1.5km and -71m...the cave continues

5/6.07.2009

It was raining all day long on Sunday. In the morning Jim jumped in for half an hour set up dive to stage EAN50 and EAN32 on 21m, which point is around 150m from the entrance. I was supposed to dive right after but all that raining business made me lazy; waiting for some dry spell to get change I stayed in a tent reading Henri Cheriere's Papillion . Only around 7pm when it became obvious that it wasn't going to stop I put a drysuit on and kitted up.

Dive started around 9pm. Visibility was fantastic, 2.5m at least. Poulnacapple turned out to be marvellous underwater cave when I was finally able to see something; during all my previous dives visibility was never better 

than 1m and usually around 0.5m. Water temperature increased to comfortable 15deg compared to 12-13 last week. I couldn't ask for more.

 

Off through the choke, I picked up Jim's EAN32 and staged it half an hour further into the cave at -40m. I reached our previous limit 1.2km at -62m in just over 1h. Last time I left almost full reel there as I experienced some route finding problems ( I simply lost the way on ) and having being seriously soaked at that stage I had opted for retreat. This time, due to good visibility  I could see where I went wrong last time even before I reached my reel so almost immediately I was back on track. 

From -62m cave was sloping up and down in 60s and  after 200m of new line laid I was already on -66m. So far so good.

Beyond 1km

21.06.2009

Divers: Artur Kozlowski, Brendan O'Brien

I headed to Gort on Saturday morning hoping for an easy push in 20-30m range of depth with end of the line 500m inside the cave. However by Saturday evening situation looked quite different. In two consecutive dives Jim pushed the cave to staggering 1km from the entrance and the depth of -47m at the end of the line. So much for an easy push...

I took off and all I can say that going through squeezes between 60-80m from the entrance, with Meg and two Alus 80 was not fun. Being less streamlined than Jim I had to move couple of boulders to finally get through. I knew the cave up to 360m from the entrance from last year and I always considered it as sidemounted cave. Jim proved different. Later was somehow easier but again quite low (I'd say no more than 1m) around 800m in. I managed to explore another 200m of low but 3-4m wide passage and tied off the line at -62m. I had plenty of line on my reel to go but at this stage my left arm was well soaked as I must have cut my wrist seal while wriggling through squeezes. In fairness, I should have turned the dive much earlier, well... 

Jim Warny's Report Part II

Last weekend saw more success at Poulnacappel

19/06/09

Upon arrival I noted the water level was up from last week and the visibility went down to 0,5m.

Progress thru the cave was considerably slower than last week.

I had planed to bring an extra stage bottle but abandoned it fairly soon into the dive.

Despite the slow progress I managed to add an other 230m still heading E reaching a new deep point of -43m.

Deco was a bit cold due to a minor leak (p-valve problem).

Max depth: 43M

Total BT: 164min

20/06/09

Joined by Artur we setup for another few dives.

I continued the exploration and was able to add 210m and reach a depth of -47m.

This time I brought 3 stage bottles and dropped one of them on the way (400m in).

These dives are starting to cover a long distance and considerable depth so next time I thing more gas will have to be staged to push further.

Artur did a dive on 21/06/09 but I let him report that one.

Jim Warny

Jim Warny's Report Part I

After a year of waiting and being busy with other projects I finally got a chance to go for a few dives in Poulnacapple.

29/05/09

Reconnaissance dive.

On arrival I found that the water level in the pot was low but there was still some flow noticeable on the surface.

I opted for two side mount 7's for this dive as I had no intention in pushing far beyond the boulder choke.

As I started to follow the line from the entrance I noticed a strong current coming out of the cave.

After +/-10m I found the main line broken so I tied in with my reel. I laid 40m of line from there to reach a deep point of 12m where the flow was barely noticeable. Finally after a while of searching I found the mainline again along with a strong flow.

I tied in there and headed into the current only to find the line to be broken again, at that point I turned the dive.

Analyzing the survey I could saw I was within 10m of the start of the boulder choke.

Max depth: 12M

BT: 40min

13/06/09

After meeting the lads at Poltuphill I headed to Polnacapple for an other dive.

This time i took the twin 7's and an extra AL80.

The water level was even lower than last time, with no flow noticeable at all on the surface.

I got to where I stopped the other day fairly fast and tied in with a full reel. 

Searching around I ended up squeezing between boulders and the ceiling, that small I had to remove 2 cylinders to retreat.

Retracing my steps I was getting frustrated and was getting ready to leave as it seemed very tight and unstable.

Poulnacapple - The Heart of Darkness

Poulnacapple (Poll a'Chappaill - Cave of the horse) is believed to be resurgence of Boleyneendorrish or Ballylee river. This vertical sided pot is situated in obvious copse 80m south-east of Polldeelin (the main Coole River Rising). Site is double wire fenced and would need 3m rigid ladder for safe access. Provisionally I have installed system of ropes that temporarily do the job. River rises in northern corner of the pool and sinks again in obvious cave entrance at the southern end of the opening (see picture ). 

Most of the credit for exploration should go to Steve Marsh, Pat Cronin and Martyn Farr I believe. Downstream, after 90m it connects Polldeelin 30m from the main rising through narrow horizontal slot at depth of 13m. Right now this short traverse is rated as very risky after some backfill and bulldozer job at the surface. Anyway it’s not really worth as it’s filled with domestic rubbish including fridge…;)  Upstream story is much more interesting. Initially lads explored place for 80m where they faced boulder choke. The started working on a dig and finally they passed it. From there passage was heading SE on dept 7-9m for a good while but then it started dropping, turned back underneath itself a  the depth of 30m and continued NE. Last exploration in 2004 left EOL somewhere 350-360m from the entrance.

I asked Pat Cronin for permission to continue from that point. For the first time I dived there on August long weekend.