Solo diving - there I said it. If you mention the S word at a dive site more often than not folks get a little freaked out, give you a funny look and assume that you have a death wish. It is easy to see why, the first SCUBA course teaches us two things; never hold your breath and always dive with a buddy.  Yet the idea that solo diving will automatically kill you is akin to the myth that doing it solo will make you go blind.

I am cold and alone inside the cave. Sitting there at 6m I’m slowly loosing all feeling. I am so cold that it hurts. I am desperately craving comfort. To stay put is a mental struggle. It is tempting to shoot up to the surface, to sunlight, to warmth. I know I can’t. I know that I have to stay. I know I am stuck in a self-imposed jail cell. I might be wretched and miserable but escape is not an option. The seconds of the clock count down. The more often I look down at the computer, the more frequently I am disappointed. Time, it seems, is standing still. I try to console myself by remembering that the pain is only temporary and will dissipate shortly after I hit the surface. So I wedge myself tighter beneath the rocky ceiling and suffer quietly. In spite of everything not once do I think, ‘Why am I here’ or ‘Why am I doing this?’ I take it for granted this is where I want to be. That this is what I love doing. That this is the price I am willing to pay.

The Buchan area is one of the largest karst features in Victoria. It is a farming area like Mt Gambier but the landscape is very different. Here there are rolling hills and some reasonably sized rivers, although the flies remain the same. Underneath this landscape is a honeycomb of caves. The Pot Holes Reserve in particular is absolutely littered with them with over 90 caves known. Until recently all these caves were dry and there was no opportunity for diving.

1961: First dive in Cocklebiddy by 2 man team from Perth. Managed to establish that there was a submerged tunnel, 200 metres from the cave entrance, but were unable to swim much distance due to lake of gear.

1972: First large scale expedition. Adelaide divers were Ian Lewis, Phil Prust, Dave Warnes and Bob Turnbull while Bob Lea, and Ron and Denyse Doughton were from Sydney. Several hundred metres of line were laid in a northward direction.