Vancouver Island cave

[nadwidny]

I wasn't sure whether to post this in the technical section or here. I decided that here was a better choice. I was fortunate to become involved in a project in September to be among the first to dive and survey a virgin cave, that has been named "Wet Dream" in the Nomash River on Vancouver Island, Canada. We were supposed to go back to Reappearing River but that got changed 3 weeks prior to the start of that expedition when this opportunity suddenly came about. What is unusual about this cave is that it is not a series of sumps, like RR, or with a bunch of restrictions like the other caves in the area. So far it is big and wide enough to scooter in and is completely water filled. Members who have dove Florida said it reminded them of those caves. First dives were in August 2012 by Richard Jack and Peter Norris.

We surveyed it to 1800' where the end of the line is now. Max depth 140'. Water temp ~50F. Estimated window to dive is extremely short. 4-5 weeks in late August-early September, depending on rainfall. The swallet is ~3 km from the resurgence. We dove the resurgence. Pretty much no flow in early September however our team members who dove it a month earlier said that it was a crawling dive then. Camp was set up about 60 minutes from the nearest highway and about 45 minutes from the nearest town.

https://vimeo.com/52240398

My lights are by Light Monkey. Thanks to VICEG for finding this for us http://www.cancaver.ca/bc/viceg/

 

[ScubaSam]

I did not realize there were caves in Vancouver Island so THANK YOU for posting the video and the write-up. It is a beautiful cave. Great job on the video and editing. It was so enjoyable diving vicariously through your video.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Wonderful.. thanks for sharing. It looks like it is somewhere out of Port Albernie. My brother lives in Port Albernie and has been active in logging in the region for 35years or so. My brother took me into Hook river caves (hopefully my memory of the name is correct). It's been a few years since I was in that part of the world.

It is nice to see the video it brings back fond memories of visiting Aunt Muriel (McLean). She was such an amazing lady in her own right. I remember her talking about going in to get her driver's license renewed at the age of 92! She needed her license because she volunteered at the Old folks home and drove them around. She also volunteered to play music in the "Home" for the "oldies" She admitted many of them were younger than her but not as lucky health wise. She failed her road test so she went and took driver's training with YOUNG DRIVERS OF CANADA.. retested and got her license back! It was an absolute privilege to get to spend time with her....

Thanks again for the stroll down memory lane and sorry about the sidetrack

 

[TSandM]

That's an amazing project you guys are working on -- not just diving the cave, but the amount of work involved in getting there and getting all the equipment necessary into the water. Kudos to all of you!

 

[cjfox]

Fantastic job,thanks for all the hard work, both with the diving and the video.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Just an amazing looking dive. This may show my ignorance but why are those caves so round? Are they man made?

 

[nadwidny]

Just an amazing looking dive. This may show my ignorance but why are those caves so round? Are they man made?

It's all natural and the round-ness is due to the high flow. There are many hydrologic and geological phenomena in the cave that could keep a rock geek busy for a while. When we were reviewing each day's footage in the evening Peter Norris would describe what we were seeing which was invaluable to me so that I had a better idea on what to film next time in.

 

[ivakdiver]

The amazing power of nature revealed again. Great work to get there and thanks for sharing the wonderful video. I agree with Steve as It went through my mind that it looked like the tunnel they've just bored around Niagara Falls with a machine. Sure a lot of water pouring through. Would any of it have been from glacial melting? I had the pleasure of working with Steve Blasco of the GSC for a number of years at Fathom Five. Sure learned a lot about the geology of that area with his insights into the forces that shape an area.
Thanks again, Really enjoyable to see.

 

[nadwidny]

Sure a lot of water pouring through. Would any of it have been from glacial melting?

I really don't know. I think most of it has happened after that since the cave has high flow for most of the year but I'm just a guy with a camera and not an expert. Next time I talk to someone from the VICEG group (who have forgotten more than I would ever know) I'll ask them.

 

[rjack321]

There's not as much water blasting through there as you might imagine. The swallet (upstream end where the river enters) is actually a bit of a restriction. Only a certain volume of water can enter there. The rest goes overland in a bypass channel. There was a huge flow in the bypass channel in June from a rain on snow event.

The caves of the north island are all fairly young and hydrologically very active, however in this case I suspect a substantial phreatic karst conduit predated the glaciation and the subsequent downcutting by the river into the valley. Similar to the way Castleguard cave predates the Columbia Icefield sitting on top of it. This is because the cave seems to be roughly 2.8km long and if it started as a tiny crack I'm imagining it would have plugged with debris (although maybe not). In any case, the roundness is typical of caves formed by flowing water since they erode in all directions at basically the same rate.