CROATIA 2006
The expedition in Croatia follows the
traces of those of the preceding years, made easier by the already existing
contacts and by the friendships already struck up. Also the general knowledge of
the territory and the exploratory foretaste of some sources, enables us to have
a clear idea of where it is advisable to start the expedition.
The greatest unknown factor which is
impossible to avoid is the weather and in our case it means more or less
abundant rains, a more or less strong current, more or less poor visibility and
so on.
In this expedition I am with Jean
Jacques and other friends as Alberto, Davide, Lorenzo and Valeria who will help
us for some time during the expedition; we belong to the expedition organized by
the Croatian speleologists named “Zermania” that will give us precious
indications and will help with the transport of our materials which normally is
not a very easy iob.
Before reaching Croatia, we stop in
Brescia at the Giòsub where I pick up some new powerful underwater illumination
equipment, and in Trieste, to make some changes in my rebreathers Voyagers,
directly in the head office Aquatek. During the winter and the spring I have
focused on the adjusting of a "bulky" closed circuit completely overflowing, to
wear on the back, suitable for dives in environments of big dimensions and on
another more practical side circuit, that is carried as if it were a relay tank
and it allows the maximum mobility in narrow environments or in environments
where it is necessary to carry the equipments in aerial zones for a long time,
even if the respiratory comfort is penalized because of its position.
Knowing previously the morphology of the
hollow that we are going to explore, it is necessary to have two alternatives.
In Croatia, the first place that
interests us, is Racovica, a small town situated next to the Bosnian border not
very far from Plitvice, where is located the homonymous spectacular natural park
undisputed destination of numerous tourists.
Our reference man is Alan Milosevic who
has remained at the base camp perfectly organized for the speleological
explorations of the caves in the neighbourhood.
The first source for us is Sinjac, that
is located in the village of Jezero (lake); to reach it we must go past a
half-deserted highland about 800 meters high; we notice one first great
difference in comparison to two years ago: in fact we observe that several
houses have been restructured and the Bosnian people that lived there before the
hard Yugoslavian conflict, little by little are returning to live there.
Toward the end of the highland, on the
left of our road, there is an enormous green lawn that replaces the lake that is
formed by the rains in winter and spring periods. We go down to about 400 meters
and as soon as we enter the little village, we take the excavated road that will
take us near the lake formed by the spring; we cover the last two hundred meters
in a lawn whose grass outstands the height of the bonnet of my car and, after
having parked at about ten meters from the entrance of the source, we go to see
the conditions of the water. The pleasant surprise is to find it incredibly
clear: Lorenzo will take many photos helped by such a favorable situation.
This has been the fourth attempt in the
last two years and for the first time, putting my head underwater, I can see the
whole entrance well, beautiful, with considerable erosions and the trunk of a
tree that during the preceding dives, when there was little visibility it seemed
threatening and now it is alone stately: the tallest branches depart from a
depth of .3 meters and the final part of the trunk goes down to a depth of over
20 meters; below at a depth of.41 meters a wheelbarrow fallen in the spring in
1936 makes beautiful show of itself, for the joy of Lorenzo, and its wheels
still turn when you push them.
In the following days, for all the five
days of the exploration, the weather is very changeable alternating sunny spells
to storms and heavy rainfalls that flooded the roads dragging gravel and mud and
drenching us when we moved from our cars to the entrance of the source.
However the visibility for the first
meters is still good and so besides being facilitated in the exploratory
penetration, also the photographic repertoire becomes rich of documentations on
the morphology and on the biology. At the end of the dives devoted to the
photos, Lorenzo and Alberto go back home; one more dive is necessary to make the
route in the source safe.
While I remain in the camp to prepare
the equipments, the others, Jean Jacques, Alen, Davide and Valeria that in the
meantime have reached us are very helpful according to their competence; above
all Jean Jacques takes care of the arrangement of the material for the
progression and of the decompessive safety line. For Davide and Valeria this is
the first time in this source, therefore they are free to take a first contact
with the source making a dive in the initial well.
When everything is ready, the night
brings me the last precious suggestions. During the first exploratory dive, I
go down into the well vertically, I follow the slant tilted of 45° along which
besides the stones and the gravel, I also find bottles, pots, shoes in great
quantity. At a depth of.85 meters., where Jean Jacques has left the emergency
tank, the rock is sometimes light, sometimes dark and its section of about 7m./
8m. I horizontally go past an expanse about twenty meters long and 1.5 meters
high, I can recognize the point, I am close to the limit of my previous last
year’s exploration.
The line ends tied to a jag of rock:
I’m at a depth of 119 meters and at 203 meters of distance from the entrance.
Quickly I take the end of the line from the reel, I tie it with the already
existing line and I can begin to explore the new passage. The gallery widens so
much that I can’t see the opposite wall; the dense water, the wall and the muddy
bottom prevent partially the penetration of the light of my torches HID by 10W.
After a horizontal passage 50 meters long, I find myself at a depth of .130
meters.; I decide to go back.
Davide, who is the main supporter of my
decompression stops, meets me when I’m at a depth of.21 meters bringing me warm
tea and the spare batteries for my electric heated jacket. The dive has lasted
17' and the total time of decompresion necessary to resurface has been 120'.
To continue the exploration, I decide to
use an underwater propeller and, while I am reorganizing my equipments, Jean
Jacques goes to position it at a depth of 115 meters of depth, in a point where
the course of the gallery is almost horizontal. In the very vertical passages
the propeller would penalize the rapidity of my descent.
On August the first I resume the
exploration with my double circuit with which I feel more at ease; I reach the
propeller only 5' from my departure, I position myself in the front of it thanks
to a change introduced by Jean Jacques: it is the first time that I have used it
with this system, but immediately I feel at ease feeling it perfectly balanced
between my legs.
After a comfortable route about seventy
meters long, I reach a depth of 134 meters.: I am forced to abandon the
propeller tying it to the line, because the progression becomes more delicate:
the gallery starts sloping down again with a strong inclination and I prefers
to swim softly with my fins. I take control of the partial pressure of the
oxygen, at every anchorage I inevitably lift suspension and the visibility in
these points is reduced to few tens centimeters. All of a sudden I hear the
little voice inside me that suggests me that it is time to go back: I tie the
line to a rock. Looking at my instruments I see 18’ have passed and that I am at
a depth of 155 meters. I go back quickly to the first decompression stop, then I
slowly reach the surface after 209.' When I finish loading my car, I draw the
conclusions: the 117 meters of new galleries and a depth of 155 meters make
Sinjac the deepest Croatian source.
When I am alone for a last look at the
little lake, a thought crosses my heart: the melancholy in remembering my friend
Massimiliano Valsecchi who should have been with me and who has lost his young
life this spring while he was devoting himself to this activity he loved so much
on the Alps Apuane.
Underwater speleology, that these last
few years has become a job also for me, has been my “drug” for twenty years and
the lack of it makes my life with no important stimuli. Days pass, wounds are
healed, but the scars remain engraved in the heart and in the mind and it is not
easy for me to proceed dragging behind me this sad memory.
The next destination is the source of
Kusa whose exploration for us began last summer.
It is located in the southern part of
Croatia, next to the village of Obulin not too far from the park of Velebit.
Even here there is a speleologic camp organized by Tiki the person responsible
of the expedition Zermania in conformity with every possible necessity: two
farmhouses rearranged the month before, a counter for the electric energy, a
kitchen, chemical bathrooms, a computer room to see and to elaborate the images;
in the only hotel of Obulin has been installed a press reference point.
The part already explored of the source
is a first syphon 200 meters long and 50 meters deep.; beyond this, there is a
long aerial part less than 200 meters long, quite uncomfortable for the
transport of the material, there are three "easy" climbing 5-6 meters high, two
little lakes to go beyond swimming, mud on the stones that makes the march
slippery till to reach the second syphon already visited by me last year for 350
meters. of length.
JJ, Davide and I check the conditions.
As a rule the rainfalls this summer have been scarce; the level of the water is
low but last week's violent rains have made the visibility very bad. A team of
strong willing carriers help us for the transport as far as the entry, then we
transport a part of the material to the syphon, to equip it with the safety
stops, while another part will be prepared beyond, in the aerial part, to
prepare the exploration of the second syphon. Having passed the first syphon,
some uncertainty on the result of the exploration rises due to the very bad
visibility that will limit considerably the progression. We decide to wait for a
couple of days to see if the conditions improve.
On August 6th, after going after the
first syphon, accompanied also by Alan, we divide among us the materials to
carry to the second syphon, necessary for my dive: side closed circuit, torches,
fins, reel: the usual equipment, in addition to two tanks of iper-oxygenated
mixture for further safety.
In four we proceed fast and in short we
transport all to the second syphon, where I dress again in a suitable way to
make a first recognition. The entrance of the syphon is two meters long and one
meter high and wide and, being rather loaded, I can hardly get in. Underwater I
replace the line, set the tanks, I go down to a depth of 40 meters.; and I go
back with a very bad visibility in comparison with that of last year but enough
to try.
The following day we still reenter in
four and we bring the propeller to the second syphon. I enter the water and I
go down to a depth of 55 meters, I continue repairing the line broken in various
points because of the spring floods and reach the depth of 25 meters, the point
where I had observed a gallery on the ceiling; I place the propeller, tie the
line and the magic moment, the conquest of the unknown, begins.
I go up first vertically, then bent,
then horizontally; I have arrived at a crossroads, I enter a wide hole 1 meter
by 2 meters I find myself in an aerial room with stalactites and pisolites but
without evident prosecutions. I return downwards and at a depth of 7 meters
there is another very muddy gallery that I cross for 25 meters. Again I’m in the
air, but walking with the boots in the mud is not very healthy, therefore I take
notice for the next time. Back again, down with visibility zero at the base of
the well then, following an umpteenth route up and down, I’m in the air again.
It’s easy to get out of the water but to continue, the speleological equipment
is needed: I am at the base of a well and it is necessary to climb.
On the way back, an elastic fouled up
the screw of the propeller; apart from this drawback that makes me lose ten
minutes, I resurface without any other obstacles after 100.' After that all out
with 150 meters. of new additional exploration.
For this year the explorations in
Croatia are concluded but, in our list, we have added another source whose name
is Krnjeza and to reach it is a true adventure: 5 Kms in a canoe on calm waters,
at least in this period, and after that half a kilometer on foot, to reach the
source crossing the bottom of a wild canyon with steep walls more than 400
meters high and heaps of stones more suitable for snakes than for humans.
The period devoted to Croatia is ended.
We rearrange the clothing, the equipments, the tent, while we are getting ready
to say good-bye. The uncontaminated nature of these places gives a last
extraordinary vision: an eagle flies down planing at about thirty meters above
the camp, it circles and then suddenly with a pair of strokes of its wings, it
flies away continuing its regal flight as far as our eyes can see.
Participants: Alan Kovacevic, Alen Milosevic, Alberto
Marconi, Davide Corengia, Jean Jacques Bolanz, Lorenzo Del Veneziano, Luigi
Casati, Tihi Kovacevic, Valeria Nava
[Novità]
[News] [Dernières Nouvelles]
[Noticias]
[Home Page]
[Curriculum Vitae]
[Attività]
[Esplorazioni] [Album
Foto] [Corsi]
[Commenti]
[Home Page ENG]
[Curriculum Vitae ENG]
[Activity]
[Explorations] [Photo
Album] [Courses]
[Comments]
[Home Page FRA]
[Curriculum Vitae FRA]
[Activité] [Explorations]
[Photo
Album FRA] [Formations]
[Commentaires]
[Home Page ESP]
[Curriculum Vitae ESP]
[Actividades]
[Exploraciones] [Album Fotografias]
[Cursos Buceo]
[Comentarios]
[E-M@il]
