I wanted to go to this restaurant called Pasta Fasta as soon as I arrived at Mt. Gambier. It’s all I could think about, talk about, and care about. Hunger had struck fiercely as the drive from Adelaide to this remote part of South Australia took us close to 5 hours. We needed to eat something hardy in prep for what was to come. We were going cave diving with the pros in the freshwater capital of Australia.
Taking the coastal route down the state, we were attempting video calls with one of the icons of the cave diving scene named Josh Richards. He is one the most accomplished cave divers in the area who has discovered countless new entry points and full systems himself, giving him quite the reputation. But the deeper you go down under, the more remote things get. Only absorbing bits and pieces about what lies beneath the surface of this regional town during our call, Josh was trying to make it clear that Mt. Gambier was home to arguably the most extreme diving in the country, if not the entire world.
Intrigued, somewhat nervous and fully exhausted, we stuffed our faces with personally designed pasta dishes and made our way to the hotel. Four of us shared a tiny room, piled onto twin beds like it was a slumber party for a 13th birthday. The next morning we were up bright and early and it was bloody cold. The two sites we were going to dive sit consistently at 13 degrees celsius (55 degrees fahrenheit) all year round. Being here during the winter solstice had us cringing thinking about the post dive experience.
Before we knew it, we were fully immersed in the local cave diving scene, rubbing shoulders with the novices all the way through to the elite. We were hanging at their meeting place called “The Habitat,” hearing the wildest stories that had us, yet again, chilled to the bone. And all of this was being shared moments before our temperate plunges. Feeling quite uneasy, we didn’t know what to think or expect, knowing we were for sure in a bit over our heads.
For example, there was the tragic and harrowing tale of Agnes Milowka. Agnes was a passionate and experienced technical diver and underwater photographer with years of experience. She had contributed to the exploration and mapping of various cave systems around Mt. Gambier and other parts of the world. On February 27, 2011, Agnes was diving in Tank Cave, a complex and vast underwater system. During the dive, she became separated from her buddy and never surfaced. The exact reason for her death will always be unknown.
It was said that more than 15 divers have lost their lives in these very cave systems since the 1970s, when this niche of scuba diving was just starting to gain traction in South Australia. These accidents have occurred in various caves including Tank Cave, Piccaninnie Ponds and Kilsby Sinkhole—the sinkhole being one of our scheduled dives on expedition. Needless to say, the nerves were real. The whole time on the way to the sinkhole, I couldn’t help but think of my horrific navigation abilities, as I can hardly follow Google Maps successfully. Now we were going to navigate deadly underwater caves?! Cool.
At that particular moment, listening to the cave divers tell me horror stories, all I wanted to do was go back to Pasta Fasta—continue stuffing my face and embrace every comfort our small hotel room had to offer. But yet again, the wild was calling and I was not going to pass up my time with Darren Mitchell, a certified operator that takes divers like me out to the Kilsby Sinkhole and Ewen Ponds solo.
Darren’s high-energy was good at putting my mind at ease as we kitted up on the edges of this ancient sinkhole. It was dead quiet on site, as we plunged into what felt like a polar pool in our 7mm wetsuits and heated waterproof vests. With no aquatic fauna, no boats and no angry skippers, this was a dive experience unlike anything I’d done before.
In freshwater, divers need less weight to achieve neutral buoyancy because there’s no salt in the mix. As a frequent ocean diver, it certainly took me a minute to get my buoyancy under control. Once settled, we descended to a spot where we could see animal bones on their resting ground at around 20 meters and toured around in the darkness. The whole thing was eerie beyond belief. All I could think about was Agnes and others who had taken their last breaths at sites just like this.
There was Rik Trippe and Paul Szerenga who died in the Kilsby Sinkhole in 1973. The incident led to significant changes in Australian cave diving procedures and regulations. After this event, the Cave Divers Association of Australia (CDAA) was formed in 1973 to regulate and promote safe cave diving. Thankfully, I was with a guide that was a living and breathing representation of rules, regulations and safety.
Doesn’t matter your experience level, or how many dives you have logged, things can change in a blink of an eye. Our expedition team loves a good challenge, but we’re also extremely aware of our limits and capabilities. Especially knowing when to take steps back in order to take many forward. After all, we have two years of exploration and no room for error! No one is willing to risk their lives beyond reason for a slightly more intense kick of adrenaline.
After the week of hanging with the pros and learning the good and bad about this wildly small diving community, we decided it was time to get cave certified. Psychotic? Maybe. Happening? Yes. In 2024, we are heading to Yucatan, Mexico to complete our certification. The temperate waters of Mt. Gambier and the hectic cave systems there are a bit too extreme for us first-timers. Those are for when we’re ready to take our diving up a notch. For now, we’ll keep it chill. I mean, as chill as we can be.
We left Mt. Gambier with more than just tales of deep caves and echoing silences. We took away a newfound respect for the art of cave diving and the people who must have a few screws loose to choose this as calling. We also couldn’t help but agree that life's most rewarding adventures often start with an unexpected craving—whether that's for uncharted waters or just a hearty pasta dinner.
To be continued …
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