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Jamaican Caving Notes |
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Nov 8, 2003 DEESIDE CAVE Field notes: I. C. CONOLLEY Cavers: I. C. Conolley, M. Taylor. S. Surana (Continued from Cool Garden 2) And on we went again, this time to Deeside Roaring River Cave. It would have been by miles a closed run to Deeside across Maroon Town and the usual route we take over the hills but having come up the nice paved road and realizing the time taken was pretty fast I decided to do the longer distance and run through Montego Bay. So it was back down the hill through Granville to MoBay. But rather than going through the city and around to Falmouth we went back into the hills turning as Westgate Plaza and going through Adelphi and into Wakefield. Here we hit the junction with the Falmouth to Deeside road, hung a right and were on to Deeside. In no time we were on the slope scrambling up to the cave mouth. The track seems to be used by farmers so it is worn, though not very, and at a point you've got to hang a left and get off to the cave mouth. Otherwise you may end up in someone’s farm, I imagine - never made the mistake myself. But here we were at the cave entrance and descending by simple hand and leg climb down eight feet and on into the cave. There were a lot of stalagmites growing out of the cave floor in all different shapes and forms only waiting on the imagination to give them life. The stalactites draining down from the ceiling of the cave were equally interesting and arresting to the imagination. I led at this stage with Sanjay behind and Mali bringing up the rear. Aha.. here was the first squeeze. Pull off knapsacks. I toss the bag through the hole and then follow it on my stomach crawling, or rather slithering through the gap. It is a small hole. The "full size" person may have difficulty here. Sanjay and Mali are through and we move on. We now come to the thirty-five foot drop. We gear up. We are all going down. Sanjay has got his practise on a shorter drop. Now he is ready for a more challenging descent. He is put on belay as well. I go down first, send up my descender to Mali, and down comes Sanjay. Mali has helped him to put on the descender and he is down. No problem. Then down comes Mali and we are on our way again. More of the same interesting limestone formations added to which are massive folds of limestone on the cave walls like so much drapery spread across the sides to block the plain, raw, ageing limestone wall. We move on. The cave ceiling is diminishing and the stalactites tightening in on us dropping like stakes from the top to prevent our passage. But we are undaunted. Yet we must now face an even tighter squeeze. There is flagging here by earlier cavers. Yes Stef I see your flagging! Yes we are to go through there. But where???? As you look down and in there is no evident passage. It's an L turn. You lie on your stomach slither in twist to the left and pull yourself through and you are out. "Wind and Twist corner". We are all three through. Mali is in the lead and we continue on periodically coming across flagging. It is a complex cave and one may easily take a "wrong" turn. But the intrepid cavers cave on. We are now seeing water at the lower level hang a left and continue on. The boulders are bigger now and less stalactites. We had passed a stal with some calcite at its base, shining and glistening against our headlamps. Mali goes up a rise and announces the end of the cave. There is a hole here he says and I imagine it to be the hole at the bottom of which there would be the water that feeds into the Roaring River. But why no sound? I imagine that the water is way above the drainage hole, and while it is feeding out, the sound of it falling on the rocks below is stifled by the body of water above it. We acknowledge the terminus and spin around. We are on the trek back. I see an opening and decide to investigate, flagging as I go. The others follow. Suddenly we are out, as it seems, on the main passageway. But how? But it does not look familiar. Aha then we look down. There is the lower streamway and there is a piece of our flagging tape on the rock below. We have somehow found ourselves at an upper level of the passageway. It would be hard going from here, so we retrace our steps and are back on the main highway of the cave. We are through Wind and Twist Corner and trudging on - the intrepid cavers. Then to the drop. We are ascending now and it is time to take the climb. We have one set of ascenders so must share this. Mali goes up first and sends down the jumars. I rig Sanjay and give him a crash course in ascending. He picks it up fast. We recite and them implement the mantra, "sit down, push up, stand up... sit down, push up, stand up", and in so doing you reach the top. But it is not easy because the wall of the cave is irregular, with many folds and gaps, and absolute caution and care has to be taken on moving up. Long sleeves would have been advisable here as the rocks are sharp. I bumped my knee on one occasion. But we made it all up and hiked on again. Through the tight squeeze and out into the ....open??? Shouldn't there be light? This is the mouth of the cave??? No??? Aha, it's night. Yes. It is late. We have been in this cave for a long time. It is about seven o'clock. So much for the possibility for doing another cave today, but it has been good. We scramble down the steep incline to the road and into the car. We are off to the Last Resort, to a shower and food and sleep. But there is a stop before. Yes, Miss Lilly's. Lilly greets us effusively and rushes from around the counter of the shop to Sanjay to get the hug that Stef sent for her. He gives it and seems to get one in for himself as well. Meetings and greetings and drinks. And we move on again to Windsor. It's been a long day, and tiring, but the type of exhaustion that makes you feel psychologically energized and ready again for caving tomorrow. (More notes for Deeside Roaring River Cave) |
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