ATb8NEj6zQZk-_lf9fL4VmoNlU238szFX9kkCjXjEBlTJHb6HUx9ut_2Gr8g5l5_l4PuZ-83teOk40IygM1br0T5skaunO4W1U/s200/Picture+110.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTqxlySK3q1ZeIOJuxEcisRFs0FgLI42m-k6QA3XRt_ls1GqHkO7Oo4yPedUc8CLDtsgDfsE0mnpAuKQryj5_i2lrhaNmitT-cTMGSyMwNPj8GO2O5Ka5keNRVs4OTKqlriz98Gz-L/s1600/Picture+114.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTqxlySK3q1ZeIOJuxEcisRFs0FgLI42m-k6QA3XRt_ls1GqHkO7Oo4yPedUc8CLDtsgDfsE0mnpAuKQryj5_i2lrhaNmitT-cTMGSyMwNPj8GO2O5Ka5keNRVs4OTKqlriz98Gz-L/s200/Picture+114.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFi6n8LeWFibSkDXEAcYFdTQYMOxF7qrKFX1Wg4ijLRoyz-sPxKAF9_pPGHcBTFNq7rJdHPI0bKHxdmDkoFKTYhz7Ln1xX6HBU2VZfXUfCo-IsMLKTq968-vKSNV9729rJM4uNsJBb/s1600/Picture+113.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQy-6o92gmbXeAgwUkS6nCYvGNF69UOzWqUGLXvntHT2jd7z5OlfGf9VGGcr00Qb98AEHVWi3iwv1BfSpfTA4KyBDGYz8P-ziaISB6_-v9L1buQaB7rxKqUPw6uwPrMDyBYbG4kdtO/s1600/Picture+112.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQy-6o92gmbXeAgwUkS6nCYvGNF69UOzWqUGLXvntHT2jd7z5OlfGf9VGGcr00Qb98AEHVWi3iwv1BfSpfTA4KyBDGYz8P-ziaISB6_-v9L1buQaB7rxKqUPw6uwPrMDyBYbG4kdtO/s200/Picture+112.jpg" width="200" /></a><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFi6n8LeWFibSkDXEAcYFdTQYMOxF7qrKFX1Wg4ijLRoyz-sPxKAF9_pPGHcBTFNq7rJdHPI0bKHxdmDkoFKTYhz7Ln1xX6HBU2VZfXUfCo-IsMLKTq968-vKSNV9729rJM4uNsJBb/s200/Picture+113.jpg" width="200" /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVa15RcKRjYLlLMYnVvfI2o9eCLs_X5XwTk08tVxM_8MbwUE0V5fKmFKuKpDmwHan0MwMVZT6ctvGyezRNs9r67oN2_SbEsyW5uvNl0e4mouPRnoX9LmBG4Zwy1WsOWPrEuVDbqFc0/s1600/Picture+121.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVa15RcKRjYLlLMYnVvfI2o9eCLs_X5XwTk08tVxM_8MbwUE0V5fKmFKuKpDmwHan0MwMVZT6ctvGyezRNs9r67oN2_SbEsyW5uvNl0e4mouPRnoX9LmBG4Zwy1WsOWPrEuVDbqFc0/s200/Picture+121.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijv5sPYFMAUm2eufX761murrOoLYndqGTdjnzIaOBxcARx-YX0Wvw8W8W51RkbRuu0JMK_U1VTsWCUdbeF_41b5PV_AjGtiKQMi4GcyUVK0-ZILt6uumVM8M7OQcUu4kaa7csHTgbC/s1600/Picture+118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijv5sPYFMAUm2eufX761murrOoLYndqGTdjnzIaOBxcARx-YX0Wvw8W8W51RkbRuu0JMK_U1VTsWCUdbeF_41b5PV_AjGtiKQMi4GcyUVK0-ZILt6uumVM8M7OQcUu4kaa7csHTgbC/s200/Picture+118.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsBCJfTGSps55YxzKFHztvhVKlSFXZlm3kolYLRc3VXid7N7qYozYmBVrcCWzcVC9o4WNEmwpSnG2Wb1AMJYQoHSWHJiW8MOYSMz4NxJheIhMd5AYONp6XHL0zTZrPHMTrqrCYg82/s1600/Picture+117.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsBCJfTGSps55YxzKFHztvhVKlSFXZlm3kolYLRc3VXid7N7qYozYmBVrcCWzcVC9o4WNEmwpSnG2Wb1AMJYQoHSWHJiW8MOYSMz4NxJheIhMd5AYONp6XHL0zTZrPHMTrqrCYg82/s200/Picture+117.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-6546866487183379912011-05-22T18:11:00.000-07:002011-05-23T10:47:39.435-07:00PollnaGonzo story<b>BACKGROUND</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGoaTZNwbBXaVZEOXRzy7SznjEKMUyf2oQsQbXmoVxgoWiCOTV_T1MyhJlhBrAwooAnrc_K5dvTtYLxKGZV6efc0g9YuLOGVhfGJiGyT_5uBbm0XOhXWcLwyf6dGG3dF3yJLprDNRT/s1600/DIG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGoaTZNwbBXaVZEOXRzy7SznjEKMUyf2oQsQbXmoVxgoWiCOTV_T1MyhJlhBrAwooAnrc_K5dvTtYLxKGZV6efc0g9YuLOGVhfGJiGyT_5uBbm0XOhXWcLwyf6dGG3dF3yJLprDNRT/s320/DIG.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Colin Bunce from Clare Caving Club was shown a cave about 20 years ago by some huntsmen shooting for woodcock, one of the birds went down and Gonzo the dog went to retrieve it, he took longer than normal so they went to look for him and found him in the now aptly named Poll na Gonzo. It is as yet unclear which of the last three dogs; all named Gonzo, found the cave.<br />
Sometime in late July Colin remembered about the cave and went to look for it and after three hours in the blackthorn scrub re-found it. Since then there have been several Clare Caving Club trips to reveal two separate digs.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<b>DIGGING</b><br />
<br />
July '09: Colin: Spent 3 hrs finding the cave amongst scrub and blackthorn.<br />
c.Aug 19 '09:Colin,Quentin: Bolted the dig pitch and assesed both the dig sites, and broke our way in to dig 2.<br />
Aug 26:Terry,Quentin: Enlarged dig 2 making it almost possible to enter the chamber where the water flows in wet weather.Also installed pulley bolts in main dig.<br />
Sept 9:Terry,Colin,Eoin,Tim,Joanne,Quentin: Failed to further enlarge dig2 so some proper digging was done in the main dig.<br />
Sept 19:Quentin: Failed to enlarge dig2 again.<br />
Sept 28:Terry,Quentin: Failed to remove boulders from top of pitch.<br />
Oct 30th:Colin, Terry, Robin, Quentin: Removed the two boulders from the top of the pitch by crowbaring and lifting out with ropes. A swallet is found near the cave.<br />
Nov 4th:Tim, Robin, Quentin : Regular dig<br />
Nov 8:Terry, Robin, Colin, <b>Artur</b> (your humble correspondent ;) B.Lillis: Regular dig, re-aranged boulder in chamber a bit, candle indicated 20 degree inclination in the flame towards the boulder pile. Small open rift found near cave entrance.<br />
11 Nov:Terry,Quentin :Removed large precarious boulder from near bottom of the dig, and took out some material.<br />
12 Nov:Colin, J Sweeney : Regular dig.<br />
18 Nov:Robin, Sean McCarthy, Quentin: The lake that has been present lately at the dogleg to the cave had a large stream flowing out of it and was followed to a new dig site that was taking all the water (a lot of it) at a rift with a solid wall choked with easy lifted out cobbles. Also in the main dig in the cave we seem to have uncovered a way into a rift under the boulder pile, but not ventured in yet, the draught increased dramatically when this was uncovered. In the chamber above the boulder pile was removed to allow a clean landing for the buckets from below.<br />
25th Nov:Terry, Robin, Eoin, Sean, Quentin: Regular dig, couple of big boulders Z-rigged out, good fun. Also checked the small rift passage about 20 meters away from the cave but it is choked with mud in both directions, hole was covered over with a stone.<br />
29th Nov:Terry, Colin, Robin, Tim, Joanne, B. Lillis, Sean, Quentin. Time was spent gardening and surveying to bottom of dig.<br />
<br />
<b>BREAKTHROUGH</b><br />
<br />
Eventually on 29th of November the party brokethrough into the open passage and from there into a formidable, unique cave created along major fault. A series of pitches and big chambers were descended to another pitch with powerfull waterfall disappearing into it. <br />
<br />
Waterfall pitch in Gonzo:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/clarecavingclub/4154511576/in/photostream/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/clarecavingclub/4154511576/in/photostream/</a><br />
<br />
Carefully abseiled, it revealed a sump at -68m from the surface. At that point of exploration the phone calls were made and as I was the only cave diver who participated in the dig I got my gear ready and waited for some dry weather <br />
In the meantime Robin Sheen enlarged the acces to the sump and by the begining of March the stage was ready:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9r5AtOnKXrEJomB7nyBnLUsSqitZMlZtOuMgb4X1-Do0khyQ4u-p3QQZXZZxvgQwgCwF35D4bWODKkjiVrnZ-QjNB0C26X8GoWChlF-rFTJMdkOkfSll5f5fhd1mKu4ua7e3GZyMS/s1600/Poll+na+Gonzo+Sump+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9r5AtOnKXrEJomB7nyBnLUsSqitZMlZtOuMgb4X1-Do0khyQ4u-p3QQZXZZxvgQwgCwF35D4bWODKkjiVrnZ-QjNB0C26X8GoWChlF-rFTJMdkOkfSll5f5fhd1mKu4ua7e3GZyMS/s320/Poll+na+Gonzo+Sump+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>DIVING</b><br />
<br />
7th of March, <br />
part of Quentin Cooper’s report on Clare Caving Club website:<br />
<br />
<i>This was truly spiffing caving....almost a bit too much excitement for one day, where do we start?? maybe with the team: Artur, Robin Sheen , Terry Casserly, John Duncan, and Quentin Cooper. After painlessly bringing the dive equipment down to the sump Artur started suiting up. Robin had put in a few bolts earlier while the rest of the team got down below. Artur was now ready to dive but came back one minute later fins first to say we could freedive the short sump so we started getting psyched for it. While we hyperventilated a bit Artur had knocked something at the far side of the sump and the water level started dropping. The Sump became a duck, and after one or two us got through and took a lump hammer to it, the duck was now a dry passage.....hands and knees. The sump had been dropped by 1 whole meter! The passage continued down at 45 degrees through the fault seen throughout the cave, this passage seems to never get wet judging by the dry dusty deposits everywhere. Eventually a final sump was reached that was about 20 meters lower than the ex-sump. All exhilerated we headed back towards the bottom of the waterfall only to find another passage!! This one seemed to take the bulk of the water from the bottom of the water fall, funny it wasnt found earlier. This continued much in the same fashion as the new extended passage but in the OPPOSITE direction, climbing further and further down to again reveal a tight looking sump. Artur jumped into the sump and said it seemed to open up a bit once inside it. So now we have two passages to survey and two sumps! We left the dive equipment as the bottles had scarcely had a breath taken out of them, ready for attempting one or both the sumps the next day. A great time was had by all.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 17px;">D<u>iving a sump at the bottom of the waterfall pitch (which was drained 5 minutes later):</u></span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 17px;"><br />
</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 17px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/clarecavingclub/4414493233/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/clarecavingclub/4414493233/</a></span></i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 17px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">8th of March</strong><br />
<br />
Quentin and Owen decided to survey the passages found a day before while Robin a I started carrying my gear (2x3l bottles) to a new final sump (the southern one). By the time we dragged all the gear and I got ready the survey was done and everybody gathered at the top of 2m deep, 1x1m in diameter circular pot with the cameras on...<br />
The sump went to -5m in 5-10cm vis and after some excavation continued as 30cm high, wide passage – a bedding plane. I managed to squeeze in horizontally for about two metres, feet first in west direction before I gave up. It probably could be followed but would require a lot of devotion and in my opinion involved too much unnecessary risk. I do not plan to dive this sump again – it’s free to go for anyone interested.<br />
There was no time left to look into the northern sump which in our opinion has a much more potential but at the moment the access to it is too constricted and would require some bang.</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 17px;"><br />
</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 17px;"><u>Diving the final sump :</u></span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 17px;"><u><br />
</u></span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"><u><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/clarecavingclub/4418634508/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/clarecavingclub/4418634508/</a></u></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 17px;"><br />
</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Videos, sketches and surveys by Quentin Cooper from Clare Caving Club at clarecavingclub.wikispaces.com</span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5qa-jx5eSysxkkA6ECleQ1fE3XnZu9HbDD3T2xgHlwsWPqbnfjNURL7gSU6hDzIIV-wWEVSwLzZdFrpl4swIoUQPFEzS_tpTXXQM9lOXQ-npyIlI6MP64PvPuCa2K2h0kQojzsmcK/s1600/209725_2062024669888_1222840863_32530705_2282184_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5qa-jx5eSysxkkA6ECleQ1fE3XnZu9HbDD3T2xgHlwsWPqbnfjNURL7gSU6hDzIIV-wWEVSwLzZdFrpl4swIoUQPFEzS_tpTXXQM9lOXQ-npyIlI6MP64PvPuCa2K2h0kQojzsmcK/s320/209725_2062024669888_1222840863_32530705_2282184_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Top of the waterfall pitch</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw75jLzWtfHIcpVXDBKDyb-GkMzHCGpfow9dVOf1GlvUzdpFyJrw23WfW5_Kx5DHnAVxL6rykjcSBjGpYOkABKBMysM4YasgnxfvnH8FI_W-tTOB_MfiIpVAhmYNHHCDpi063gMbVc/s1600/BILD1768.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw75jLzWtfHIcpVXDBKDyb-GkMzHCGpfow9dVOf1GlvUzdpFyJrw23WfW5_Kx5DHnAVxL6rykjcSBjGpYOkABKBMysM4YasgnxfvnH8FI_W-tTOB_MfiIpVAhmYNHHCDpi063gMbVc/s320/BILD1768.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Northern dig</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"> </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<div><i></i><br />
<i></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: right;"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZX6QgaLTCn7mNT9ugEy7ZYthSVNdop2iWeksnqWyCAwxEbGoxBzmjBPGnmywqmdjhDDjiMZks9RK2JjJGdk14_khd2Lq1sex7NG0KC47CdXb3l9Sslb-gJ10Znnumwf2T8G6DzTTh/s1600/Stals+in+Mermite+Passage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZX6QgaLTCn7mNT9ugEy7ZYthSVNdop2iWeksnqWyCAwxEbGoxBzmjBPGnmywqmdjhDDjiMZks9RK2JjJGdk14_khd2Lq1sex7NG0KC47CdXb3l9Sslb-gJ10Znnumwf2T8G6DzTTh/s320/Stals+in+Mermite+Passage.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuBfNyrwdW_Oo6HfJmhVh6uRb1dfutia6fnRYps6Ef_ogDTUpvKicwSfSev77GvdJYppTP4d4U6qjJIvwFVfQn7UIZ1l01TWqabjp6RQDhcj4eJ2Ly7YhzTZiT71nF__xF3GvD5eIq/s1600/209641_2062034270128_1222840863_32530738_1055701_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuBfNyrwdW_Oo6HfJmhVh6uRb1dfutia6fnRYps6Ef_ogDTUpvKicwSfSev77GvdJYppTP4d4U6qjJIvwFVfQn7UIZ1l01TWqabjp6RQDhcj4eJ2Ly7YhzTZiT71nF__xF3GvD5eIq/s320/209641_2062034270128_1222840863_32530738_1055701_o.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-65892522883279291312011-05-16T15:46:00.000-07:002011-05-16T15:46:35.630-07:00MEGALODON eCCR & SATORI pSCR INTRO NIGHT<object width="398" height="224"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=23319225&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=23319225&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="398" height="224"></embed></object>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-22865738371111331372011-05-03T07:33:00.000-07:002011-05-03T07:36:39.323-07:00Sump 1 in Fergus River Cave<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1UzHTY5R-ts?fs=1" width="425"></iframe>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-12413079171110184472011-05-02T20:13:00.000-07:002011-05-17T05:58:48.055-07:00FERGUS RIVER CAVE PART 2<b><br />
</b><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4SSjfwBbQrO1xGYLr1RQTMItnTRlbBjLX5M6jsKOoF6fVpgYr8Z_MiUiLRA6q3dVRmLqGxgxd8xUwknzHaVY-ZEZz-at4DFdcbvM-ZORpDUU7rMB_uVtjLSswkgHRXmQUu4fO-dYU/s1600/ArturFergus2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4SSjfwBbQrO1xGYLr1RQTMItnTRlbBjLX5M6jsKOoF6fVpgYr8Z_MiUiLRA6q3dVRmLqGxgxd8xUwknzHaVY-ZEZz-at4DFdcbvM-ZORpDUU7rMB_uVtjLSswkgHRXmQUu4fO-dYU/s320/ArturFergus2.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In sump 1 <i>fot. Quentin Cooper</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><b>TOWARDS SUMP 3</b><br />
<br />
Martyn’s survey showed the way on somewhere to the right, at the end of the sump pool but after an awkward climb over a pile of boulders all I found there was a flooded bedding plane ( wide and low horizontal passage) with 5cm of airspace. Equipped with a single cylinder I slid under the low roof only to surface a couple of meters further on into a big open passage. <i>So far, so good.</i> Another climb over a mud bank brought me to the higher level and from there a stooping passage led to the four way junction. There things didn’t look that good anymore. First off all Martyn’s survey showed a three way junction with the middle one leading to the sump 3 but here there were two middle passages, one above the other. The other thing was that they were both too small to be entered. The lower one ( 1x0.4m) has an impassable constriction created by a partially fallen roof after only 3 meters but it seemed like I could sorted it out if I had some tools. The passage on the higher level looked WAY less promising being simply a 20-25cm bedding plane with no visible prospects of opening up.<br />
I started digging at the constriction in the lower middle passage using a steel carabineer. After 40 min the obstacle was passed but ahead the passage started closing down. <i>Fuck</i>. The upper bedding plane was now the only option left. The floor of this low wide passage was a thin layer of compacted mud overlying solid rock, occasionally strewn with sharp rocks solidly embedded in the mud. If I could remove some of them there was a chance I could engineer some convoluted route on for some distance.This all looked like a desperate venture but it was either this or I could go home now. The latter wasn't an option. I started digging.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
An hour later I was 5m into the bedding and I had the impression that it was opening up slightly after another 5m. But I came to the point where the clearance between the ceiling and the solid rock floor became too small for me to pass… I was still too bulky… I reversed to the chamber before the dig, opened up my dry suit and removed the inflator valve from my chest hoping that would lower my profile -2-3cm. I tried the squeeze again and I could feel that with a bit more digging I could probably pass it on “the exhale”, when my chest had the lowest profile. My major concern however was the fact that the passable route through that vast and low crack wasn’t straightforward at all, it was meandering among roof pendants taking a few sharp turns on the way and it could be very difficult to find the way back if I had to go back reversing for some reason. But at that point <i>alea iacta est</i> and one hour later I was through. The cave beyond was somehow more spacious, but mostly on knees or stooping height. Before I would bring all the diving gear on the other side I wanted to make sure there were no more obstacles on the way to sump 3. I found another 100m of the higher level passage that wasn’t shown on Martyn’s survey but eventually it also ended up at the terminal sump.<br />
Finally, 4.5h after leaving sump 2 I was fully kitted, kneeling in the water at the edge of sump 3 and securing my fil d’Arianne to the block of limestone that I brought from other section of the cave. Through the tiredness I could hardly realise the importance of that moment on my own personal life map; it was early 2007 when I first read about Fergus River cave and started fantasizing about pushing the sump 3. Four years later I was there, kneeling at the edge of it, ready to go.<br />
<br />
<b>SUMP 3</b><br />
<br />
It started as a 60cm high bedding plane, murky and cloudy inside. Once I passed the clouds of silt (they must have been caused by my kitting up and then traveled about 10m upstream - the only sensible explanation was that the water levels were dropping heavily and the water was draining somewhere back northwards) the visibility improved to 4-5m but it was still disappointing in comparison to the crystal clear sumps 1 and 2. Next thing I saw were two separate guidelines that I approached from my left hand side. My first thought was that both were sections of line left from Martyn in 1983 that had been partially washed back to the start of the sump. Having 300m of line left on my reel I decided to lay my own guide line all the way. I quickly arrived to Martyn’s EOL (end of the line) only to realise to my surprise that it was well secured there. I kept going and from there on the passage started heading NW (initial trend was N) and almost W after another 40m or so. Suddenly from my left another diveline appeared. <i>Fuck, I made a loop</i> I thought but after rechecking the compass I realized it was impossible, that line must have been an extension of Martyn Farr’s guideline BEYOND his limit in 1983! How come if there was NO dive report from anyone since then?! Someone did the entire effort, pushed sump 3 and said nothing?! I was almost sure it must have been Martyn… Intrigued I follow this line (4mm white nylon, tape distance markers every 5m, no directional markers) for another 30m or so to the point where a red 7-8mm climbing rope was attached to it and loosely wrapped around the boulder. I looked around and thought <i>Fuck Fuck Fuck</i> - it was a blind alley, 7m wide with no way on and that must have been the reason someone tied off the line here. I checked my air: 160B and 180B, I was still in the game. It was a crucial moment, I knew that right then I needed myself at my best, despite the crippling cold and lack of sleep, despite things at the surface, in my surface life, here I needed to get my shit together and give it my best try. I took another look around; to my right a sand bank raised almost to the ceiling but through 20cm gap I could see a parallel tunnel heading North…that could be it, but how am I gonna get there?! I started reeling back along the sand bank searching for the spot I could break through. After 20m or so the sand/mud bank disappeared replaced by a well compacted cobblestone floor in a low 50cm bedding. I got through without any problems only to get to another tight spot with the only passable route being a 60x30cm slot between boulders, compacted floor and the ceiling. This sump wasn’t fun. What happened to the promise of crystal clear vis, 2m high and 10m+ wide passage…?! I secured the line around the right hand side boulder, swung the left 7l in front of me and wriggled through the squeeze. 150 and 160 on the gauges, <i>it better be good from now on </i>… And it was… the passage turned NE and started slowly opening up. 50m further on it was 3m high and at least 10m wide. Turned NW, descended and opened up into an enormous underwater cave 5m high and more than 20m wide…it was simply Fergus 1 at its best only underwater. I knew that the passage kept descending for last 50-60m but it was only then that I checked the computer: I was 40min into a dive, 8 deg, at …18m of depth!! 18m! That was some surprise! I had about 3 min left on that depth before hitting the thirds ( one third of my gas reserves, which is widely accepted but not always very conservative gas management rule while cave diving). With less than 60m of line left on my reel I speeded up and put on my 6th gear. The tunnel was truly amazing but being so close to my thirds I was trying to stay completely focused on the line job. I was flying over the cave floor with eyes locked on the line unreeling from the spinning drum of my reel when suddenly one of a cave diver’s worst nightmares just happened: the reel drum stopped spinning abruptly!!! And I was still moving ahead!!! It took me a split second to understand the implication of what might just have happened and I stopped immediately; the worst but most probable explanation was so harrowing that I felt a wave of nausea coming: the line must have got broken somewhere back in the tunnel… I took few deeper breaths to calm down, get composed and re-evaluate my situation. I locked the reel, faced the exit and pull the line gently towards me hoping it was only an accidental slack. It didn’t feel like one, after pulling out a good meter the guide line was still at the full slack. The fact that I’ve just hit the thirds made it all more interesting… I made OK around the line with my fingers and started the return. Only then I realized how floaty the line that I was using was, and seeing more and more of it floating loosely at the ceiling didn’t help to keep my mental composure. But my choices at that point were limited so I kept working on keeping my breathing rate normal. Vis dropped to 1-1.5 due to all the silt disturbed during squeezing through the low sections and somehow managed to travel upstream. <i>Just great…definitely not the best underwater cave to get your guide line cut</i>… After what felt like an eternity or 200 hundred meters (and what in reality was only 30mish) I reached for my safety reel when suddenly I felt a tension on the line and the next thing I came to my previous belay ( if you ask why for the love of god it was 30m away I can only say that there were no belay points in that section of cave whatsoever and …I was out of snoopy loops anyway after meandering in the low beddings…). At this point my future brightened up again - things became more predictable. I wrapped all the slack line that was floating behind me around the belay rock and continued my “tactical retreat“ (what must have really happened was the floating line went up to the roof on my way in, snagged a roof pendant and when it got accidently released it created that massive slack that I took as a line breakage).<br />
<br />
<b>RETURN</b><br />
<br />
I surfaced after 58min chilled to the bone but the real cold and tiredness only kicked in once the adrenaline level dropped. I kept moving to warm up a bit and having a dry suit helped a lot. I carried all the gear (minus the reel that was left in the sump) back through the squeeze and 2.5h later I was back on the surface in sump 1. I spent another hour and a half changing, packing and securing the gear. Eventually all went into 3 heavy bags except 3 diving cylinders. I secured the cylinders and one of the bags at the top of the sump chamber and started a slow return towards the entrance. It took 4 and half hours (that included 40 min snooze somewhere on the floor of the cave) to get both bags through all the crawling parts of the cave. I secured them at the top of the Blocked Chamber and exited the cave 45 minutes later after 18h spent underground.<br />
<br />
As a result of this tough trip sump 3 was pushed to 240m of length at 19m of depth. It continues descending as a massive underwater tunnel heading in the North direction. The pursuing of the mythical source of the Fergus River is now more tentative than ever and will continue soon, most likely with a use of a sidemount rebreather.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Thank you so much for all the surface support on my exit and sincere apologies for all those who worried through the night and in the morning hours.</i></b><br />
<br />
<b><i>Artur</i></b>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-3621987300599829802011-05-02T19:38:00.000-07:002011-06-22T21:41:20.070-07:00FERGUS RIVER CAVE PART 1<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgar8YymPqO2js25suORSDUE7cgsyPjZsSjd-oZZLDzhNORxrIwKC1gOrdGrxwmyG4H2jgu_HfypRR4tvgo4Z7ZYmwSL1rDBGmr4UYXPAs2BeDfHhuH-gVx-vusW4P62GIjYqQiiJQD/s1600/WedgeTomb+Roughan+Hills.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgar8YymPqO2js25suORSDUE7cgsyPjZsSjd-oZZLDzhNORxrIwKC1gOrdGrxwmyG4H2jgu_HfypRR4tvgo4Z7ZYmwSL1rDBGmr4UYXPAs2BeDfHhuH-gVx-vusW4P62GIjYqQiiJQD/s320/WedgeTomb+Roughan+Hills.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the wedge tombs on the hills above Fergus River Cave</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Poll-na-Cloch-Greanta - Cave of the Engraved Stone</span></i></b> is the highest resurgence of Fergus River - sacred river of Neolithic people. The hills above the resurgence bare the highest concentration of megalithic tombs in the whole of the Burren suggesting perhaps the presence of some sort of Neolithic/Bronze Age cemetery. With the wedge tombs being most certainly regarded as the spiritual portals to the Otherworld the cave entrance itself must have been of powerful, magical and ritual significance to those people.<br />
The cave is over 3 km long but since it collects 60% of water from the whole Burren Plateau there’s a common agreement among speleologists and hydrogeologists that the known cave passages are just a small part of the whole system, perhaps no more than 10% … 30km cave ? Who could resist…<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<b>SHORT HISTORY OF EXPLORATION</b><br />
<br />
After exploring over 3km of a dry cave back in 60’s and 70’ cave explorers arrived to a permanent sump, a place where the cave passage continued completely submerged.<br />
In 1975 Tony Boycott organized two trips during which he passed the sump (it proved to be only 15m long). The dry section behind the sump was very short (Fergus 2) and another sump (Sump 2 ) had to be negotiated ( this one was 30m long) in order to reach more dry cave behind. Fergus 3 turned out to be a complex dry section of the cave but Tony didn’t find any way on at the time.<br />
In 1983 Martyn Far organized two trips and supported behind the sump 2 by J.M. Campbell they found a very arduous way to sump 3. Martyn explored it for 80m reporting a big underwater tunnel 2x10m continuing on at the point of his limit. That was the last known dive in Fergus River Cave.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI3BKeq3pMCGxK1ISeyLbZHftykDQ0YufkFYUORVT0G4ZbQGyneseJV5-difay_PydHj5PBEIpAfQN0gd07PBJC55Yi917Pfc_V2wo8Xk5nkCSssXcRhPnezMUYWLbH7D9-kRyImvo/s1600/2011-04-27+14.15.19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI3BKeq3pMCGxK1ISeyLbZHftykDQ0YufkFYUORVT0G4ZbQGyneseJV5-difay_PydHj5PBEIpAfQN0gd07PBJC55Yi917Pfc_V2wo8Xk5nkCSssXcRhPnezMUYWLbH7D9-kRyImvo/s320/2011-04-27+14.15.19.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dry resurgence</td></tr>
</tbody></table><b>2010 PREPARATIONS</b><br />
<br />
It was somehow unbelievable that such potential lay untouched for 28 years and as soon as I felt confident enough with my caving skills I started planning a trip. After many talks with Robin Sheen whose house was literally overlooking the cave entrance it was the time to put words into the action and on the 4th of July 2010 supported by Indre Kutkaite, Eabha Grainne Lankford and Marko Fernandez we made a recce trip during which we got familiar with the cave and marked the routes. I brought 2l cylinder and replaced the broken lines in sump 1 and sump 2. After the trip we felt confident about a push in sump 3 but due to the adverse weather (any trip into the cave requires a stable, dry weather after prolonged period without rain, otherwise the risk of flooding and in the best case being cut off from the outside world for weeks is very substantial) it didn’t happened until the end of December last year ( in the meantime Robin and Tim O’Connell engineered somehow easier route through some unpleasant squeeze using capping technique).<br />
On 19th of December a small team of 4 ( Robin, Indre, Eabha and myself) carried 3 tanks (2x7l and 1x5.7l) and two bags down to first sump, 2km inside the cave. It should be noted here that the toughest cavers of the country declined from the job as for the last 28 years ( i.e. since Martyn Farr’s pushes ) the cave had a reputation the toughest cave in Ireland for carrying the diving gear into ( even though Martyn’s tanks were twice smaller…). Enough to say that both girls were amazing and put all the ‘tough’ cavers to a total shame handling the job with outstanding endurance. In only 3.5h we got to sump 1 but unfortunately on the same night I got seriously sick and the push that was planned on the next day had to be postponed. Robin and Tim went ahead and secured my gear in the sump chamber. At that time little did we know that it would stay submerged under the water for another 4 months…<br />
In the meantime Robin led 3 trips to the cave with Tim and Quentin Cooper who joined the team and using some ‘slightly more persuasive technology than capping’ they mined a high level route that bypass some dangerous low crawls that tend to flood even in mildly wet conditions.<br />
The second half of April this year brought some fine dry weather and by Easter weekend everything was ready for The Push.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7T8Myr6Cb_2Wi1SRqG4ZeVQGoEvINfBx4gTnQGQaWvhYlh93tDt-ESnXBryeTmKxD6rAGtJ877u5mYnzi44bsuvNBREXNgzR79NKiXk2mKn4gJ2shzDza18xJSLElaeb3jbpUUFOm/s1600/2011-04-27+14.14.38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7T8Myr6Cb_2Wi1SRqG4ZeVQGoEvINfBx4gTnQGQaWvhYlh93tDt-ESnXBryeTmKxD6rAGtJ877u5mYnzi44bsuvNBREXNgzR79NKiXk2mKn4gJ2shzDza18xJSLElaeb3jbpUUFOm/s320/2011-04-27+14.14.38.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The actual cave entrance. Not for big lads...;)<br />
And it gets worse inside.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><b>26th of April 2011</b><br />
<br />
Team: Robin Sheen, Quentin Cooper, Pavel Cesnek, Artur Kozlowski<br />
It was a bright sunny day on the surface. We went into the cave at noon. After some video shooting on the way we arrived to sump 1 around 3pm where I spent another hour and a half kitting up. We discussed emergency plans and off I went carrying 2x 7l steel and 5.7l Alu, all sidemounted.<br />
Few minutes later dry cavers left to No Mercy Hall a section of the dry cave with a promising dig.<br />
<br />
<b>SUMP 1</b><br />
<br />
The main goal of the trip was to push sump 3 but I was also hoping to find an underwater bypass from sump1 or sump 2 directly to sump 3 - that would make the difficult carry between sump 2 and 3 (as reported by Martyn Farr) obsolete. I was on my own with no one to help me carry the bottles and if there was the slightest possibility of such bypass I just couldn't ignore it.<br />
Luck had it that 7m into sump 1 I spotted a low bedding plane (bedding plane is a wide and usually low passage) to my left, exactly where I would expect a potential bypass. After 5m of rather difficult progress in that low passage I came to a committing squeeze after which the passage seemed to open up substantially.<br />
I swung the 5l in front of me, Mexican style, wrapped the 2mm guideline around the boulder and wriggled through the final constriction. As I emerged from the slot the passage beyond ascended steeply over a very silty floor and my movement sent clouds of fine silt into the squeeze destroying the vis permanently…<i>oh well</i>..<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdRBMsv17MIjYdU5QXezqg7-MNwbO8IvqXmyot_mEhRZwMzPg9bo1clHom0FN1_GixLynl1vnGHuP0bkv7gl58XyuYyaRVH1ar3HQzE60FsmES7uS6CwOKDDeDUuM2MDeoG060oY8J/s1600/ArturFergus.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdRBMsv17MIjYdU5QXezqg7-MNwbO8IvqXmyot_mEhRZwMzPg9bo1clHom0FN1_GixLynl1vnGHuP0bkv7gl58XyuYyaRVH1ar3HQzE60FsmES7uS6CwOKDDeDUuM2MDeoG060oY8J/s320/ArturFergus.bmp" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready to go in sump 1 fot. Quentin Cooper</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I looked up and saw the mirror of the surface above. <i>Exciting</i>. Next thing I surfaced in a lake 4x4 m and the ceiling somewhere 5 m above. To the left (west) a difficult but certainly possible with wellies climb out of the water was leading to what looked like a possible passage. It had to be left for another day. Good find anyway.<br />
<br />
At that stage the vis at the squeeze was nonexistent and after a meter or so I realized that my guideline was useless too - it must have been dislocated in the low bedding helping me fuck all to get back to the line in the main passage. Not that I was particularly soft but being stuck in 30cm low bedding plane in no vis, thin line floating in front of me and pushed in a line trap behind me isn’t really one of my favorite pastimes ( surprise, surprise). I couldn’t believe I’ve got myself in such troubles only five minutes into the dive, some talent I‘ve got… Anyway, it was no place or time for any lengthy reflections so I got my shit together, removed the slack on the line and found my way out reversing feet first. This section of the cave needs to be reinvestigated. I surfaced in Fergus 2 after 18 minutes.<br />
<br />
<b>SUMP 2</b><br />
<br />
Still looking for an underwater bypass to sump 3 I decided not to follow Martyn’s way which involved climbing up and down a steep mud bunk and instead I plunged under the flooded roof almost immediately after surfacing from sump 1 (seems like it was an initial route chosen by Tony Boycott in 1975).<br />
Sump 2 was truly fascinating: vast underwater spaces, crystal clear visibility, the presence of eels of all sizes ( as also reported by Tony Boycott)….it would make a great training site if not for the fact that it was one of the most remote places underground in Ireland, 2km from the entrance…lol<br />
After lying a surprising 50m of line in overhead ( at that point I was truly convinced I found the bypass to sump 3) I came across my own line laid last summer …so there was no bypass there either…I surfaced in the next few meters and started mentally preparing myself for a long carry.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://arturconrad.blogspot.com/2011/05/fergus-river-part-2.html">GO TO PART 2</a>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-50465610949566055042011-03-14T03:09:00.000-07:002011-03-14T03:09:35.675-07:00In At The Deep End - article in uberdog magazine<div><object style="height: 425px; width: 600px;"><param name="movie" value="http://static.issuu.com/webembed/viewers/style1/v1/IssuuViewer.swf?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Fcolor%2Flayout.xml&backgroundColor=000000&showFlipBtn=true&pageNumber=36&documentId=110228100419-80cc4dd643d645e9ad2b570bba0863ae&docName=uberdog_magazine_issue_06&username=uberdog&loadingInfoText=%C3%BCberdog%20magazine&et=1300097255674&er=6" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"/><param name="menu" value="false"/><embed src="http://static.issuu.com/webembed/viewers/style1/v1/IssuuViewer.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" menu="false" style="width:600px;height:425px" flashvars="mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Fcolor%2Flayout.xml&backgroundColor=000000&showFlipBtn=true&pageNumber=36&documentId=110228100419-80cc4dd643d645e9ad2b570bba0863ae&docName=uberdog_magazine_issue_06&username=uberdog&loadingInfoText=%C3%BCberdog%20magazine&et=1300097255674&er=6" /></object><div style="text-align: left; width: 600px;"><a href="http://issuu.com/uberdog/docs/uberdog_magazine_issue_06?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Fcolor%2Flayout.xml&backgroundColor=000000&showFlipBtn=true&pageNumber=36" target="_blank">Open publication</a> - Free <a href="http://issuu.com/" target="_blank">publishing</a> - <a href="http://issuu.com/search?q=antrim" target="_blank">More antrim</a></div></div>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-33300123691578673742011-01-22T18:11:00.000-08:002011-01-25T10:25:44.801-08:00Fou de BorBy Chris Jewell<br />
<br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #eeeeee;">Fou de Bor (Previous Exploration by X.Garza 1986, 1997)</span></b></span></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #eeeeee;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-color: initial; border-width: initial;"><img alt="DSCF2336" height="225" src="http://www.casj.co.uk/images/stories/articles/DSCF2336.JPG" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" width="300" /></span></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #eeeeee;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">11/10/10</span> With help from David and Nuria Magdelenea 2 x 12ltrs, 3 x Ali80, two rebreathers, and diving kit for Artur Kozlowski and Chris Jewell were moved into the cave. Each diver would take one cylinder of trimix (15/50) and one of air and an Ali80 of O2 was also left at 6m. This cylinder was also equipped with hoses for adding extra O2 to the rebreathers for the long decompression. Chris used his chestmounted rebreather and Artur a Megaladon.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">It had been raining recently but the water resurging outside the cave appeared clear when the team went underground. The carry underground was short but several trips were required and it was some time until everything was inplace at the sump. Eventually Chris and Artur dived at 5.30pm. The sump pool was static and murky after the kitting up process but the divers expected to encounter good visibility later. At the first underwater squeeze the strong flow of the underground river was met...</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #eeeeee;">more at : </span><a href="http://www.casj.co.uk/index.php/log-book-topmenu-29/16-caving/166-fou-de-bor-and-bordonera-october-2010"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #6fa8dc;">Caving.Diving.Exploring - Chris Jewell's website</span></a></span></div>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-13020869402946961382011-01-16T04:19:00.001-08:002011-02-09T21:20:14.977-08:00Riders on the Storm trailer<iframe frameborder="0" height="338" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/16568845?portrait=0" width="601"></iframe>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-32490339839322064532011-01-15T04:46:00.000-08:002011-01-19T04:49:54.799-08:00PODCAST FROM THE LAST PRESENTATION IN GALWAY<iframe frameborder="0" height="338" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/18925954?portrait=0" width="601"></iframe>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-36680173879834854352011-01-11T03:46:00.000-08:002011-01-16T04:21:10.014-08:00CAVE DIVING IN IRELAND lecture in NUIG<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;">I'm very pleased to announce details of the talk hosted by NUIG SAC<br />
<br />
<b>Artur Kozlowski - Cave Diving in Ireland - 8pm Fri 14th January</b><br />
D'Arcy Thompson Theatre<br />
NUI Galway</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhcvZlLu_lbnddaKMA2fctMs6Gmwn1XCzcjWHwklff1lFTQHdJjdsuHzJVFE6nXpyT7Umc0o2GQay0kouDJ62w0K1SPZU8aO0gdnN51MRzN6yWvmR_KMjZYYanSLce3AuB2PHwubks/s1600/artur.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhcvZlLu_lbnddaKMA2fctMs6Gmwn1XCzcjWHwklff1lFTQHdJjdsuHzJVFE6nXpyT7Umc0o2GQay0kouDJ62w0K1SPZU8aO0gdnN51MRzN6yWvmR_KMjZYYanSLce3AuB2PHwubks/s640/artur.jpg" width="451" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-71294969872233185242010-12-17T20:35:00.000-08:002010-12-17T10:14:12.715-08:00New deep underwater cave discovered in Gort<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlUy4ZmdUsKUY7-yUFKRt82uFr5x6aAEU7rLCZ_KVdqFOJr4djGBi6NTOdMyzpkTX2-ypGsLaRlxclxCmT2kVxNXPAOokfRdqhoDs3W2TQWGMeZGEzP2gAdAQBW-G9zWTSzvITHub8/s1600/Discovering+Pollniandre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlUy4ZmdUsKUY7-yUFKRt82uFr5x6aAEU7rLCZ_KVdqFOJr4djGBi6NTOdMyzpkTX2-ypGsLaRlxclxCmT2kVxNXPAOokfRdqhoDs3W2TQWGMeZGEzP2gAdAQBW-G9zWTSzvITHub8/s320/Discovering+Pollniandre.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Discovering a new cave</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
24.07.10<br />
After an eventful aborted dive in Polltoophill I decided to poke around a bit in the Kiltartan parish. During a recce trip in the area of Ballylee River Sinks a new, previously unknown, active only in wet weather sink was discovered. Located only a few hundred metres to the SW from the Hammer Sink South ( main sink of the Ballylee River - no access, blocked by boulders, mud and dead trees) in a dense woodland, it was hoped to give an access to the Balylle conduit further downstream.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">30.07.10<o:p></o:p></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgss-LKNFWd2YoOCs9mKR3NHmd5X68XgWds3Lchj-fHqdtNUOmvtD2YHcgjRL6WoRVZmaF_xRp4hLJDcdX17FlygMHWS4ZqPhfkiqabO-K_LeJg9GvWuXC36ghsiTRwvopoQohz5uT1/s1600/Pollnaindre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgss-LKNFWd2YoOCs9mKR3NHmd5X68XgWds3Lchj-fHqdtNUOmvtD2YHcgjRL6WoRVZmaF_xRp4hLJDcdX17FlygMHWS4ZqPhfkiqabO-K_LeJg9GvWuXC36ghsiTRwvopoQohz5uT1/s320/Pollnaindre.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pollindre, fot. Frank Griga</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">First dive in the new sink. Weather was much drier and the sink was static at the surface. I descended the pot with 7l and 3l sidemounted, 45m of line, wetsuit and fins configuration. I couldn't resist and went down immediately. -4m was easily reached although there were some big tree branches and wood planks all over the sink. To that point the walls felt solid. From there on I could feel by touch (with my fins) that the way down was through some narrow gap between boulders. It felt quite stable so I carefully wriggled through and after only a short constricted section it opened up into something much bigger and quite vertical. <br />
<a name='more'></a>I kept descending in a near zero vis The dive was meant as a quick recce and so I brought just one bottom timer/depth gauge with me. Ill luck had it that it failed during the dive so I didn't know exactly what depth I was. But I had only 45m of line with me and I knew it wouldn't take me deeper than -30m. I laid all the line and at the end the gradient of the slope eased and an indicative current could be felt/seen. Return uneventful.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Og7zjzmGMPQ?fs=1&hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Og7zjzmGMPQ?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div></div><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="Standard"><br />
</div><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">2.08.10<o:p></o:p></div><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">I was so intrigued by the new Pollnaindre cave that I decided to dive it again before going back to Dublin. This time I brought 12l and 7l , rigged sidemounted and more line. I found the end of my line at -23m and from there I continued to 130m from the entrance and depth of -37m. After initial northward trend the cave turned west and then south west, pretty much as expected, towards Kiltartan. On the way out I spent some time around the squeeze through the boulder choke and I found a bypass that seemed big enough to be passed comfortably with Megalodon. Excellent.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="Standard"><br />
</div><div class="Standard"><br />
</div><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">6.08.10<o:p></o:p></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglc-uC3i47P5Q0eSpPa8oQnikrRDGt5u7VH_v61zrzhFLsSbN6wsJOryVRoC0BfyjfRG-9PYjp1sVgy2iru11MMu4zC-9XEJg4IIWSFtSzvExtLi7m_KXwJxQXRdiELx0bnUYUR2tZ/s1600/Polnaindre+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglc-uC3i47P5Q0eSpPa8oQnikrRDGt5u7VH_v61zrzhFLsSbN6wsJOryVRoC0BfyjfRG-9PYjp1sVgy2iru11MMu4zC-9XEJg4IIWSFtSzvExtLi7m_KXwJxQXRdiELx0bnUYUR2tZ/s400/Polnaindre+5.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Third dive in Pollindre, fot. Frank Griga</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">I brought my Meg and three Alu80 and I had no problem whatsoever to get through the bypass I found on the previous dive. I'm not going to reveal the content of my diluent cylinder in order to avoid the community ostracism, enough to say it was rather unorthodox.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">Route finding was rather difficult, after a steady southward trend the cave turned very sharply to north east and than continued north, away from ANY known resurgences! That was intriguing and exciting! All together I had an excellent dive exploring the new cave to 350m from the entrance and to -63m of depth. Runtime 3h</div><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">14.08.10<o:p></o:p></div><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">With Frank's help I managed to avoid a set up dive and went in straight away with all the cylinders on. All was going well, the cave still continued north when around -73m of depth and 500m in I got confused . I thought the cave turned sharply south so I started laying the line in this direction despite the obvious signs I was going back to the exit : lack of the flow, disturbed vis...I really dont understand why did I continue(my diluent was strong enough). Anyway, I laid around 70m of line back towards the exit and as it soon turned out, perfectly parallel to the line I laid on my way in...:))<o:p></o:p></div><div class="Standard">Runtime 4h</div><div class="Standard"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="Standard"><br />
</div><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">28.08.10<o:p></o:p></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu9pJ4Ipd5FzZ0X0KTneTmLvWGPkb_oJWpn9P855zDwnE5bFiz2zkGCVBzB853ZeanilrN4dg7HC_MXVZN6x5jJmYz-Lk7huPbwJBN-NKhMTcCucFOM55DwGtI5bVwUHZm2U42ID0Q/s1600/Polnandre+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu9pJ4Ipd5FzZ0X0KTneTmLvWGPkb_oJWpn9P855zDwnE5bFiz2zkGCVBzB853ZeanilrN4dg7HC_MXVZN6x5jJmYz-Lk7huPbwJBN-NKhMTcCucFOM55DwGtI5bVwUHZm2U42ID0Q/s400/Polnandre+4.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Descent to the water, fot. Frank Griga</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="Standard"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I spent a day and half on setting a camp in the woods by Pollindre, preparing Megalodon and eight cylinders to secure the dive and dropping them into the pot. I got into the water at 8pm. The point where I got wrong last time was appallingly obvious: the line was turning sharply at almost 160 degree, I must have simply turned around and started laying the line back to the exit... idiot... The downstream continuation was actually so obvious that I almost got it wrong again in sheer disbelief of its easiness. I tied in with a new reel and marked the proper exit line with a cloth peg. Although the cave has a steady north trend it certainly does not go in a straight line: I kept getting wedged in the numerous undercuts present on both sides of the passage. Getting out and back on the track was taking some time and after few incidents like that I had to slow down the pace ( I mostly kept to left hand side wall) and 'feel' the wall with my right hand and fin (the vis there is constant 0.5m). After 250m of progress, at -80m of depth I had a major route finding problem but I persevered and after some lengthy fumbling around I found the continuation. Eventually I finished off the second reel having laid 350m of line in total on 76-81m of depth. I checked my bottom timer: 1h33m. I left -73m at 40min and I still had to go back all the way through 80s...<i>I'm gonna pay for that </i>I<i> </i>remember I thought. Eventually I got out of the water after 5h20min, at 1.30am, tired and unwell, with my left arm thoroughly soaked and an annoying discomfort in a left ear building up through most of the ascent (well, ok I was diving with a cold). I rested on a surface for 15min, staying on the loop, left all the cylinders in the water and rebreather just on the edge, climbed out of the pothole, de-kitted and laid down in the tent breathing emergency 02. I woke up in the morning with no pains or discomforts but I cancelled the scheduled dive with Jim in Moran's Cave anyway and kept resting. EOL is 850m in at -81.5m. Runtime 5h20min.</div><div class="Standard"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="Standard"><br />
</div><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">05.09.2010</div><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">After a setup dive a day before (the dive was secured with 9 tanks: 2x7l, 1x5.7l, 4x11l and 2x12l) the cave continued for another 150m between 79-82m of depth until the passage became big ( a chamber?) and I have lost the way on. Despite several attempts I kept making loops to my own line. The lack of flow was extremely frustrating. There was nothing I could do and after 30 min I gave up and turned the dive. On the way out I surveyed 200m of the cave , from -45m to the surface which I reached at 3am after 6h.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="Standard" style="text-align: justify;">I tried to come back there in the end of October but the cave was already in flood. Since then the water levels dropped but last weekend , during the dive in Polldeelin water temperature was 4 degrees and the same must have been in Pollindre. The exploration will be continued next year. EOL around 1km.</div>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-49640732659506742872010-12-16T10:02:00.000-08:002010-12-16T10:02:24.965-08:00Diving the terminal sump in Cave of the Wild Horses<iframe frameborder="0" height="338" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/17884354?portrait=0" width="601"></iframe>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-11535891712569100462010-12-07T12:43:00.000-08:002010-12-07T12:43:26.101-08:00Rebreather Exploration Cave Diving in Spain<iframe width="480" height="295" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TO6s_5e0FMo?fs=1" frameborder="0"></iframe>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-54674771355743732272010-09-10T16:17:00.000-07:002010-11-11T20:12:13.802-08:00IRISH TIMES - Cave diving duo plunge to new depths in epic 4km underwater adventure<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN5t_UfTIyYUopsHJ_M8wInv0uVc74wZkdabEyaXna7H0p8LMEigL0gHIiN5TBJTL9jFda2q2i-qVbofl-clXcE5pyytKPRWLF2bmA_0Sp5eztxjlyHti-vcvIEgceAYkwKWBlCr4n/s1600/Irish+Times+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN5t_UfTIyYUopsHJ_M8wInv0uVc74wZkdabEyaXna7H0p8LMEigL0gHIiN5TBJTL9jFda2q2i-qVbofl-clXcE5pyytKPRWLF2bmA_0Sp5eztxjlyHti-vcvIEgceAYkwKWBlCr4n/s400/Irish+Times+pic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">A POLISH and Belgian cave diving team have completed what they believe to be the longest traverse of water-filled underground caves in Ireland and Britain.</span></span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The two Irish-based cavers say that the “unique and complex” system under the Gort lowlands in south Galway, well known for its flooding, is also one of the most challenging subterranean routes in western Europe.</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Artur Kozlowski, a Polish quantity surveyor with his own cave dive training company and colleague Jim Warny from Belgium undertook 45 dives to complete the epic traverses totalling 4km.</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">“It involved several years of planning and some of it took place during wet weather so we could use streams to guide us. It may also be one of the longest siphons in Europe,“Kozlowski told <em>The Irish Times</em> .</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Britain’s most extensive traverse between two caves is just over 3km, but the longest British traverse without any exits is 1.8km – just over 2km short of the new Irish route, Kozlowski points out.</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Two years ago, Kozlowski navigated the deepest underwater cave in Ireland or Britain, when he descended 103m (338ft) in the Pollatoomary cave in south Mayo with the support of fellow speleologist (cave specialist) Tom Lane.</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">This surpassed the previous British/Irish record of 90m attributed to Britain’s deepest cave, Wookey Hole, in the Mendip Hills in Somerset. Kozlowski’s new achievement with Jim Warny involved descending 27m and 62m respectively in several limestone sinks or “pots” in the Kiltartan/ Gort/Kinvara area of south Galway.</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The Gort lowland area between the Slieve Aughty mountains and the Burren has been explored extensively by cave divers since the early 1980s, and British speleologist Martyn Farr established a record here for the longest (245m) and deepest (34m) sump in Ireland.</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Farr, who trained Kozlowski, was one of a team of cave divers, known as the Dark Shamrock expedition, which explored over 3km of underwater caves between Gort and Moy villages south of Kinvara in the 1990s.</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Farr also discovered Pollatoomary in Mayo in 1978, but his pupil Kozlowski set the record for it.</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The recent traverses completed by the Pole and Belgian are associated with several rivers, including the Coole system. The waterways run from the Slieve Aughty mountains down into the karst limestone landscape and surface just before Kiltartan.</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">“They descend, surface again near Coole Park and then run underground to the sea at Kinvara,” Kozlowski explains.</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Most of the diving was undertaken in and between caves known as Polldeelin, Polltoophill, Pollaloughabo and Moran’s, using lines which were fixed to measure distance. Polldeelin was the location for a Garda diving team in the 1990s which undertook a weapons search, but had to pull out at a depth of 20m.</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Maximum depth on the Pollaloughabo-Moran’s cave traverse was 27m, and 62m between Polltoophill and Polldeelin , which they named “Riders on the Storm”.</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The pair used deep-sea diving rebreathing equipment, which draws on both oxygen and recycled exhaled gas and involves considerable technical expertise. They also drew on local knowledge offered by a number of farmers in the Kiltartan, Castletown, Caheroon and Moy areas, including the Nolan, Quinn and Cunningham families.</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Visibility was poor, sometimes limited to “half a metre”, Kozlowski explains.“In this situation it can be very difficult to find the route, particularly if you disturb the silt, so we found it was useful to dive during rainy periods so we could use underground rivers to guide us.”</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">“It means we had to be totally self-sufficient, as there is no rescue – only recovery, if you are lucky.”</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px;">Friday, September 10, 2010</span> </span></div><div style="color: black; font-size: medium; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-weight: normal;">By LORNA SIGGINS</span></b></span></span></div>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-39146656057736431052010-09-08T03:31:00.000-07:002011-02-20T18:03:28.791-08:00PIEKŁO I GŁĘBOKA WODA<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="PL" style="font-size: 22pt; line-height: 115%;">PIEKŁO I GŁĘBOKA WODA<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="PL" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">NURKOWANIE TECHNICZNE W IRLANDII<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAsCpD7y_0i1lOyDrNhsW6TPivydSteGn0_AncaQJEyk3F7-LLSz2MIzOhxb5VAD-4mAtgJljOpQ9_4_QGk8UeudxkoUvx64VBeXU-iKMa25WMhas-t2tfFmeLKoaZk7FX-o7IPAcC/s1600/lusitania_7_may_1915.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAsCpD7y_0i1lOyDrNhsW6TPivydSteGn0_AncaQJEyk3F7-LLSz2MIzOhxb5VAD-4mAtgJljOpQ9_4_QGk8UeudxkoUvx64VBeXU-iKMa25WMhas-t2tfFmeLKoaZk7FX-o7IPAcC/s320/lusitania_7_may_1915.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ostatnie chwile Lusitanii</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Kiedy pod koniec 2006 roku zacząłem rozglądać się za możliwością zrobienia kursu nurkowania technicznego w Irlandii sprawa okazała się trudniejsza niż by się to mogło wydawać. W kraju, u którego południowych wybrzeży leżała słynna <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lusitania</i>, a na północy co najmniej kilkadziesiąt u-bootów zatopionych w żenującym chaosie operacji „Deadlight” czekało na ponowną lokalizację, znalezienie instruktora nurkowania technicznego okazało się zadaniem beznadziejnym. Właściwie jedyna odpowiedź, która dawała jakąkolwiek nadzieję nadeszła z północnej części wyspy: jeśli warunki pogodowe będą sprzyjające, być może będzie szansa na przeprowadzenie kursu ...na przyszły rok latem... Czekanie osiem miesięcy na łasce północno-atlantyckich sztormów i irlandzkiego być może? Równie dobrze mogłem już teraz zapisać się do klubu szachowego i zacząć lokować całe oszczędności w funduszu emerytalnym...<br />
<a name='more'></a></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRg3bBssZsye-9Ea2O76WoWx9P5GWY6mL92bu6CvhMYrbtlAGyE4iCOPqDjS3cK4WSytrejlUu4N7o0kgcgCWN_KABSYz40HrZ4OeMDAcV0BGppJkPdDqrIRuHmF60RNa-yHkDtXRe/s1600/U-218.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRg3bBssZsye-9Ea2O76WoWx9P5GWY6mL92bu6CvhMYrbtlAGyE4iCOPqDjS3cK4WSytrejlUu4N7o0kgcgCWN_KABSYz40HrZ4OeMDAcV0BGppJkPdDqrIRuHmF60RNa-yHkDtXRe/s320/U-218.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">U-218, ofiara Operacji Deadlight, Innes McCartney</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="PL">Co dalej? – kombinowałem - Egipt i inne ciepłe kraje odpadał; moim celem były głębokie wraki północnego Donegal i potrzebowałem szkolenia w zbliżonych warunkach. Zacząłem więc myśleć, dlaczego by nie, o Polsce. Początkowo miłe zaskoczenie – nie zdawałem sobie sprawy, że w ciągu ostatnich dziesięciu lat odkąd zrobiłem Open Water, w Polsce powstało tak wiele centrów nurkowych, w tym również oferujących szkolenia techniczne. Niestety, gdy przychodziło do ustalenia lokalizacji kursu wszystkie „duże szkoły” i „wielkie nazwiska” z dumą oznajmiały, że będzie to ...Egipt. Na nic zdawały sie moje usilne tłumaczenia, że szukam warunków zbliżonych do północy Irlandii – okazywałem się niewdzięcznym i raczej niepoważnym klientem.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnm2KRMKDJcufunwxzGUAX3dSjgDMm6o525L55FR7HlXoAL1_DP0gRvd_OWMotp5JKFdMAdu_HHeLOObRYTZkMa_ekeiGMrWmGM8tJHebOB_9X2qIcEFIRI_FKbk5OuOuxYr2VJk7J/s1600/Justicia+Barry+McGill.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnm2KRMKDJcufunwxzGUAX3dSjgDMm6o525L55FR7HlXoAL1_DP0gRvd_OWMotp5JKFdMAdu_HHeLOObRYTZkMa_ekeiGMrWmGM8tJHebOB_9X2qIcEFIRI_FKbk5OuOuxYr2VJk7J/s320/Justicia+Barry+McGill.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Justicia, -72m, Donegal, fot. Barry McGill</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="PL">Zacząłem poważnie wątpić czy kiedykolwiek uda mi się wydostać ze strefy bezdekompresyjnej i oczami duszy widziałem siebie uwięzionego już po wieczność w jakimś obskurnym pubie, zmuszonego po raz setny, jak w jakiejś koszmarnej pętli czasu, do wysłuchiwania opowieści dzielnych nurków jak to „<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">szarpnęli pięćdziesiątkę trójkę z singlem na Bluholu”</i> (żeby jeszcze tylko to, żeby jeszcze tylko to...wzdech...), gdy otrzymałem krótki lecz treściwy email od Przemysława Stasiaka, instruktora technicznego DSAT z Wrocławia, z propozycją przeprowadzenia kursu DSAT Tec Deep na jeziorze Hańcza w początkach marca. Wizyta na jego stronie internetowej upewniła mnie, że mam do czynienia z doświadczonym instruktorem aktywnie eksplorującym wraki Bałtyku więc równie krótko i treściwie wyraziłem natychmiastową zgodę. Czy wiedziałem na co się piszę? Nie (przez pół godziny szukałem Hańczy na mapie na południu Polski i dopiero coraz częściej pojawiająca się w naszej dalszej korespondencji nazwa Suwałki z wolna zaczęła mi uświadamiać powagę sytuacji). Czy wiedząc na co się piszę (12 nie-tak-wcale-krótkich nurkowań w wodzie o temperaturze 2-óch stopni) zgodziłbym się jeszcze raz? Pewnie nie...i to nie żebym był jakoś szczególnie „miętki”, ale przecież jakieś granice zdrowego rozsądku w końcu istnieją. Bo istnieją, prawda...?<o:p></o:p></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9EtnuZA7X8miW_b6jahYEISBMnVUY5xbhBTXSmvfYFR-fABY7AmHlc42K3MMpX23lbcTiywTyMx8KJnoJ79b_8J4aPNOEdd6DGFFm-2gu_BakJ_paittjhoW_8Cofk6EryqEp4cMj/s1600/Audacious+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9EtnuZA7X8miW_b6jahYEISBMnVUY5xbhBTXSmvfYFR-fABY7AmHlc42K3MMpX23lbcTiywTyMx8KJnoJ79b_8J4aPNOEdd6DGFFm-2gu_BakJ_paittjhoW_8Cofk6EryqEp4cMj/s320/Audacious+1.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Audacious, -64m, fot. Barry McGill</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="PL">Szczęśliwie dla mojej kariery nurkowej, bezwarunkowo oddałem swój los w ręce instruktora Stasiaka i po dziesięciu dniach walki z żywiołem, własnymi słabościami i zamarzającym sprzętem wynurzyłem się z czeluści Hańczy jako certyfikowany płetwonurek techniczny DSAT Tec Deep. Po powrocie do Irlandii moim pierwszym samodzielnym nurkowaniem technicznym był wrak U-861, niemieckiej łodzi podwodnej typu IXD2. Wraz z moim przyjacielem i fotografem podwodnym Frankiem Griga spędziliśmy 40 minut na 43 metrach fotografując i zapoznając się z wrakiem - moja męka nad Hańczą była zdecydowanie tego warta. Trzy miesiące później byłem z powrotem u jej brzegów na kursie DSAT Tec Trimix, nie mogłem pozwolić by takie wraki północnego Donegalu jak Audacious (-63m) czy Justicia (-70m) pozostawały poza moim zasięgiem.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="PL">To na tyle jeżeli chodzi o „my story”. Mówiąc szczerze, miała to być „historia z puentą” i to najlepiej głęboką, wygląda jednak na to, że puenta gdzieś się zagubiła. Niemniej chciałem zwrócić uwagę, choć zdaję sobię sprawę, że bardzo nieudolnie, na następujące dwie kwestie:<o:p></o:p></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvYL2aMr2HAsNk5o4nuVcsd2BJMaKL0BfF0qK5jfOR4cyd_gVXUQF3sErBkhhQDkQGTVEV-RqPIVbgVCPA9ckCnwlXBEdVtidcSgoGr3ey7amCdNBeIZX0jiX6ENWzQAdSm03CUxlF/s1600/5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvYL2aMr2HAsNk5o4nuVcsd2BJMaKL0BfF0qK5jfOR4cyd_gVXUQF3sErBkhhQDkQGTVEV-RqPIVbgVCPA9ckCnwlXBEdVtidcSgoGr3ey7amCdNBeIZX0jiX6ENWzQAdSm03CUxlF/s320/5.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wejscie do Hell, Doolin. Fot Frank Griga</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="PL">Po pierwsze, dojrzałe europejskie środowiska nurków technicznych mają ze sobą co najmniej jedną cechę wspólną: kiedy pada pytanie o to w jakiej agencji się szkolić, okazuje się ,że jest to całkowicie bez znaczenia (szokujące, prawda?! Brak wojny agencji to niemal jak wyrok śmierci dla połowy istniejących forum nurkowych, bo o czym wtedy dyskutować? O nurkowaniu?!) Ważniejsza jest osoba samego instruktora, jego reputacja i to czy ma za sobą doświadczenie eksploracyjne.Brak tego ostatniego spycha potencjalnego kandydata na dalekie końcowe miejsca – nie eksplorujesz, nie istniejesz. Dlaczego tak jest? Czy jest jedynie kolejny przejaw mody na to ostatnio popularne, i niestety często nadużywane słowo? A może jednak istnieją inne ważne powody? Śmiem twierdzić, że tak. Eksploracja to szkoła przetrwania, która często stawia nas w obliczu sytuacji, o których nie bylo mowy w żadnym z podręczników. Nie ma tam łatwej opcji przerwania nurkowania, często to jedynie od Twoich umiejętności, a w szczególności od tego czy uda Ci się opanować stres gdy sprawy nagle przestają iść zgodnie z planem, zależy czy uda Ci się bezpiecznie powrócić. Jeżeli jedyne doświadczenie instruktora technicznego to nurkowania treningowe, a w najlepszym razie turystyczne wycieczki na popularne wraki i jaskinie (choć ostatnio widzę, że część instruktorów technicznych nawet do tego zabiera się z ociąganiem...groza...), to zakres problemów przed jakimi był postawiony taki instruktor jest siłą rzeczy ograniczony i taka będzie również „dodatkowa”, spoza zakresu podręcznika, wiedza którą przekaże swoim studentom. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6cXyqFdNiPNw9cXNp-cGFD2jcxUk-tKNDJC1wotVYCC65eYpwx06UXrrfRx_XDbFfWyM-BFyGlYn9CQ5qHeYAqniAAzNsTI-dpO09f6owG6zTTTGdA7VRDrgrHIuMsYByQi-LWE9u/s1600/Audacious+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6cXyqFdNiPNw9cXNp-cGFD2jcxUk-tKNDJC1wotVYCC65eYpwx06UXrrfRx_XDbFfWyM-BFyGlYn9CQ5qHeYAqniAAzNsTI-dpO09f6owG6zTTTGdA7VRDrgrHIuMsYByQi-LWE9u/s320/Audacious+2.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Audacious - dziala, fot. Barry McGill</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="PL">Istnieje niepisana zgoda, że duch głębokich nurkowań wrakowych czy penetracji podwodnych systemów jaskiniowych leżał, leży i będzie leżał w eksploracji i to nie chęć „zaliczenia” łuku w Blue Hole czy też „śmignięcia” jednego kilometra w Ressel po czyjejś poręczówce ale szczera pasja przesuwania granic poznanego świata, badania i odkrywania tajemnic przeszłości, odnajdywania brakujących elementów Wielkie Łamigłówki zagubionych w burzliwych dziejach naszej planety i cywilizacji będzie, tak jak zawsze było, motorem rozwoju nurkowania technicznego. Tych którzy będą nas chcieli oszołomić stwarzanymi na własny użytek rekordami (których, nota bene, nikt innych oprócz ich samych nie ma ochoty pobijać), podążaniem wydeptanymi, choć niekoniecznie znanymi szerszemu gronu odbiorców ścieżkami, będzie zawsze wielu – chęć odciśnięcia własnego piętna na historii jest nieodpartą pokusą towarzyszącą ludzkości od zarania dziejów i była motorem wielu odkryć, zgoda, ale na Boga, spróbujmy od czasu do czasu zrobić użytek z własnego intelektu by odróżnić osiągnięcia ważne od trywialnych.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxjCQxXzgasR_Lak0XEytbYZK0B8ZZtffCmB9v7jZzLsvoDSdoO7hZQNXuAuY0x9QXaB9sTQvIOHDCOTumetOZf9NiFXwWeuoDD2CV25C_-fcfXVT2DIlvHykfIYR5goldI1JASdkR/s1600/P9130153.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxjCQxXzgasR_Lak0XEytbYZK0B8ZZtffCmB9v7jZzLsvoDSdoO7hZQNXuAuY0x9QXaB9sTQvIOHDCOTumetOZf9NiFXwWeuoDD2CV25C_-fcfXVT2DIlvHykfIYR5goldI1JASdkR/s320/P9130153.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hell Complex, Doolin, fot. Frank Griga</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="PL"></span>Po drugie, należy zrozumieć na czym polega istota podstawowego kursu nurkowania technicznego. Tak zwany Tec Deep w organizacji PADI DSAT składał się do niedawna z 12 nurkowań z maksymalną głębokością na dwóch ostatnich nurkowaniach do -50m przy użyciu powietrza. Obecnie zostało to rozbite na trzy pod kursy: Tec 40, Tec 45 i Tec 50, każdy składający się z 4 nurkowań do maksymalnej głębokości wskazanej w nazwie kursu. Czy oznacza to, że po ukończeniu Tec 50 będziemy uprawnieni do nurkowań dekompresyjnych na powietrzu i mieszankach nitroksowych do głębokości 50m? Teoretycznie tak, ale prawdą jest, że żaden rozsądny płetwonurek techniczny tego nie robi (w przeciwieństwie do wielu „doświadczonych” nurków rekreacyjnych). Nie nurkujemy głęboko na powietrzu, od tego są mieszanki trymixowe. Jeśli jakiś instruktor nurkowania technicznego powiedział Ci inaczej, oznacza to, że jego jedynym zmartwieniem było sprzedać Tobie kurs. Celem DSAT-owskiej serii Tec 40-45-50 jest budowa solidnej bazy umiejętności technicznych, które pozwolą nowemu adeptowi wkroczyć bez kompleksów i obaw na ścieżkę trymixową. Przez 12 nurkowań będziesz do bólu ćwiczył procedury awaryjne, doskonalił trym i utrzymywanie głębokości na przystankach dekompresyjnych podczas zmiany gazów. Nie jest to łatwe. Wymagania zaliczeniowe są wysokie, ale również taka jest odpowiedzialność Twojego instruktora, dlatego musisz pozostawić mu prawo odmowy zaliczenia kursu jeżeli bedzie uważał, że nie jesteś jeszcze gotów. Być może uratuje Ci tym życie.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36.0pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="PL">Lecz jeśli ten rodzaj nurkowania jest Twoim celem i jesteś gotów zaakceptować związane z tym ryzyka, odpowiedzialnóść, czas i pieniądze do wydania, to znalazłeś się we właściwym miejscu i czasie: u wybrzeży samej tylko Irlandii setki wraków nadal czekają na odnalezienie, zbadanie i opowiedzenie ich fascynującej historii, a gdzieś głęboko pod ziemią, ukryte przed naszymi oczami, ale nie wyobraźnią, leżą kilometry niezbadanych podwodnych jaskiń, do których nikt nie odważył się jeszcze wpłynąć. Zapraszam do Piekła i na Głęboką Wodę...<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUh_b8QqR7hn__ASVPxTFZM8G5SZNka0_2WMDnkgnlKcHa-s7jQi9BEkjmxBZ323z7VM_mY5ETzgRID8s9oYZjaXkR9I9vGFXIHkgCKbqn9pXYkglHWivs79L6s461cHB5s6J89I51/s1600/6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUh_b8QqR7hn__ASVPxTFZM8G5SZNka0_2WMDnkgnlKcHa-s7jQi9BEkjmxBZ323z7VM_mY5ETzgRID8s9oYZjaXkR9I9vGFXIHkgCKbqn9pXYkglHWivs79L6s461cHB5s6J89I51/s320/6.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Polldeelin, Gort, fot. Michal Petelewicz</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148388257070611191.post-58423351426864532672010-08-20T03:15:00.000-07:002010-11-12T03:16:52.690-08:00Riders on the Storm Traverse footage<object height="451" width="601"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7410504&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1&group_id=" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7410504&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1&group_id=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="601" height="451"></embed></object>Artur Kozlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14651632772541398712noreply@blogger.com0