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.

While retreating I noticed some old line on a belay to my right on an upward slope, so I decided to follow the slope upwards.

Upon reaching -6m I found more old line, so I knew I was in the right place this time.

Before I knew it I found the old line to be intact again.

So I tied in on it and started following it, soon I realized the passage was getting bigger and deeper.

I turned when I hit my thirds at -14m about 50m beyond the boulder choke.

Max depth: 14M

BT: 72min

It turned out that the boulder choke was not as bad as I thought, and I should be able to pas it with the back mounted rebreather.

14/06/09

This time it was time to bring out the big guns so I took the Megalodon and 3 stage cylinders ( AL40-O2, AL80-NTX32 and AL80-NTX40).

I also took two reels with 250m of line between them.

Negotiating the boulder choke with the rb and 2 stages was not too bad (a bit of rubbing and rolling from left to right).

The next 150m I had to patch the line a few times.

At the last belay around -27m I tied in a fresh reel and of I went straight NE.

The passage was 5m-7m wide by 2m height and consistently heading N NE.

After tying in the second reel and emptying that aswel I reached a depth of -23m where I tied off and turned the dive.

Total of new passage explored is 200m.

A return is planned very soon.

Max depth: 30M

BT: 102min

Jim Warny