Artur Kozlowski and I had a successful trip to Spain this August. Over a two week period we dived in Fou de Bor where we’d been previously and also looked at a site new to us – Molino near Matienzo.

Last year we passed the elbow of the sump at -80m and ended our line at -35m in a steeply ascending passage. Our final dive had been five hours and so we went well prepared for long deep dives. After a day of carrying kit we made our first dive, a short setup dive. We staged two Ali80’s of O2 at 6m and two 7ltr bottles of EANx30 and EANx38 at 33m and 40m respectively – about 380m from base.
On our second dive we were accompanied by Joel BV who wanted to do some filming. After the first 100m of passage we waved goodbye to our cameraman and headed off for the end of the line. I used my chestmounted rebreather, 12ltr of 10/55 and 12ltr of EANx33 and Artur used his Megalodon rebreather, Ali80 of 9/58 and Ali80 of EANx32. We got passed our deep point of 80m found last year with only a maximum depth of 78m. The visibility was much better and Artur reached the end of the line first at -35m and we followed the cave upto -12m completing deep stops on route. Here some horizontal passage was followed to -10m. After a short descent the cave headed up again and it looked like it might surface. My VR3 said we only had half an hour of stops - it looked like everything was going perfectly!. However just at this point a long gradual descent began. After 260m of new line the cave was back down at -44m and Artur finished his reel. I tied on my reel and ran out another 70m until -52m was reached and we called it a day. We ended up with a total dive time of four hours with 330m of new line laid.

After swapping kit around we headed back in for a second push dive – this time also taking an extra cylinder of TMx to be staged after the first deep section. We also felt we needed to do some survey work but combining this survey job with pushing was not ideal and where as previously the total time to surface once through the deep section had been half an hour the extra time taken with the survey meant this had already doubled before we’d even reached the end of the line. At 800m from base one of my PPo2 displays flooded and combined with the extra deco this was enough of an excuse to turn back. There was still survey work to be done in the deep section and if we split up we could both achieve an extension to the cave and the crucial survey. Artur therefore headed on till he reached our previous limit at -52m where a fresh reel was tied on. After a short shaft down to -65m two ways on could be seen – up an ascending canyon to the right or down a smaller passage to the left. Looking for depth Artur chose left and found himself at -96m shortly afterwards and in a massive chamber. He described the cave at this point as a massive collector and what looked like several passages coming in. Having now laid 140m of new line and bearing in mind he was now over 1km into the sump he called it a day. In total I ended up with a 5hour dive whilst Artur was in the water for over 6hours. The survey was completed upto 800m though the end of the line is now 1050m from base at -96m.

Via a quick stop off in Pozo Azul (where the team were preparing for their own exploration) we headed for Matienzo and our second target – Cueva Molino. This is a site which was previously explored by Rupert Skorupka in 1997 and 2007 where he’d left the end of the line at 80m Xm in. Between carrying kit in and the day of the dive the water level increased by some 3-4m. This meant much of our equipment was below water when we arrived for our first dive. However visibility was still acceptable and after establishing that the water level was dropping rather than rising we decided to dive.

Oxygen bailout (Ali80) and underwater mp3 player were dropped for deco and an Ali80 of EANx 50 was also staged for deco bailout. We placed these slightly deeper than usual incase the water level should drop significantly. With my rebreather I was diving one 12ltr of EANx32 and one 12Ltr of TMx 12/50 whilst Artur had two Ali80’s of TMx for bailout. All these bailout cylinders were regarded as communal should the worst case scenario happen.

On route to the end of the line at approximately -60m I picked up a survey slate and after establishing that Artur had not just dropped it presumed it was R. Skorupkas from 2007 (or earlier). Taking a few survey notes on the way it was only after the first new belay that the diver realised AK was laying line – having picked up RS’s old reel from under a rock he’d simply carried on swimming. Now down at -85m and after about 80m more diving this ran out and AK tied on his own reel. The depth increased steadily with an elbow in the sump being reached at -96m. After a slight ascent to -93m I grabbed Arturs fin and indicated that we ought to be heading back as my dive computer was already showing 2hours of decompression – and we still needed to go back through the deep section. The line was tied off and an uneventful exit made. Deco was reasonably pleasant with the water temperature an acceptable 11 degrees Heated vest and mp3 player were also put to good use to make the stops more comfortable. In total 125m of new line was laid on this dive and we made it to the ‘bakers bar’ just in time for a midnight snack with our waiting friends.

For our final dive two more bailout cylinders - an extra Ali80 of TMx and some EANx60 were taken underwater along with the other bailout cylinders. I decided to limit my dive to a small extension into new territory (in case the sump started to rise sharply when I might go further) so that I could concentrate on getting some good survey data. AK on the other hand grabbed all the spare line he could find (400m) and headed for the end of the line. Despite the fact that I was doing a quick survey job on the way down we ended up at our previous limit at the same time, where the extra Ali80 of TMx was staged. Water levels were slightly lower making the elbow of the sump -93m. After 30m of new line was laid I felt I’d stayed long enough, the depth was still -85m with no sign of suddenly rising so I turned back. AK carried on and of course then the sump started to come up! After about another 100m he was at -60m and reached what appeared to be a blank wall. After a brief look around the only way was up! A fine shaft was ascended for close to 30m where the roof was encountered before the diver found the side passage heading off horizontally. Using up his remaining line he followed this until the depth reached -12m. Having laid 400m of new line AK turned back and surveyed out until the TMx bailout cylinder at -90m was reached.

I was at -6m when AK arrived at -9m and after clearing my decompression obligations I went to retrieve the unwanted TMx cylinders and carry them out. Total dives were 4hrs 15 and 6 hours 15 respectively.

We need to thank the teams of dry cavers who helped us move diving kit whilst in Spain, David Magdalena, Joel BV, Ramon Canella anf friends, Simon Cornhill, Di Arthurs and Steve Martin, Juan Corrin, Ian Chandler, Jim Davis, John Dickinson, Peter Smith and Andy Quinn.