January 2010 China Cave Diving Exploration
Written by PSAI Instructor Wang Yuan
PSAI training director Steve Chan organized a cave dive expedition to GuangXi Province from 6th January to 10th January 2010. PSAI instructor Kuo, WangYuan and Arncie joined the expedition. The Local guide is my friend “pirate captain”. We explored 6 dive sites around the capital of GuangXi province and dived 3 of them. We named the three dive sites as CobraCave, CatfishCave and Dragon Pond.
The Cobra Cave is named after an diver who died not long before in GuangXi because of stroke in shallow water. His ID on internet is Cobra. So we memorialized him by naming the cave as Cobra cave. We made two dives there. On the first dive we reached the depth of 50m using stage tanks. We found that is a dead end, only an impassible small hole with weak flow. Obviously this is not the place where water comes out. On the second dive, we dived another entrance nearby the first. At 30m depth we saw the line we laid on the first dive. We connected the two lines to form an interesting traverse route. When we ascended, we saw another passage with clear blue water. Considering the gas left and deep dive decompression, we decided to leave that passage for next expedition. This cave has narrow entrance and very thick silt.
Catfish Cave is named after many catfish we saw during the dive. We are the first to explore that cave. Before our dive, some villagers said the cave will be more than 40m deep and has a big chamber. Some villagers said there are antiques in water. We are very eager to reveal the truth. In winter the water level is very low and the villagers have a powerful machine to pump the water for drinking. We have to use the rock climbing gear such as safety harnesses, ropes, ATC etc. to lower down the dive equipment and divers. Steve Chan showed his stamina and strong arms to us by helping to drop and lift the gears and divers. I think he will be strong enough to dive in his seventies, Just like Hal Watts. The cave is narrow and we descended along the fissure to around 16m deep. We found the rocky bottom. Along one side of wall, we found a fissure and a small passage just big enough for us to explore. We laid the permanent lines inside the passage because of the poor visibility and narrow passage. We got back when we arrived the depth of 21m. Then we explored the fissure. It reminded me of the pictures Gary Taylor shot in Luraville Spring sidemount cave – a narrow and beautiful crack. We decided to dive the cave again in summer when the water level is higher and visibility is better.
The third dive sites was Dragon Pond. A very deep pond exceeds 200m. We dived to a max depth of 50m and saw many beautiful rock formations like overhangs and a small cavern. The visibility was not good, but the mist on the surface is very nice. It looks like we are diving in heaven.
We checked other ponds in Fu Sui County. They are obviously with great potential to connect with an underground river. Because the time schedule and poor vis of this season. We decided to leave them for summer exploration. Although we did no dive there, the country view of Guangxi is already beautiful and rewarded our team.
2010年1月，PSAI教练 陈来发 黄定国 王远 ARNCIE 一同前往广西南宁进行洞穴探险活动，此次活动的后勤工作由当地潜水爱好者海盗负责，由于他完善的后勤支持和向导，我们顺利的考察了6处洞穴，进行了4次洞穴潜水。我们考察的主要地区是金陵 扶绥 那桐 和龙潭。
首先探索的是金陵水潭的洞穴，这个潭中冒出的水排入了右江，出水量也算是相当大了。第一潜我们使用STAGE来延长我们的潜水时间和距离，我们到达了50米的深度之后，发现了走入一条死路，但是有一个无法穿越的小洞有少许水流出来，显然这水流只是洞内循环，不是主要出水口。第二潜我们从另一个洞口进入，但是在下潜到30米左右时，我们发现了第一次架设的路绳，又再次走到了死路。但是我们也算是找到了国内第一个洞穴的循环路线。当我们上浮过程中，我在20米 深度又发现了一条隧道，远处是蓝蓝的水，也许就是真正的水流源头，无论如何，这个洞穴系统应该是很庞大的，有那么大的出水量，但是在洞中却没有水流的感 觉，并且很厚的泥尘也表示现在我们探索的地方并不是主要出水口。带着遗憾我们决定下次再走另一条路，远处蓝蓝的水仿佛是一种摆脱不了的诱惑。这个洞穴的名 字我们决定用南宁已故教练COBRA来命名——Cobra cave
我们前往的第二个洞穴是那桐方村的夹缝，这里有个抽水房，几千人的饮用水都是从这里抽出。但是冬天水位很低，水面离入水处有5-6米高，我们只有使用安全带，绳索等工具将气瓶和潜水员放下去，夹缝不过一米多宽，非常狭窄，但是水面的能见度还不错。有人传说有90米深，有人说40米有个洞室，但是没有洞穴潜水员进行过探索，只有我们去验证。我们也非常好奇下面的结构，是不是越来越宽？是不是有洞室和通道存在？下潜后为了避免LINE TRAP而无法从狭小的石缝通过，我们的引导绳垂直下到底后，我们开始沿着石缝前进，发现裂缝在十几米处深终止，并不象传说的一直可以下潜，但是在15米深右侧墙壁发现了右边墙壁有一个通道和一个裂缝，而且能见度不断下降。我们先进入了通道，里面有很多鲶鱼，灰尘并不大，意味着这里和地下河相连接。通道比较狭窄，还有几条狭窄岔口，我们选择了一条，继续向下，到达21米左右有条水平通道，我们沿着该通道前进了少许，因为能见度低，狭窄的原因，我们留下了路线绳后，返回进行另一个裂缝的探索。裂缝比较狭窄，仅够一人勉强通过，前进了20米左右，虽然看到前方还有路继续前进，考虑到剩余气量，我们返回路线绳并开始上浮。之后就是费力的工程，将装备和人员吊上去，多亏了STEVE和海盗的帮忙，一切都很顺利。也许在夏天水位很高时能见度会有所改善，并且人员更容易入水，那时我们再来进行探索。这个洞我们取名叫做鲶鱼洞。
第四潜我们选择了龙潭，据说是非常深的谭水，清晨由于气温低，水温高，形成了水面烟雾缭绕。我们沿着石壁下到50米深，已经基本看不到光线了，石头奇型怪状，有很多OVERHANG，估计这里也和地下河连接，由于面积太大，我们无法找到洞穴入口。
我们还前往了扶绥探察了另外的几个洞但是由于时间原因和能见度问题，我们没有下潜，但是沿途广西的美丽田园风光已经让我们很满足了。在夏天，水位较高时，我们也会再来的，因为从水面状况来看这几个洞穴都很有可能和地下河相连。希望水位高时能见度能有所改善。
