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Jamaican Caving Notes |
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Nov 9, 2003 WINDSOR CAVE Field notes: I. C. CONOLLEY Cavers: I. C. Conolley, M. Taylor. S. Surana, R. Stirling It's Sunday and we have a good breakfast compliments of Rona, (who also had dinner ready for us yesterday after the Saturday caving at Cool Garden 2 and Deeside Roaring River). She is caving with us today. I pick up Mali and we are off. We drive to the track and start the hike along the trail to the mouth of the cave. We are hearing water. Is the trail blocked? That happens sometimes in the rainy season. We walk on. No, its clear but just about. The water is cascading not six feet below from the very rocks we walk on. There are several openings on the rocks, and the water gushes out of the wall of this great precipice on the left, through this natural rock bridge, and into the valley below. The water churns as it falls and gurgles into a rainy period river course. We walk on, or should I say climb, as we often have to pause to hold on to rocks or tree trunks to continue the journey. We get to the mouth of the cave and are hit be the gusting wind funneling out. It is cool, it is like the rushing air from an air-conditioning unit. Lights on and we are in. We see the sharp, invisible, fine wire, one inch mesh frame used to catch bats. Who is doing this??? Doesn't this hurt or kill them. I hope whoever is doing this knows what they are doing. Already the mosquitoes that are usually home at nights afraid of the bats are now out biting day and night. Could it be that the bat population is dwindling. Hope they are not being disturbed by the people who catch them. After all these mammals must have some smarts to know that you got to move is people keep pestering you. Ironic that humans should be the "pest". so maybe that have been making arrangements for alternate accommodation and are letting go their old lease for a new one. At least the walk foot visitors to the cave tended to run from them than attack them. These people are attacking. * But so be it. We walk in and on. The beauty of the cave and its massiveness is at once evident. Sanjay is behind and I point it out. He moves on and periodically I turn to see him observing the marvelous configurations of the stals as we move through. We pass the place where tourists stop. Sanjay is not a tourist. He is an intrepid caver. He got this distinction yesterday having gone through two challenging caves and using the ropes descending and ascending. We finally get to the thirty foot drop. We hear water. We will try to get to the lower streamway to determine how deep the water is there. So moving right along. We are at the thirty foot drop and prepare for the descent. Mali has done this so many times he could do it in his sleep. He gets up and down this without equipment - just a rope. But we want to see the lower streamway and this will require equipment so he gears up anyway. We all gear up. Rona is to stay on top. She has no easy task today. She will later help with belaying. I am down first, and then come Sanjay and Mali. But the second rope is still up there. I figure I can get up quickly and carry it down. Couid intrepid caver Rona do it? I did not trust the mud... too much of it. The rope would not make it all the way down. I start up. Oho... mud on the rope. I keep cleaning off the mud and ascending. Everything getting clogged up... jumar slipping… too much mud. But I am off the bad patch and decide not to use the jumars and clog them up. I pull myself up, wipe the jumars and send them down. We are not going to fool around. There is too much mud and the more we use the rope, the more muddy it will get, saturated with the mud so the jumars will not hold. So we are coming up. I give Sanjay specific instructions as to how to gear up. With Mali's help he gets through and starts up. He is nearly over the bad section when I realize the jumars are slipping badly so it is not gripping for him. I tie off a rope, climb down and attach the end to the ‘biner on his belt... just where the ascenders are attached. The knot is secure. He is still on the main rope and I get back up to the top. I had explained to him that I was going to pull him up. With him still on the main rope, I now get off the belay rope and rig a belay. Rona is on one end. The rope is turned twice on the belay support so Rona does not have much pressure and she has the leisure of pulling in to take up the slack. I position myself in sight of Sanjay and, with a secure foothold, pull up on the rope. Rona systematically takes in the slack so I cannot be pulled back down, neither accidentally, nor by Sanjay's weight. We do this continuously till he is at the top. Mali is in shape. As we shout, “off rope” he is on it and scrambles up all the way with the help of the rope. Sanjay is amazed. We are all mud. Later, people coming into the cave would have marveled if there could be any mud left back there. But all was well. We tied up the ropes and were off, retracing our steps. What of the lower streamway? Mali had peeked over the side. There was no sign of water. This meant that the water was still way below, but the thunderous sound it was making meant that the flow was heavy and possibly high in the streamway itself. We were out. It was tiring but eventful. It was a river bath and a snack and off to Mobay. Until again INTREPID CAVER Sanjay!!! * Editor's note: This is a harp net being used as part of a bat monitoring project that takes place monthly. It causes no harm to the bats. RSS (More notes for Windsor Caves) |
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