Projects > Source de Vis 2006 (August)
Push Dive
Latest update: October 9, 2006
Plan B this time!
Originally we wanted to re-explore the Doux de Coly this year, to make sure that we did not miss any tunnel on the previous dives. But for this we would have needed very good visibility, which was (again) not the case.
Brus and Reinhard preparing the RB80 rebreathers.
So we decided to move to Plan B, the Source de Vis. We did a check-out dive to 1500m a few weeks ago to see what is needed logistic-wise and now we were back again to this beautiful valley. We left our bungalows in La Grande Prade near the Coly and drove south-east, around 4 hours to Millau, we left the highway and followed the small roads down to the Vis - valley. It was very hot, the outside thermometer in my van showed 41 degrees Celsius. We directly started to haul the gear. The next day the setup was done and the rebreathers assembled. The morning of the third and last day we got up shortly after six in the morning. The weather looked fine, which was very import for us due to the fact that the rivers in this area may suddenly change water level soon after heavy rainfalls.
We had the usual pasta for breakfast and went to the cave.
Since the entrance is very small only diver after diver can get ready there. Brus ripped his suit so only Reinhard and I finally entered the water to gear up. Our steel-tables could not be used here, so it was a bit more hassle to get into the floating rigs. Due to the fairly short distance of the planned dive we used single rebreathers.
After gearing up we descended, checked the rebreathers and went through the restriction. The bright floodlights of the video-team were a little bit irritating, I could not determine Reinhard's light beam properly. Then we reached our gear deposits and started to pick up the stages, scooters and reels.
A bit crowded in the dry part of the cave, just before the push dive.
We went to 45m where Reinhard took out compass and wetnotes, I lighted him while he was taking the bearing of the line, depth and time. The water was a refreshing 12 degrees Celsius as usual in this area. The caves Gourneyras and Gourneyrou are also nearby, both caves end up in the river Vis, which we are currently diving; a submerged river.
Reinhard put the pencil away and off we went to the next corner were again we took bearing, distance and depth. I checked my bottomtimer, we were already in for 17minutes. The cave here stays in the 60-70m range for a while. In minute 45 we were on the way up again, still surveying. In minute 61 we reached 27m, already plugged into a shallow gas to fit this depth range. After 85 minutes we again reached the limit for the shallow gas and swapped to deep-trimix. These stops took maybe 1 minute, but time was not running, so we did everything concentrated, without a hurry.
Only five minutes later (RT 90) the cave went up again into the 37m range, at 100 minutes we were up again, shallower than 50m.
The water was crystal clear and while illuminating Reinhard's survey notes, I looked around: This cave is so beautiful!
85,3m showed my bottom-timer when Reinhard took another survey stop while I was hovering above him. 108 minutes passed. Patrick Bolagno's line is placed very well, easy to follow. During our last checkout-dive we repaired a few sections, so this time we could move on easily.
Reinhard and Micha starting their descent.
After 2 hours dive time the cave went shallow again. After 133 minutes we reached the bottom of a shaft, the old end of the line of Patrick Bolagno. You can read about his work on Plongeesout.com (in French). We went up the shaft, 10m away from Patrick's line I tied into another rock, we would have pulled Patrick's line straight upwards.
The cave dropped down again, Reinhard was surveying behind me while I was in front, laying line. At 145minutes we had laid 500m of line and due to the big tunnels also directly surveyed it. The beginning of the cave was surveyed by other team members.
The first reel was empty and before I wanted to take out the second reel with another 500m I checked my gauges and decided that we should turn and so I called the dive on gas, since we would not want to touch any bailout at all.
Micha picking up his scooters.
On the way back we were faster, indeed, without laying any line we reached our first real deco-stop at approx. 66m in minute 210 after the dive had started. We did the usual deco-scenario with our standard gases, due to the short deco even without a habitat.
Around 300 Minutes we passed the restriction and the only real thing I missed during deco was the good food we usually have in the habitat. Supporters brought peppermint tea and some gel food, also with the video-guys around it was never boring.
After using the same heating-shirt for around 5 years now, I retired it after the wire broke and replaced it with a new one. I was a little bit chilly during deco, made me thinking about trying 10m of wire with 100W next time.
At 331 minutes runtime we were already on 6m breathing oxygen on our last stop of approximately 50 minutes. After 379 minutes we surfaced and squeezed out of the small opening into the dry part, after being helped out of the breathers by our guys.
Most of our gear was already gone. The team had worked very hard during our deco and once again I was really proud of what could be achieved by a group of enthusiastic people over 3 days.
Since we felt really good we decided to drive back directly in the evening after loading all gear into the van, we did the 4 hours drive back to the Coly on the same day.
Micha