It
was a sunny day in Brno in the Czech
Republic. I had booked myself into a
Hotel on the outskirts of town and spent
30minutes walking up and down the road
trying to find Michal Piskula’s,
TDI Czech Republic Office. I finally
found a group of offices and man sitting
in a security hut. He eventually understood
what I wanted, made a quick phone call
and within minutes Michal was there
to welcome me. After what seemed like
months of e-mails and deliberations
on the amount of rainfall and how visibility
in the submerged caves of the Morovian
Kast would be affected a date had been
agreed. I was now here and about to
start my TDI Cave Diving Instructors
Course. Michal Piskula is one of the
few Cave diving Instructor Trainers
in Europe an accomplished caver in his
own right as well as Chairman of the
Czech Speleological Society. He had
opted to run the first half of the course
in the Czech Republic before travelling
south to Budapest in Hungary for some
warmer water and better visibility.
Day
one was started very typically. Lots
of filling in forms, signing disclaimers
and checking qualifications and logbooks.
Two Hungarians, Jozsef Zelenak and Szabolcs
Storozynski, joined me on the course.
I was initially concerned that most
of the discussion would take place in
Czech or Hungarian, assuming the two
languages to be similar (as the countries
are geographically close to each other).
Michal allayed my concerns by stating
that Hungarian was like speaking backwards
and vomiting at the same time! Praise
be to the cave God’s that we used
English the whole time. Michal explained
the programme and it sounded like most
of the waking day would be taken up.
Not only were we going to do a number
of dives but also run through every
aspect of TDI’s cave courses;
Cavern, Introduction to Cave and full
Cave from an instructor’s perspective.
In addition we would be giving lessons
(in and out of the water) and sit all
three TDI cavern and cave course exams!
Once the forms were filled in there
seemed little point in delaying matters
and Michal started with the syllabus.
By
the afternoon we were ready for a break
and Michal took us to a wooded area
just outside town. He laid 40-50m of
line around the trees and bushes, to
represent the main line in a cave, and
asked us to follow it. This is a common
training drill to practise following
a line in bad visibility or having lost
lights but to spice things up Michal
threw in a few “funnies”.
Michal would attach jump lines to the
main line or add extra line arrows to
simulate other divers using the line.
He would raise the line in the air and
then bring it down sharply to simulate
a diver being buoyant and then dropping
ahead or behind you (all done with eyes
shut to simulate bad vis or lights out).
This was the fun part and we enjoyed
laughing at each other predicaments
as Michal continued to ring the changes.
It made a pleasant break but as the
weather changed and it started to rain
thoughts returned to the dives planned
for the next day and the thorny subject
of how good or bad visibility would
be. That night we charged cylinders
and prepared for an early start the
next morning.
On
day two the diving in the Czech Republic
started in the subterranean Punkva River
near its outflow at the Pusty zleb Valley
(Barren Trough). This is a popular tourist
destination and visitors to the caves
usually walk through the dry section
of cave which is richly decorated with
stalagmites and stalactites past the
Mochaca (Step Mother) Abyss, and return
via a boat ride along the underground
course of the river. Because diving
was going to take place in the same
area as the tourist boat rides we had
to dive between 7.00 and 9.30 in the
morning or after 5.00 in the afternoon.
As Michal had some excellent contacts
we were able to park near the landing
stage at the Pusty zleb Valley. Dive
gear was carefully lowered into the
flimsy fibreglass tourist boats and
we headed into the abyss as far as a
landing platform for The Masarykuv Dom
2-300m in.
On
the initial dive I helped Michal lay
150-200m of line. This was to simulate
the main line in the submerged cave
and would be used to practise all the
drills covered in the various stages
of the cave diving syllabus. Visibility
was not great and the bottom was extremely
silty. Michal had devised a number of
procedures for attaching the line. He
used fixed mounting points with screws
(into hand drilled holes) in the cave
wall and aluminium poles pushed into
the silt. Not surprisingly we enjoyed
the best visibility at the start of
the day and things got worse from there
on in! Each day visibility would start
at 1.5 to 2m but would quickly deteriorate
to .5m during the training. On the initial
dives we covered following the line,
lost light drills and out of air situations.
Our diving was only interrupted by the
start of the tourist boats and a dash
back to Brno to fill cylinders and go
over more theory lessons. The arrival
of the boats was a relief in a way as
things tended to get a little cold after
2 hours of diving!
During
the drives to and from the dive site
I was lucky enough to travel with Michal
(Jozsef and Szabolcs following in their
own car). It was during these journeys
that I picked Michal’s brain and
quizzed him on his experiences. I was
amazed to discover that during the late
70’s he had travelled to Florida
at the request of the National Speleological
Society Cave Diving Section (NSS CDS)
and stayed with Scheck Excley (one of
the greats in cave diving). He had convinced
the Czech authorities that this was
a cultural exchange and had been allowed
to escape the “Iron Curtain”.
He regaled tails of sleeping by the
cave sites, of Peacock, Ginnie and Little
River Springs and working part time
to subsidise the trip. I had dived all
these sites but Michal would tell me
how good they had been in the early
days and I regretted not being there.
His time in the States and his position
within TDI explained Michal’s
use of Floridian style back mounted
twin cylinders and his “Hogarthian”
configuration”. But like most
European cave divers Michal is not a
slave to one certain configuration and
sees merit in necessity forcing adaptation.
Day
3 was another early start to beat the
tourist boats. During the dives we went
over lost line drills. For this Michal
used an area of cave with a “clear
surface” (an air pocket above
the water). It was nice to know that
you could surface if you could not find
the line although as potential instructors
we were all keen to impress and it was
an option none of us wanted to consider!
Drills complete we once again rushed
back for cylinder filling and more theory.
Michal kindly put some more detail on
my rather thin understanding of caves
and cave formations. Unlike many in
the UK I had come to cave diving through
diving and not caving and there were
clearly gaps in my education! My cave
diving instructor in Florida had been
a member of the Woodville Kast Plains
Project (WKPP), was a great cave diver
but seemed primarily interested in the
diving and not the speleology (study
of caves). The situation is much better
in the UK where homegrown cave divers
tend to be members of the Cave Diving
Group (CDG) of Great Britain and are
cavers first.
That
night we headed back to the Morovian
Karst to dive the “Forty Meter”
passage (so called because it is 40m
to the deepest point). This was a long
section of passage running from the
Abyss, underground, to the Punkva River.
Access was gained by tourist boat and
care was needed when climbing into the
icy water with kit on. There had been
light rains the night prior and visibility
was less than .5m in places. Michal
had explained that there were a number
of lines and care needed to be taken
not to follow ones running to a deeper
parallel passage beneath.
We
descended and headed into the passage.
After approximately 20m we passed one
of the lines connecting to the deeper
section, looked at it, memorized it
and pushed on. At this point the depth
varied between 6-10m before dropping
away to a steady 12m for approximately
50m. After a further 30-40m the passage
angles down at about 45-60 degrees to
join the deeper section of passage.
At this point there are a couple of
confusing tie offs, which I took careful
note of, as I would be leading the dive
on the way out. The linear penetration
is only 180m from start to finish but
the visibility and presence of a second
passage just underneath it made this
a technically challenging dive. The
entire dive was relatively uneventful,
visibility was a little worse on the
way out but we were soon back at the
boat which was there waiting for us
as we surfaced.
On
day four we loaded up the cars and headed
for Hungary. Here we were to enjoy the
warmer waters of Budapest’s mineral
springs and we swapped dry suits for
wet suits. In Budapest the caves have
not been formed by dissolution of the
limestone from acidic (CO2 rich) rainwater
draining through it but mineral rich
spring water percolating up. This has
resulted in a richly decorated series
of crystal-covered passages. The local
divers had a dive store come clubhouse
under the thermal baths next to the
Danube. Here we completed the lessons
and gave our presentations to each other.
Prior to diving we had to walk the 200-meters
from the baths to the cave entrance
(in full kit). The local populous seemed
non-plused by the sight of us dodging
the cars and trams. It was explained
to me that this was the most dangerous
part of any dive!
Entry
to the water is via a heavy trap door
(padlocked at all times) down a set
of steps and along a water pipe (which
feeds the baths) in 1m of water. This
proved an ideal location to do “Safety”
drills (s-drills: deploying the long
house for air sharing) and bubble checks.
A slight squeeze needs to be negotiated
as divers double back around the water
pipe but after that things get easier.
The first part of the cave is referred
to as the “Old Section”.
A linear penetration of roughly 250m
to a maximum depth of 38m. Parts of
this section are very silty and care
must be taken as one descends to the
deepest sections of cave. There is no
circuit here and any stirring up of
the silt can have dire consequences
on the way out. The Hungarians have
opted to mark the caves with climbing
rope rather than thinner cave line (or
polly pro-line used in the UK). The
rope is colour coded according to depth
and large arrows mark the shortest way
out. Although pulling on the line (or
rope in this instance) is usually discouraged
it is considered preferable here to
damaging the crystal formations in some
of the narrower sections.
On
our first dive we quickly passed through
the “Old Section” through
a slight restriction into the “New
Section”. Here there is a labyrinth
of passages and I found the colour coding
of the ropes did little to help my initial
orientation. The visibility was exceptional
however, often greater than 20m(+) and
was only degraded by the odd thermocline.
Here the silt tended to hang between
the different water temperatures and
visibility could be as little as 1-2m.
Once through the thermocline things
soon improved and the deeper parts of
the cave offered the best of the best
often reaching 30m plus. Care was needed
to avoid percolation when sediment falling
from the ceiling, dislodged by divers
exhaust bubbles can easily ruin the
visibility. With our first dive over
Michal took the opportunity to criticise
us all for our gung-ho attitude. In
the excitement we had forgotten that
we were supposed to be setting a good
example to potential students and had
charged into the cave like men possessed.
The
next day started slowly. The Hungarians
had arranged for some seismic surveys
to be done as they tried to link up
dry and submerged passage. The equipment
looked fairly basic with a box on wheels
linked up to a lap top computer all
powered by a car battery. Despite this
the results looked promising and there
was much talk of blowing through areas
of dry cave and into areas were there
are submerged lakes and passages. Although
fascinating the clock was ticking and
there were dive briefs to do before
we got back in the water. After the
survey and dive brief was complete we
headed back through the traffic to the
caves. This time a more measured approach
was adopted (much to the relief of Michal)
and we carried out stage drills (dropping
and recovering stage cylinders). The
return to the classroom heralded the
start of our presentations. I was given
lectures on cave formations and stress.
Luckily I had taken copious notes (courtesy
of Michal) during his informative presentation
on Karst formations and the hardest
part was deciding what to leave out,
the lecture on the causes and characteristics
of stress was surprisingly stress free
by comparison.
By
day 7 we had completed all the requisite
dives and the opportunity was taken
to go on a “photo shoot”.
Dive protocol was at times overlooked
in order to ensure individuals were
in shot! Michal had picked a number
of locations for the shoots. There was
a section of passage with a large open
arch in it and another section known
as the Christmas Tree passage as the
sides of the cave resembled an avenue
of fir trees. After the dive revision
for the final exam was delayed as we
poured over the shots (the benefit of
digital photography and a lap top).
In the afternoon Szabolcs took me on
a second dive as we explored some of
the less travelled areas. After a reasonably
lengthy swim (with stages) passed a
couple of restrictions I was amazed
to reach the up-coiled end of the line
signifying the maximum point of penetration
to date and was very aware the Hungary
still boasted areas of passage yet to
be explored.
The
next day Szabolcs and I squeezed in
1 last dive in the “Old Section”
which I had not fully explored. There
was then a period of last minute panic
revision prior to the exam that afternoon.
The exam itself (in reality 3 - cavern,
intro cave and cave) was pleasantly
strait forward in comparison with the
depth of knowledge needed to instruct.
The fact that the papers were in English
definitely gave me an unfair advantage
over my Hungarian buddies and I managed
to finish well ahead of them. Day 8
saw us go through the paper and it was
reassuring to know that we had all comfortably
passed. That done I loaded my gear into
the car and said my goodbyes and started
the long drive back to Belgium where
I am currently living. I greatly enjoyed
the course and feel a richer man for
my journeys with Michal Piskula. Since
qualifying as an Instructor I have run
courses in the Lot and Dordogne and
am presently trying to find new sights
to teach and train in Belgium and NE
France.
Useful
Contacts:
For
those who want to give cave diving a
go or want to apply for an instructor
trainer course the following contacts
will be useful:
Hungary:
Jozsef Zelenak at tdisdi@axelero.hu
or Tibor Tihanyi (who speaks very good
English) on tibor.tihanyi@freemail.hu
Czech Republic: Michal Piskula can be
contacted on michal@tdisdi.cz and his
web site is at www.tdisdi.cz. He is
a TDI cave diving instructor and instructor
trainer.
UK: Martyn Farr runs courses and is
also a TDI Cave Diving Instructor Trainer.
Martyn’s web site is at www.farrworld.co.uk
and he can be e-mailed on Martyn@farrworld.co.uk
Belgium and France: Guy Wallis can be
contacted on Gwa3795011@AOL.com
Credits:
Underwater shots in Hungary courtesy
of Michal Piskula
Land based shots courtesy of Szabolcs
Storozynski
All other shots Guy Wallis
