Projects > Gourneyrou 2005 (June)

Newbie's account of the weekend

Latest update: July 18, 2005

By Arno Mol

Monday afternoon 15:37 hours, I received an email from Gertje. He asked me if I would like to join him on an EKPP project and help out with the surface support. I smiled and cheered at the same time. This is it I thought, finally the chance to hang out with one of the best cave dive teams in the world. After a big argument with my employer, I managed to get some days off. The next few days I was busy organizing my gear.

Friday morning 03:30 hours, after a 12 hour drive we arrived at the campsite next to the abandoned house near the Gourneyrou. Realizing that it was far too late to put up the tent we decided to sleep under the stars.

After a very short sleep we woke up at 08:00 hours and had breakfast. Here I met the team members who had signed up for this project for the first time. After introducing myself to the group we headed for the cave.

Arriving at the spot where all the equipment was stored, I soon realized that we had a huge job ahead of us. The reason for that was the fact that we had to transport all the gear by cable car to the cave entrance approximally 40 m below. After setting up the cable car we divided the team, Michael, Dawn and Ralph were to man the upper station, Alessandro and I the middle (hardest) station and Reinhard, Brus, Gertje and Mara the lower station.

Lowering down all the equipment was really back breaking. First a big barrel had to be filled with gear and lowered down to the middle station. There the barrel had to be emptied and put in another barrel so it could be lowered to the cave entrance, 40 m down. We started the task at 09:30 hours and finished lowering everything down by 17:00 hours.

Now that all the gear was down we had to prepare everything for the dive Reinhard and Michael were going to make the next day. First we set up the rebreather table in the cave entrance and then lowered down some double 12's for the guys who were to place the habitat. After the habitat was in place we lowered down the rebreathers, the scooters and the rest of the equipment. By 21:30 everything was set for the "big dive" the following day.

Back at the campsite, most of us went straight to the river for a nice refreshing bath. After that we lighted up the BBQ and had diner and a couple of drinks. This was the perfect moment to review the day and for me to realise that we already pulled of a hell of a job on the first day of
the project.

Saturday morning 06:00 hours, time to get out of bed and prepare for another rough day. After breakfast, "Dutch pancakes and coffee", we headed for the cave.

Arriving at the cave it was time for Reinhard and Michael to do their thing, it was 08:00 hours when they submerged. After two hours Brus and I entered the water to check on the habitat and to see if the stages with O2 and break gas were in good order. After that we continued to the 21 m stop and checked the 50/25 deco gas and the heating tubes. Back at the cave entrance Brus left the water and I joined Ralph and Fenu on several runs to see if R&M arrived at the 21 m stop. At 10:00 hours they arrived and at 12:00 hours they entered the habitat.

At this point I got the call to make some hot tea and to prepare lunch, "penne al pommodoro and grilled lamb chops". After spending two hours in the habitat Reinhard and Michael surfaced. After spending another half hour on the surface they slowly climbed out of the cave, they felt good!

Now that all the equipment was taken out of the water by the support divers, we started transporting the gear up to the road. By now it was 17:00 hours. Transporting everything up took us all evening and by 22:30 hours, we were finished and headed for the campsite.

Time for a refreshing bath again! This time Dawn joined us to the river, so you can imagine that nobody hesitated to get naked. After some cold beers and a BBQ dinner everybody went to bed early. The reason for this was that Reinhard and Brus wanted to be home on sunday evening to watch the Formula 1 Grand Prix.

The next morning we all got up at 05:00 hours and after we had some breakfast we all got ready to go. But not before we all said goodbye to each other and of course after taking a group picture to remind us of a spectacular project and a fantastic weekend with a great bunch of crazy cave divers.

Despite the lack of sleep, the bruises, cuts and insect bites I felt very lucky that I had the opportunity to be part of this project. Therefore I want to thank everybody for the great time we had, and for showing me what good teamwork is all about. I'm already looking forward to meeting all of you, and the rest of the team members, again at the Doux de Coly project in august. Until then!