Projects > Gourneyras 2003 (June)
Overview
Latest update: September 8, 2007
Some in the water, others at the surface. Multiple tasks going on at the surface. Good general humour.
After a lot of projects in winter and spring at the Gourneyras, it should be a summer weekend this time. The scout team, Ralph, Brus and the newbie Michael Kies arrived on Thursday morning. The first view to the pool area showed a water level, which was more than 2 m below the normal level and the surface was very dirty. The cablecar was built in two and a half hours and after another 30 minutes three complete sets of doubles and 3 stages swam in the pool. The scout-team went for a short check dive to 45 m and found an excellent vis. This was the time to call the rest of the team.
After the check dive the cablecar never stood still for the rest of the day. The Austrians Silvia, Victor, Alex and the newbies Chaled and Johannes arrived and at 7 pm Gavin scooters, heating tube and stages from Micha, Reinhard and Brus swam in the pool.
During the night, the rest of the team arrived. The Dutch gang Wido, Jiles, Gertjan and the newbie Robert Leenen. Reinhard, Micha and Hervé and last but not least Thomas Schädler in the morning.
Three support divers with one stage each for themselves and the rest to be placed in the cave.
Friday started very early, since we did not want to work during the afternoon heat. Around 1 pm the last barrel went down to the pool area. It was amazing, how much gear was in this small pool area: about 60 stages, 8 long tubes and magnum Gavin scooters, 2 magnum Gavin scooters with video-nose and 50 Watt HID nose, 4 sets of double 12 litre, 2 sets of double rebreathers with double 20 litre tanks, 2 sets of rebreather with double 20 litre tanks, 2 heating tubes, 1 two-man habitat and all the small equipment for 14 cave divers.
After a briefing the support diver started to place all the gear underwater. Wido and Victor brought the habitat to a place, which the scout-team found the day before. The two rebreather teams prepared their rebreathers and installed them on the "Rentner-Tische" in the pool. Around 6 pm, everything was ready to dive and we started with the difficult part of the project: the barbeque...
After the hot day, a hot night followed so we started very early the next day. Wake up time was set to 5am. After a good breakfast Micha and Reinhard descended to the cave at 6:30 am and started their dive at 7:30am. Hervé and Brus followed them 30 minutes later. Reinhard and Micha brought some gear to the other side of the deep point and Hervé and Brus surveyed the first 650 meters of the cave. When Hervé and Brus got to their last deco stop, they saw Reinhard and Micha arrived at the deep stops. This will gave an idea about the dimensions of the cave in the entrance area.
This is the coolest part of the day. Nice team gathering for a barbecue! Great time for briefings, comments, jokes, gossips, etc.
The support divers brought all the unneeded equipment out of the cave and two other teams brought all the equipment up to our camp with the cablecar. The Landrover from Johannes was a big help. When Reinhard and Micha ascended, most equipment was in the camp. The habitat and some smaller equipment followed and the work ended at 6 pm. We were ready for the barbeque part two...
On Sunday we loaded our vans and most drove directly home, but some did not dive enough and made a stop at the Goul de Tannerie and Goul du Pont for more cave diving. It was a great weekend, with a lot of fun with very good dive conditions and perfect weather.