SLOVAKIA 2001 - TRIP REPORT 3

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The week has passed very quickly. It is a Friday when we pack our gear and go back to east Slovakia to dive our last cave, Skalisty Potok. We arrive at our destination around midnight. Tired, we go to bed right away and hope for good dive next morning. Waking at 8am, we grab something to eat and then drive the cars for about 15min to the area of Skalisty Potok. The entry of the cave is again protected by steel bars. At first we venture in with only our flashlights to check out our entry point. We walk about 10m/33ft straight and then down some steep steps. The next 20m/66ft is through a very narrow tunnel and finally we discover a small pond with crystal clear water. We return back to our cars to setup the equipment. The area around the cave is covered with trees and grass. We park about 50m/160ft from the entrance. The rest of the way we have to walk through a narrow path and the last 6m/20ft through the basin of the river. As we prepare our gear I noticed again the home made style of equipment of our Slovakian buddies. Helmets with three lights, harness with no buoyancy device, etc....
We talk about our dive plan. Yoko and I would go in first. The reason for this is simply the clarity of the water. We plan to do some filming, and know that after we go through visibility will go down. At this cave it is not matter of swimming technique, but being able to negotiate the terrain. There are passages where you have to climb over the rocks and through narrow holes. At this time of the year, the water level is very low. It is more crawling than swimming. Jozo and his dive buddy would follow as the second team. Our surface support will be Ivan, one of my best friends since kindergarten, and his girlfriend Martina.
	After we check everything and set up the camera with lights we begin walking toward the cave. I am thinking to myself: "why I'm doing this?". I had known that it would be miserable. Cold water, hard climbs with the camera and the tanks on my back, and close to zero visibility on the way back. I guess the feeling of real adventure and desire to do something challenging, helps me to continue.
A short walk and I am boiling in the dry suit, and happy to submerge into the 8C/48F water. It takes us 5 minutes to put on the fins and adjust the lights and cameras. Then we head under and through "sifon" #0. I duck down and come back to the surface on the other side. We can see a narrow passage with many small and big rocks sticking out of the water. (This was, by the way, the worst and most difficult part of the cave - or at least the part which we could see).
I have to push the camera in front of myself, and Yoko can see only my butt sticking out of the water. The visibility is down. After a few meters we reached a deeper section. I let Yoko go first and I follow. Visibility is much better and I can finally get some shots. We swim into "sifon" #1, and I notice a second line which is running along. We found out later it was a telephone cable used for expeditions during the many years of exploration. If the weather changes, the underground river could rise and change the 22 "sifons" (total length of 4895 meters/16150 ft) into a single flooded cave. This could take lives of many explorers, hence the telephone line.
	The maximum depth we reach is about 3m/10ft. The depth changes from deeper to as shallow as 0.5m/2ft. It takes us about 20min to get to the end of the first flooded part ("sifon") of the cave. We surface and rest for few minutes. Our plan is not to go any farther, and just swim around and try to explore and film some of the side passages. In a few moments we hear the voices of the second team. We wait and film them as they progress into the cave. As they reach our resting place the visibility changes to about 0.3m/1ft. We decide to continue to the "sifon" #2 hoping for better visibility. In order to submerge again we have to climb over the muddy and rocky hill. On the other side is a very steep and slippery slope which we slide down using a safety rope, installed by previous explorers. As I begin the decent I slip and slam the video light straight into the rock at the bottom. The light is broken, and I am angry the journey into the cave is over.
We turn around and let second team continue. We return on our back up lights through very low visibility. I am happy to see the daylight. The second team reached "sifon" #7. It took them around 1.5 hours. Conclusion The Slovakian caves are cold, hard to get through, muddy, challenging and beautiful at the same time. If you have some doubts about your diving skills, emergency management or physical fitness, you should definitely stay away from them. Our trip is over, and we consider it a success. But it wouldn't be right to take all the credits for ourselves. We have to thank the following companies and people for their help and support: Mundo Acuatico+ BW Films Mobbys USA, Halcyon - doing it right manufacture Production: Ivan Lendvay Marian Skotnicky Guiding and support: Jaroslav Stankovic Robert Korim Jozo Glivniak Marian -Majdo- Majercak Expedition Video - Online video from Slovakia 2001 Expedition. Expedition Photos - Some more photos, or visit our photo gallery. Report 1 2 3