Monastir Sink
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Location
Monastir Sink (H1195 3350)
Description and history of diving
The Aghinrawn River sinks in a large cave at the end of Monastir Gorge. The terminal sump has been dived by Mike Boon in 1961 and Martyn Farr in 1978. Farr reached a depth of 3.6 m, at which point the sump was found to be blocked by flood debris. In 2009 Chris Jewell discovered another sump leading from the final chamber, which has been dived for 30 m towards Upper Cradle Hole.
References
Irish Sump Index, 1988
The Caves of Fermanagh and Cavan, 1997
Surveys
Sketch survey by Chris Jewell, not to scale
Recent dives
16-04-09 - divers Chris Jewell and Dave Garman
This cave feeds the Monastir way in Upper Cradle and had not been dived since Farr in 78 (49:38).
CJ passed the first sump rather than climb over and dived into the second – which is actually an easy duck in lower water. In the final chamber an inspection of the floor was made to find the way on, but all sides were blocked. However in the process of looking around CJ noticed the surface current heading down an obscure looking slot which could be reached via a scramble. Clearing some debris out of the way he was able to enter feet first and lay 15 m of line in a tight vertical tube in the full flow of the river – the way on had been discovered.
17-04-09 - divers Chris Jewell and Artur Kozlowski
CJ reached the end of the line – this time without fins - and laid another 15 m of line in an extremely tight passage ending at an ongoing rift, which matches the description given by AK for the end of the Monastir way, heading north. AK then dived and reached CJ’s end point but did not lay any line.
