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Jamaican Caving Notes |
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Jan 25, 2004 THATCHFIELD GREAT CAVE Field notes: I. C. CONOLLEY Cavers: I. C. Conolley, R. S. Stewart, S. McCall, M. Bellinger It is Sunday now. January 25, 2004, and we are on our way to St. Ann - Thatchfield Great Cave. We meet a young man in the area - turned out to be his birthday who lived and had family living near the cave. He volunteered to take us and told us among other interesting things that he had worked in the hotel business and would really like to get business to take tourists to this cave, if they would come. One would have to see. Seems though one of the guys you meet who you wish something could work out for. As it turns out, when we found the second entrance, and Stefan went back for Sarah, he also came along and it was an adventure. He in his regular shoes and dress pants making his way through the guano and mud. But back to the hole. One of the entrances is a wide and deep sinkhole. The opening was about 50X 50 and the depth about 180. There is Stef, Mark, Sarah and myself. It is a fantastic cave. At first we probe around and eventually find another entrance. Stef, Mark and myself have roped down. Sarah remained up top. Stef went around for her and also lowered the rope as we would not have to use it to go back up. We then all tracked back in and went in to the main passageway. This is where the water travelled. You could see the water course and the mud. There was no water now. It was not the rainy season. We tracked on what seemed to be an eternity, thinking we would soon come to the choke. It was massive bringing to mind the Windsor Great Caves but, and here I pause not readily willing to admit it, but.... much bigger and consistently so. The bat population must number in the ten thousand category - absolutely unbelievable. However, if you were caught in this cave in a storm and storm waters pouring through the weight of water would wash you to kingdom come. And where is kingdom come. We eventually got there. It was another sink. Our lights could not penetrate to the depths and it seemed excessively muddy. Sure sign to foul the ascent gear. Today would not be the day to do this one. Besides it was already late. It was close to five and time to start making our way back. It has been explored to this point and mapped. We will come back another time and continue the work. Stef and myself looked for possible spots for tying off ropes. They existed. Yes it was doable. We would be back. We asked the birthday boy how he was doing. He was excited to have come on this escapade with us. and somehow managed not to slide in the mud in spite of the type of shoes he wore. We made our way out before nightfall but did not quite clear the pasture and yes, this time I was caught by ticks. By now it was getting dark and we exchanged pleasantries with the birthday gentleman and made our way out. That was Thatchfield Great Cave and it was worth every moment of it. |
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