Cave Diving Records

[WJefferis]

I found this article on divingindepth.com and thought I would share. I was wondering how accurate and up-to-date this information was and if there were more records than this.

Cave Diving Records

Largest Underwater Caves (Total Surveyed Passage)

• Sistema Ox Bel Ha, Tulum Mexico: 134, 048 meters with a maximum depth of 110 feet
• Sistema Sac Actun, Akumal, Mexico: 61,941 meters with a maximum depth of 82 feet
• Sistema Nohoch Nah Chich, Akumal, Mexico: 61,143 meters with a maximum depth of 235 feet
• Cenote Dos Ojos, Akumal, Mexico: 56,6971 meters with a maximum depth of 391 feet
• Leon Sinks Cave System, Florida: 30, 480 meters with a maximum depth of 240 feet
• Wakulla Springs Cave System, Florida: 42,100 feet with a maximum depth of 300 feet

Deepest Underwater Caves

• Zacaton, Mexico: 1,148 feet deep, Jim Bowden
• Fontain de Vauluse, France: 1,033 feet deep
• Boesmangat, South Africa: 1,016 feet deep

Deepest cave dive by a Woman
In October 2004, Verna van Schaik from Gauteng, South Africa set a world deep diving record by diving to a depth of 725 feet (221 m) at Boesmansgat cave.

Longest Solo Swimming Dive into a Cave
Sheck Exley, 1989, Chips Hole cave system, Florida, solo swimming penetration of 10,444 feet
Longest Solo Scooter/DPV Dive into a Cave
Gilberto Menezes (Brazilian), September 20, 2004, Bananeira Cave, state of Bahia in Central Brazil, Solo scooter/DPV penetration of 6,400 meters (21,000 feet) in the upstream sump of the cave system. The dive lasted 11 hours 23 minutes and was stopped in going passage. The Bananeira sump starts 400 m inside the cave and comprises a narrow passage 3 m wide and 2 m high in average with a silty floor. Although the water is warm (c. 25 ºC), visibility is never more than 3 m being only 1.5 m during the 2004 dives. The underwater passage is generally shallow in the first 3,500 m (25 m maximum depth) becoming gradually deeper until a short loop at around 6,000 m penetration brings the depth to 50 m. The dive was stopped in the ascending portion of the loop at 20 m depth. In his longest push two Submerge Inc. UV-42 scooters (specially adapted with 65-amph @ 24-volts NiMH batteries enabling a total range of about 10,000 m per scooter!) were used. The dive used conventional (open circuit) apparatus and a total of 33 tanks were either used or were in place at the sump during the longest dive. Trimix 25/50 was used from the surface to 25 m depth (up to 5,800 m penetration). Trimix 16/70 was used from 25 to 50 m in depth (from 5,800 m to 6,400 m penetration). Nitrox 70 was used for decompression from 12 m to 7 m in depth (3,000 m to 1,800 m penetration) and pure oxygen was used at 6 m depth (1,800 m penetration) and 3 m depth (1,500 m penetration).

Longest Cave Penetration Dives (scooter/DPV and swim)
Scooter/DPV:

• Gilberto Menezes, September 20, 2004, Upstream sump of Bananeira cave, state of Bahia in Central Brazil, 21,000-foot penetration scooter/DPV dive at a maximum depth of 164 feet
• WKPP divers, 2000, Wakulla Springs cave system, Florida, 19,000-foot penetration scooter/DPV dive at a maximum depth of 300 feet

Swim:

• Sheck Exley, 1989, Chips Hole cave system, Florida, 10,444-foot solo penetration swim dive

Longest Cave Traverse (distance from one cave entrance to another)
WKPP divers, May 29, 1999, Leon Sinks Cave System from Big Dismal to Cheryl Sink, Leon County, Florida, 14,000-foot scooter/DPV traverse at a maximum depth of 220 feet

[Squirrel Girl]

http://www.caverbob.com/wdeep.htm

[Ben M]

http://www.caverbob.com/wdeep.htm

you mean this one?

http://www.caverbob.com/uwcaves.htm

[Squirrel Girl]

you mean this one?

http://www.caverbob.com/uwcaves.htm

Well.... if you only care about the U/W ones.....

[Tegg]

Madison is about to jump up a few numbers on that list...

[Benthic]

<snip>
Longest Cave Traverse (distance from one cave entrance to another)
WKPP divers, May 29, 1999, Leon Sinks Cave System from Big Dismal to Cheryl Sink, Leon County, Florida, 14,000-foot scooter/DPV traverse at a maximum depth of 220 feet

I don't know about the rest of the list...but this one is out of date. The WKPP (specifically Casey & Jarrod) broke their own record with the traverse from Turner to Wakulla back in December of 2007. That was a trip of nearly 37,000 feet (seven miles) at depths of around 300 feet.

Brian

[Jim Coke]

The data that are posted for the caves of Quintana Roo look to be over four years old. For example, Sistema Sac Actun was connected to Sistema Nohoch Nah Chich in January 2007 by Bogaerts and Schmittner. Dos Ojos is 11km longer than what is stated above, and Sistema Xunaan Ha is missing. As a few people have mentioned, go to Bob's GEO2 list (caverbob) for an update. You can also check the QRSS list of long caves for Quintana Roo.

If you have a chance, check the QRSS site later (this Saturday evening) as it will be updated. This will contain a significant update.

Jim

[Squirrel Girl]

The data that are posted for the caves of Quintana Roo look to be over four years old. For example, Sistema Sac Actun was connected to Sistema Nohoch Nah Chich in January 2007 by Bogaerts and Schmittner. Dos Ojos is 11km longer than what is stated above, and Sistema Xunaan Ha is missing. As a few people have mentioned, go to Bob's GEO2 list (caverbob) for an update. You can also check the QRSS list of long caves for Quintana Roo.

If you have a chance, check the QRSS site later (this Saturday evening) as it will be updated. This will contain a significant update.

Jim

Jim posted an interesting update to CaveChat, too!

http://www.forums.caves.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11330

I would like to share a bit of great exploration news from Quintana Roo Mexico. Robert Schmittner connected Sistema Aktun Hu to the Nohoch Nah Chich region of Sistema Sac Actun. His team made this connection on 30 January 2011 to establish what could be interpreted as the 4th longest cave in the world. Sac Actun is presently the longest cave in Mexico, and the longest underwater cave in the world. It is my great pleasure to congratulate Robbie and all the many cave explorers that have surveyed in the numerous regions of this marvelous cave.
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Congratulations, to the explorers!