Record setting dive in Spain

[Kelly Jessop]

I bet it was cold!

52 degrees.

[Duncan Price]

From the CDG website - my comments in italics:

Pozo Azul 2010

Following a week of set up work, 4 divers (Rene Houben, Jason Mallinson, John Volanthen, Rick Stanton)set off on Saturday morning and passed the 5160m long S2, arriving in Tipperary (the name of the air chamber between Sump 2 and Sump 3 - so called from the WW1 song "it is a long way to Tipperary")after a 5.5 hour dive.

Approximately 2 hours after surfacing Rene Houben made a foray into S3 to determine if there was a useable airspace not too far ahead. 2 hours later he returned after laying all his 1000m of his diveline!, the sump continued.

A camp was established in Tipperary, and following a nights sleep, further exploration was carried out into S3 by the other 3 divers. (There was a question how long divers could remain in the enclosed air chamber due to CO2 build-up)

In total, 3650m of line was laid in S3, and a total penetration distance in S3 of 2800m was made, on a dive lasting 5 hours. The remaining line was laid into a significant side passage.
The furthest point reached in S3, involves a total diving distance of 8825m from the entrance and the cave is now over 9km long.
The whole of S2 and a large part of S3 was surveyed using an electronic survey device developed by J.Volanthen. (This is in essence a cannister containing a pressure guage, compass and impellor to measure transit distance connected to a data logger - the dive line would also have been marked for distance)

Following a further night in Tipperary, all 4 divers exited S2 on Monday morning and emerged from the cave late afternoon.

The above exploration was carried out and supported by cave divers from Spain,Holland and Great Britain. But not including moi :-(

In other news:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...278569802.html