108 m - CAVE Ras Mamlakh.

06.03.2007

On March 25-27, 2006 Andrey Chistyakov and Sergey Andreev gave another series of dives in the context of Ras Mamlakh project. The goal of the series was to explore the shallow water part of the cave, to study the scheme of old guiding ropes, to find the second and the third exits from the cave as well as to explore the deep water part further the guide mark reached by Andrey Chistyakov and Martin Chochrovskiy during their co-diving (see Ras Mamlakh - 103 meters).

March 25, 2006. The maximum depth was 55 meters, the total diving time - 60 minutes. We left Dahab at 07-00 AM. Due to problems at checkpoints we got to the spot quite late. The dive was commenced after the noon. We set the following tasks: first, to familiarize ourselves with the cave (it was the first Ras Mamlakh dive for Sergey), second, to find exit to the sea at 45 meters (one the Polish guys who had been there before told me about) and third, to look around at the shallow water part of the cave. All tasks have been performed.

Configuration of equipment and mixtures:

Andrey Chistyakov:

Steel twin cylinder - 2х15- air

Decompression gas - 12 l., aluminum - EAN50

Decompression gas - 12 l., aluminum - Oxygen, 130 bars (left at canyon, by the cave entrance)

Main light - HID Metallsub with remote head.

Emergency lights- UndewaterKinetics, tiny ones (those I had on my helmet during the previous dive)

Fins - DiveSystem with spring backs LXL.

Wet suit

Two VR3 decompression.

Sergey Andreev:

Steel twin cylinder - 2х12- air

Decompression gas - 12 l., aluminum - EAN50

Decompression gas - 12 l., aluminum - Oxygen, 130 bars (left at canyon, by the cave entrance)

Main light - HID DiveRite with remote head.

Fins - DiveSystem with spring backs LXL.

Dry suit

Two VR3 decompression.

The dive was regular; we have found the exit at 45 meters (unfortunately, it was hardly suitable for passing with equipment), with an old guiding rope down to it.

Dive profile of 25.03.2006 (according to actual data of one of Andrey Chistyakov’s VR3s (black curve - air, green - EAN50):

On March 26, 2006 we explored medium water part of the cave and found the second exit to the sea at 65 meters. Maximum dive depth of Andrey Chistyakov amounted to 75 meters, of Sergey Andreev - 65 meters. The total dive time was about 80 minutes.

Andrey Chistyakov:

Steel twin cylinder - 2х15, Tx18/30

Decompression gas - 12 l., aluminum - EAN34

Decompression gas - 12 l., aluminum - Oxygen, 120 bars (left at canyon, by the cave entrance)

Main light - HID Metallsub with remote head.

Emergency lights - UndewaterKinetics, tiny ones

Fins - DiveSystem with spring back LXL.

Wet suit

Two VR3 decompression.

Sergey Andreev:

Steel twin cylinder - 2х15, Tx16/30

Decompression gas - 12 l., aluminum - EAN36

Decompression gas - 12 l., aluminum - Oxygen, 130 bars (left at canyon, by the cave entrance)

Main light - HID DiveRite with remote head.

Fins - DiveSystem with spring backs LXL.

Dry suit.

Two VR3 decompression.

The dive was regular; we have found an exit to the sea at 65 meters suitable for passing through with equipment. While Sergey Andreev was busy with tying up a guiding rope (this one is white), Andrey Chistyakov went deeper and examined the wall down to the mark of 75 meters. I’d like to note that the 65-meter exit is the largest “window” among the whole system of minor gaps in this part of the cave – and it looks really beautiful! Bright-blue “windows” suddenly emerge from the darkness...

Dive profile of 26.03.2006 according to actual data of VR3 of Andrey Chistyakov (black curve - Trimix, red curve - EAN 34, green curve - oxygen).

On March 27, 2006 we implemented the main dive of the series - the deep dive: Andrey Chistyakov - 108 meters, Sergey Andreev - 105 meters. The total diving time was more than two hours.

Andrey Chistyakov:

Steel twin cylinder - 2х15, TX 11/50
Run- 12 l., aluminum - TX 25/28
Decompression gas - 12 l., aluminum - EAN50
Decompression gas - 12 l., aluminum - Oxygen, 140 bars (left at canyon, by the cave entrance)
Main light - HID Metallsub with remote head.
Emergency lights - UndewaterKinetics, the tiny ones
Fins - DiveSystem with spring backs LXL.
Wet suit
Two VR3 decompression, conservatism - 20%

Sergey Andreev:

Steel twin cylinder - 2х15, TX 11/53
Run - 12 l., aluminum - TX 25/28
Decompression gas - 12 l., aluminum - EAN50
Decompression gas - 12 l., aluminum - Oxygen, 140 bars (left at canyon, by the cave entrance)
Main light - HID DiveRite with remote head.
Fins - DiveSystem with spring backs LXL.
Dry suit.
Two VR3 decompression.

During the dive we have found a long corridor after the turn, besides that, we have found a blue fin which apparently belonged to Peter Pashek. He lost it trying to save Daniel who tragically died in Ras Mamlakh several years ago (the reason of his death was an uncontrolled panic in the shallow water part of the cave; the body was found in a crack under the top of the cave, the cylinders were full). Moreover we have found an unknown silted object, looking like a BCD according to its shape, but we did not try to draw it from the sand. So, now we know that the cave has an extension, and it will very likely take several dozens of dives to approach to revealing the secret of length and depth of Ras Mamlakh. During the dive we made sure that Ras Mamlakh gets muddled from the top and the walls one and for all. When coming back we got to an area in the deep tunnel with a very poor visibility (at depth of more than 100 meters!), which made us a bit nervous.

During the deep dive Sergey experienced two contingencies - failure of one of the VR3s (program malfunction at the bottom) and releasing of breaking disk of EAN50 cylinder valve. Both problems have been successfully resolved - VR3 had been providently doubled (each of us had two), and the minor releasing of the breaking disc was rather irritating than being a big problem.

I was really worried by not seeing Sergey’s light when I looked down at the first deep stop (72 meters). Having waited for Sergey in vain for the due time, I made up my mind to go down for him since I considered that he experienced a serious problem. This is well demonstrated according to the profile of my VR3 – I went back for almost 10 meters down when, at last, I noticed Sergey’s light. Afterwards it appeared that he had been delayed by checking fastening of the guiding rope by the exit from the tunnel. Besides, in contrast to me, he does not speed up rising to the first deep stop. Thus the delay was due to the two reasons. I speeded up my rise up to 72 meters a little bit (to about 15-17 meters per minute) like during the other dives.

We have made a permanent red guiding rope down to the mark of 105 meters.

Profile of dive of 27.03.2006 according to actual data of VR3 (black curve - TX11/50, blue curve - Tx 25/28, red curve - EAN50, green curve - oxygen)

Detailed dive profile in the deep part:

The last schedule evidences that we reached the bottom at 14th minute, and commenced the rise at 16th minute.

After the successful 108-meters dive:

Data of VRs straight after the dive:

 Text by Andrey Chistyakov, Photos by Evgeniy Skvortsov.