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10th October 2007, 08:38
| #1 (permalink) |
| Custom Title Allowed!   Current Rebreather/s: MK 15.X Ouroboros Other CCR Home Build Other Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Other CCR Home Build Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 3,165
  | Song Hong and Baa cave exploration, Thailand Mathew Partridge and myself have just returned tired, muddy and happy after much searching for and diving of the illusive Song Hong Sink located in the Trang region of southern Thailand. The expedition for Song Hong sink started on Friday 5th October with my arrival at Krabi and a visit to Sra Keow caves. Matt (who was support for Sra Keow 3 expedition) and Ben Reymenants (Sra Keow 3 bottom diver extraodinair) spent Sat and Sun blending, and finalising his logistics and dive planning whilst in the sweltering heat the two Swindon lads (Me and Dave) went off to explore a new dry cave I had found during our last Sra Keow expedition. This cave entrance is tree root filled 30ft pitch hidden in the jungle that required SRT to get down. That done the passageway ran north south. Unfortunately the heavy rainfall and the fact we were in the middle of the rainy season meant the water level in the cave was far higher than would have been liked. Sra Keow resurgence was 2m higher and really blowing! Another nearby cave proved to have a maze of good passageways that kept us enthralled and muddy. The inside of the cave was like a sauna in the tropical heat. Decided to name the new cave Baa cave (Baa is Thai for 'crazy' which they all think Farangs are especialy those that enjoy going down holes in the ground - they think were mad.) We hooked up with Matt Sunday afternoon and so began the hunt for Song Hong sink. It took a LOT of searching to locate Song Hong sink, The location is in the arse end of nowhere and not on any maps locally found locally or on the Internet. A missleading report years ago suggested the sink is in nakorn which it isnt so claims from some sources to have dived it are totally false.  We visited several areas over a 48 hrs period were we believed the site may be but to no avail. Finally on our last day of this planned trip we gained knowledge from a local source who provided us with rough directions. Having already searched around in this area we had high hopes that we would find the site and we did. The pool was located in a very remote part of Trang around 2hrs from Krabi were nobody speaks English, No English road signs but lots of Police boxes, schools and yellow bus stops (a personal joke to remind me of the struggle to locate this place). On arriving at the destination we were greeted by locals who described as best they could through mixed communication were the caves entrances were. The main entrance is located directly in font of were we managed to park the pickup enabling us to enter without too much difficulty. A second entrance is believed to be only a short distance away leading into the main cave entrance. Our goal for this trip was just to locate and gain an orientation of the cave and assess the suitability of installing a habitat for a future Expedition sometime early 2008. Our dive plans were to 130m with a bottom time of 26min including decent. I was the first to dive the cave as Matt provided support and then we switched roles. I descended down to the upstream entrance and penetrated about 100m before returning back to the sink and dropping down to the breakdown mound. The top of which was at 95m. Max depth reached of 105m using my Ouroborous Rebreather. Mathew penetrated the cave to a maximum depth of 74m using an ISC Megalodon Rebreather. The visibility all the way down and inside the entrance was excellent of the order of 2om viz and conditions were very good. The cave passageges are huge over 20m wide. Water temperature was an excellent 26 degrees in the deep and 29 degrees in the shallows. Our dives finished just as it started to get dark on the last day of our trip so all round a successful, stressful and eventful few days leaving us craving for more. We plan to return to this site equipped with scooters habitat and bigger support team, and extensive logistics early 2008 with a view to survey the so far unexplored passages. This cave is big deep and likely very long passages so scooters are going to be essensital and the deco requirements for any reasonable penetration at these depths will likely be significant - hence our plans to install a habitat. I also intend to use the twin Rebreather next time, due in part to the cost of He in Thailand! This trip would not have been possible without the help of our friends at One- stop- dive, Krabi Thailand and the staff at Pro-Tech Dive College in Phuket and special thanks and big wet sloppy kisses to Milo :-) Unfortunaletly Ben was unable to join us on the dive due to the fact he electrocuted himself :-) For those with an interest some pics of this first expedition on my website:- Drmike : photos : Song Hong and Baa Cave discovery, Thailand - powered by SmugMug .
__________________ Cave diving is a sport Wreck diving is a sport Diving in general is a sport 'Rebreather diving' is not a sport its the delusional obsession with a highly dangerous and often inappropriate piece of equipment Last edited by Drmike : 10th October 2007 at 09:06. |
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10th October 2007, 08:51
| #2 (permalink) |
| Who loves ya, baby   Current Rebreather/s: Sport Kiss Other Rebreather/s: Prism Topaz Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Too far from Neverland
Posts: 5,435
  | Re: Song Hong and Baa cave exploration, Thailand The Thai are right, you lot are nutters!  Congratulations. 
__________________ Cheers Stefan "Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.'!" |
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10th October 2007, 09:23
| #3 (permalink) |
| Despotic Overlord  Current Rebreather/s: Megalodon Sport Kiss Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: London, UK
Posts: 3,674
 | Re: Song Hong and Baa cave exploration, Thailand Good one mate!
__________________ Bailout and Kit Management account for Murphy's Law The only bad question is one you did not ask and later wish you had. Use of Rebreather World is subject to the Rebreather World Terms & Conditions of Use |
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10th October 2007, 10:13
| #4 (permalink) |
| Closed Circuit Divers Aus  Current Rebreather/s: Megalodon Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Cairns QLD Australia
Posts: 615
| Re: Song Hong and Baa cave exploration, Thailand Congratulations and well done guys!! Looking forward to hearing more about these caves when you dive them next. Lance
__________________ You can run but you can't hide! ISC Appointed Megalodon Dealer for East Australia http://www.closedcircuitdivers.com.au info@closedcircuitdivers.com.au |
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10th October 2007, 10:32
| #5 (permalink) |
| RebreatherWorld Sponsor   Current Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Inspiration Vision Evolution Megalodon Ouroboros Dolphin Other Rebreather/s: Not Bought Yet Dolphin Join Date: May 2005 Location: Phuket, Thailand
Posts: 431
| Re: Song Hong and Baa cave exploration, Thailand Hi Mike It has truly been a pleasure to share your company over the last few days, you really do have that fighting spirit to just keep on going when I really felt like jacking it in after driving around Thailand solid for two days. I cannot remember the last time I drank so many Red-bulls to keep me going. The dive has left me with a thirst for more but for now I’m looking forward to a cold beer tonight with my family as I’m totally shattered Dave at Onestop krabi is the man and Milo you really are a star, if only one of us would have thought to call him on the first day Cheers
__________________ Mathew Partridge Technical Director Pro-Tech Dive College www.protechdivers.com www.tech-ccr.com |
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10th October 2007, 12:20
| #6 (permalink) |
| FIGJAM   Current Rebreather/s: Megalodon Other CCR Other Rebreather/s: Not Bought Yet Inspiration Classic Sport Kiss Other CCR Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Vancouver Island BC Canada
Posts: 1,411
| Re: Song Hong and Baa cave exploration, Thailand Congratulations guys. Good job.
__________________ Cheers, Dave.... Man is the only animal burdened with the knowledge he will eventually die |
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10th October 2007, 12:29
| #7 (permalink) |
| New Member  Current Rebreather/s: Other CCR Other Rebreather/s: Other CCR Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: thailand
Posts: 4
|  Re: Song Hong and Baa cave exploration, Thailand Quote: (Originally Posted by tecdivertraining)  Hi Mike Helo guys, I am glad that you got to the cave. This one is my favourite. Sure a lot of possibilities for more explorations. The Korean guy did a good job laying lines and they are easy to follow. My favourite diving there is sidemount and looking for new passage ways. And you are right, with the Thai prices for helium here and the work with staging the tanks on OC, I decided to go rebreather as well. I just have to learn how to dive it before I will take it there. So for now just OC and a lot of tanks :-)). I am planning to go there soon with Oliver and have fun too. When we help each other with locating caves, we will have a lot of places to dive. I know about more caves, not deep but still interesting cave diving. Let me know when you go in to install the habitat. It has truly been a pleasure to share your company over the last few days, you really do have that fighting spirit to just keep on going when I really felt like jacking it in after driving around Thailand solid for two days. I cannot remember the last time I drank so many Red-bulls to keep me going. The dive has left me with a thirst for more but for now I’m looking forward to a cold beer tonight with my family as I’m totally shattered Dave at Onestop krabi is the man and Milo you really are a star, if only one of us would have thought to call him on the first day Cheers Cheers, Milo D. |
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10th October 2007, 15:27
| #8 (permalink) |
| Custom Title Allowed!  Current Rebreather/s: Megalodon Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: cork city ireland
Posts: 169
| Re: Song Hong and Baa cave exploration, Thailand great report mike & matt, looking forward in learning from yer next visit to song kong. thanks for sharing
__________________ clive |
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11th October 2007, 01:57
| #10 (permalink) |
| RebreatherWorld Sponsor Current Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Inspiration Vision Evolution Megalodon Ouroboros Dolphin Other Rebreather/s: Not Bought Yet Dolphin Join Date: May 2005 Location: Phuket, Thailand
Posts: 431
| Re: Song Hong and Baa cave exploration, Thailand Quote: (Originally Posted by divecrazy) Helo guys, I am glad that you got to the cave. This one is my favourite. Sure a lot of possibilities for more explorations. The Korean guy did a good job laying lines and they are easy to follow. My favourite diving there is sidemount and looking for new passage ways. And you are right, with the Thai prices for helium here and the work with staging the tanks on OC, I decided to go rebreather as well. I just have to learn how to dive it before I will take it there. So for now just OC and a lot of tanks :-)). I am planning to go there soon with Oliver and have fun too. When we help each other with locating caves, we will have a lot of places to dive. I know about more caves, not deep but still interesting cave diving. Let me know when you go in to install the habitat. Milo good to see you on the forum. We plan the second expo at the end of the year maybe around xmas or early Jan and you are more than welcome to join us after your help in locating it. Myself and mike will keep you in the loop.Cheers, Milo D. Cheers
__________________ Mathew Partridge Technical Director Pro-Tech Dive College www.protechdivers.com www.tech-ccr.com |
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