Pollatoomary, Resurgence of Aille River
From TechnicalDiving.ie Wiki
Pollatoomary is resurgence of Aille River, one of the Ireland’s largest underground rivers. Aille descends from Partry Mountains and after few kilometres of surface course it sinks underground at spectacular Aille Cliffs. It reappears 3km distant in village Bellaburke, co. Mayo, 10km South East of Westport. For the first time resurgence attracted interest of cavers in 1969 when it was plumbed to -28m by members of Craven Potholing Club. In the same year D. Chandler dived to -15m before he got entangled in plumbing line left by previous party. Eventually in August of 1978 Martyn Farr arrived to Bellaburke. In series of dives Martyn and two other fellow divers, Dave Morris and Peter Rust confirmed existence of spacious vertical passage dropping down more or less undisturbed to boulder choke at -28m. Martyn wriggled down to -32m but unsure about the stability of the choke returned to the surface. Party moved to Aille River Cave, 3km away and discovered similar flooded shaft at the end of dry cave. Decision has been taken to come back to Pollatoomary and on 6th of August 1978 Martyn eventually broke out of the choke into open passage. He memorized the way on as 1.5m high horizontal passage heading north. He followed it for only 4.5m when shortage of air forced him to retreat. Combination of equipment limitation and depth caused that team hadn’t pushed the passage any further.
04.05.2008
Diver: Artur Kozlowski
3rd attempt to dive Pollatoomary in 2008. On previous visits I didn’t even get wet due to high flow. Water level was low but visibility surprisingly bad, barely over 0.5m. I did recce dive with 7l tanks first to evaluate conditions and to clear any potential obstructions – tree branches or minor boulder chokes which I expected to meet down there. General atmosphere in the cave was very intimidating, silt from numerous ledges once disturbed by my ungraceful movement through the shaft was causing further drop in already bad visibility. From -15m down I was looking for the way on literally by touch and by the time I arrived to some kind of obstacle on -23m most of my courage vanished. My biggest concern was stability of the boulders piled on the ledges. I returned to the surface, changed cylinders and in half an hour I was back in the water. -23m “obstacle” turned out to be just another ledge which I passed easily finding the way on just meter away. When I arrived on -28m of depth shaft was obstructed by boulder choke with flow coming out of small opening between wall and boulders. I pushed in my feet first trying to feel any space down below with my fins. My sidemounted 12l’s were big and awkward, I kept on getting stuck while trying to wriggle myself down. After 2m of wriggling passage finally let go and I landed on clean and washed bottom. I was breathing heavily both from exertion and excitement. After 30 years from last visit I regained limits of the exploration and wide open virgin passage was looming out of darkness just ahead of me. I secured line to block of weight on the bottom and started laying the line carefully. Passage was small but comfortable and despite poor 0.5m visibility I could see walls on both sides. I moved forward and suddenly, after only couple of meters passage dropped down again in yet another vertical tunnel. Surprised and confused I descended this unexpected shaft after which cave started sloping down gently but continuously westward. I was moving on slowly watching my body’s reactions for symptoms of nitrogen narcosis. After passing -45m I knew I was already in the deepest known underwater cave in Ireland. On arrival to -51m I dropped the reel and started slow ascent back to the light.
11.05.2008
Diver: Artur Kozlowski
I returned week after with helium mixes in my tanks to offset nitrogen narcosis to look deeper into the cave. Passage was still sloping down gently at the angle of 20-25 degree. I reached -70m of depth uneventfully in good 2m visibility. Floor of the cave was pleasantly covered with sand so I left my empty reel as a belay point.
17.05.2008
Diver: Artur Kozlowski
Support Diver: Shane O'Neill
The plan was to use air up to -50m which proved to work for me on the previous dives so I sticked to that. What I didn’t take into account was the fact that as a result of all those unexpected changes in the plan I was carrying four heavy 12l steel cylinders with a dry suit as the only buoyancy support. Triggered by increased effort a nitrogen narcosis took its toll and by the time I reached -50m I have lost ability to concentrate my thoughts. I switched to my first helium mix and things temporarily got better. I swam fast along the slope and in next few minutes I reached end of the line at -70m. That was also a point when I was supposed to swap to stronger helium mix but I decided to attach new line first. At that stage my coordination was well impaired and I knew that my helium mix was way too weak for the job - I was so drunk with nitrogen that I couldn’t tie the ends of the lines with simple knot. Eventually, after five or six tries and huge mental effort to focus on the task new reel was attached. I switched breathing mix and plunged along and down the slope. Thicker helium mix gave me a new boost of sobriety, which I really needed at the time. Passage soon became less uniform with sharp and cherty ledges growing out from both sides and uncomfortably constricting the way so I had to move above them to avoid dry suit damage. Around 80m of depth more sand started to appear on previously washed and clean bottom and belay points became scarce. At -86m I run out of line. I had a second reel attached to my hip so I stopped and checked my gas supplies first – I was slightly before my thirds, moment when every responsible cave diver should start thinking about return. I looked ahead, in visibility well over 2m I could see the passage continuing along gentle slope. 90m Wookey depth record was almost in reach of my sight, temptation was huge but I checked my gauges, I wrote down time, depth and tank pressure on my slate and started my return.
5-6.07.2008
Diver: Artur Kozlowski
Support Diver: Tom Malone
It has been raining since 3 weeks in Ireland. Flow was substantial but not prohibitive with visibility of 0.5m. First dive to stage decompression cylinders on 6 and 21m showed that there was some hope for Sunday dive despite water flow pushing us out of the shaft for the first 10m. We decided to stage one of the bottom gas tanks on -60m and wait through the night for weather and conditions development. With only light showers over the night conditions on Sunday noon seemed to be marginally better and I decided to go. After hard learned lesson on my previous visit this time I have planned logistics more sensibly. I started the dive with two 12l sidemounted tanks containing trimix 20/30 (20% of Oxygen and 30% of Helium) and trimix 12/55 respectively. To reach -40m I used 7l tank filled with air and fitted with chunk of Styrofoam (wrapped with tape) to make it lighter in the water so I could hold it in my hand without extra effort. Additionally 1.5l drysuit inflation tank was mounted on Tx 12/55 bottom gas cylinder. Tom’s responsibility was to stage all deco tanks so all I had to do was to check them on my way down. Quick sobriety check on -40m went well but I sticked to my plan which was not to exceed 40m of END (Equivalent Narcotic Depth). I dropped 7l air tank and switched to Trimix 20/30 which took me uneventfully to my stage on -60m. There I removed partially used Tx 20/30 cylinder from my harness and replaced it with another Tx 12/55 which I staged there on previous day. Satisfied with yet another sobriety check off I went. The line from -70m on was buried under 5-10cm of sand brought by the flow during last 3 weeks of rain. When I got to my previous limit on -86m I had impression the passage would level out as sand banks looked more or less horizontal. I cut off empty reel that served as temporary belay, tied the line to lead block and attached new reel. I passed -90m mark unimpressed - I have already known it was there. However after few meters passage started sloping down more steeply and I was travelling along left hand side wall in North West direction. As the depth on my diving computer display started increasing quickly so did my adrenaline level. The only sound I could hear at that moment was my heart beat and that was one hell of a noise! At -98m, after brief but colorful encounter with eel problem occurred triggered the most likely by my elevated breathing - one of my Mares V32 regulator started freeflowing. I switched to my second regulator while closing faulty one. Then I opened it slowly again ready to turn the dive if it kept freeflowing. Everything was working well again so I moved on down the passage breathing carefully and soon I passed magical 100m of depth. While there were occasionally tight sections between -50 and -75m of depth, here passage seemed to open up. Though I haven't seen the other wall or roof due to limited visibility I had impression the passage was at least 3x3m from -90m down. Finally I tied off the line on -103m and all I can say is that it was definitely not a bottom, the cave continued down quite steeply at the angle of 35 degree. At that point I was only 34 minutes into the dive. Total dive time 2h 59min.
