> The Setup

Buildup

During a previous meeting in a quarry in Germany setting up the habitat was trained and explained to some of the participants.

Before arriving at the Doux de Coly, every battery pack to be used had been burn tested. This was mandatory for every team member. The minimum allowed gas for all dives was trimix 21/35, allowing everybody to work in the shaft down to the 40 m area without been affected by narcosis. Also it is much easier to decompress from that gas, were there any deco at all. Some teams even did setup dives in the deeper part (below 55 m) using the 8 minute ride to the exit at around 9 m's depth for deco – without any special deco gas at all.

The first day

The first day was used for setting spits into the limestone for setting up the habitat.

Other divers placed safeties with trimix 21/35 every 100 m until the shaft.

6 spits had to be set for each habitat and 3 spits had to be set for the decompression ropes, one for the support crew, one for Reinhard and one for Michael. One habitat sunk down the shaft due to the inflator being ripped out. This meant one more day of setup work. Thanks to Harmen and Tom for fixing this under water!

Deep support

Götz and Helmut deposited the deep stages around 800 m in the cave, i.e. 500 m into the deep part. Brus, Peter and Michael brought 4 of the magnum scooters to around 600 m. Another team deposited the other 4 magnum scooters at the bottom of the shaft. On the way back Brus, Peter and Michael checked all deco gases hanging from mountaineering clamps on the ropes.

Per diver, there were...
42 m: 1 x aluminium 40 cu ft tx30/40
36 m: 2 x aluminium 80 cu ft tx35/35
21 m: 3 x aluminium 80 cu ft tx50/25
9 m: O2 for more than 5 hours and air for inflating the habitat. This was the only use for air in the whole project.

The decogas was calculated for OC, but was planned and executed on the rebreathers (except for gas breaks and deco in the habitat).

At 42 m, 2 batteries (12V 66 Ah, inside a scooter body tube) for heating were placed. These were also equipped with additional lights. The electrical heating shirts were used for comfort only and were not necessary to safely finish the deco.

At 21m there was also a 80 cu ft aluminium tx19/65 and one 80 cu ft tx17/55 as breakgas.

Briefings

We had 3 briefings everyday, one early in the morning to assign tasks to every team and one during lunch. Every evening we talked about the progress and what had to be done the next day. It was work, but it was even more fun!

The day prior to the big dive we already set up the double RB80 rebreathers at the entrance pool, because we wanted to leave very early.

Getting the stuff out

When the dive was over, the stuff had to be taken out again. This, of course, is somewhat easier as everything has to get out in no particular order.

It became somewhat of a sport to see who could bring most things out in one go.

Harmen and Peter had a problem with disassembling Michael's habitat as the threads on one of the bolts used for holding the habitat together were ruined. So we had to bring in a hacksaw (thanks Mick!) to saw it off. Of course Reinhard took his own habitat (and a lot of extra stuff) out in one go!