Note: EELS EQUAL LOSS OF FINGERS

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Picture This....and...

Close your eyes....

You are in a cave, 70 meters below ground...

It is dark...

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You are in waist deep water....

It is cold....

This is my experience from ‘Black Water Rafting’:

I will never forget it!

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The Gear

Meant to keep you warm and safe in the water. It consists of:

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1.full body wet suit and booties

2.helmet and light

3..rubber booties

4.an inner tube

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The Environment

1.a series of under water caves 70 meters below ground

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2.filled with fresh running spring water as deep as 30cm to 6 ft

3.the water temp is 11 degrees Celsius

4.there are eels in the water

5.there are a series of 2 waterfalls and

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6.the only light, save from your helmet light, is the light produced from glow worms on the ceiling that guide your way out of the cave

My Experience

-After gearing up, we began our decent into the under water caves. It began by us grabbing our inner tubes and jumping backwards off a ledge into the eel filled water! It was about at this time that I was really starting to regret my decision.(I was beginning to think running may need to become an option) For one, the water was so cold and two, the guides kept warning us not to put our hands in the water more than necessary due to the potential for the eels thinking it is food and biting you! I made a mental note...EELS EQUAL LOSS OF FINGERS!

-We all started by walking single file into the cave, cautiously trying to get our footing as we slipped on the rocks and had only our helmet lights to guide us.(There was not enough light to see where we were going but, more than enough to see the spiders inhabiting the cave) When the water allowed us, we would get on our rafts, and let the current take us.

- It was so cold! We would have to get off our rafts when the water was to shallow, and jump off the waterfalls backwards with our tubes! There were eels around us. We would see their heads poking out of crevices in the water and scream as the currents took our rafts closer.

- We were soaked from head to toe, we were shivering and so cold the tips of our fingers were blue. I couldn’t walk properly on the rocks! My legs wouldn’t work.... I can’t even count the number of times I slipped and banged my helmet on the cave’s walls!

As cold as it was, the experience was more than worth it. The highlight came when we all formed a ‘single line with our tubes, turned off our helmet lights, and looked up!’ There were millions of tiny yellow, blue lights on the ceiling produced from the glow worms in the cave. We had to use these lights to guide us out of the cave.(The rule was ‘No helmet lights!’) Not necessarily an easy task to do... Holding hands with Cat for support, we flutter kicked, screamed, and worked our way slowly out of the cave. After banging into the sides numerous times and almost flipping off our tubes, we finished.... slightly traumatized realizing that we were the last ones and had been the only two in the cave...