My father used to be a technical cave diver. There are plenty of beautiful diving places inland. For example the Dubnik opal mines, which are not so far from Budapest.
I'm proud of him, but I'm very glad that he's not doing it anymore. If something happens or if someone panics down in the cave then it's easy to stir up the mud and loose your guideline. It takes just a moment, but when it happens it is super serious and dangerous to everyone in the expedition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or92IMcLoIc clip for anyone interested. Gripping stuff.
Such a scary thing to do (tho in a sense possibly comforting like a return to the womb, or being interred -- in Mother Earth). Isn't the guideline karabinered to your suit, or you just "hold a thin thread in the dark"?
> Isn't the guideline karabinered to your suit
In poor visibility you'll gently hold the line. If there isn't a pre-laid line, the lead diver will have a reel which they progressively release, and tie-off at intervals (to any useful protrusion).
https://divingadelaide.com.au/basic-reel-and-guideline-use-f...
I met a cave diver recently. Dude is retired now but ran a consultancy for decades through which he and his team would go in and map previously unexplored caves (or someone had died trying).
He was a chill guy but like ... he was just steely af. Can't imagine the nerve it takes to crawl around in those places. Gives me the willies!
My first cavern dive was with a VERY experienced cave cartographer (Yucatan Cenotes, https://www.filoariannadive.com/alex.html ). Cavern is where technically "you can see the light", but if you turn a corner and can't see the surface then it converts into "cave" diving.
For the rank amateur that I was, being able to turn around, orient myself and see a sliver of light ~100ft behind me... yeah, "technically a cavern dive".
I tried to do a "buddy check" w/ him before beginning the dive and he almost pushed me away... the stories of him diving with side-by-side tanks, then pushing each of them through a gap in front of him, one by one, and then wriggling his body through. :insert-shocked-emoji:
Always remember: "Are you a diver, or a dummy?" ...what would a DIVER do? [don't panic, fall back to your training] Good to have that sense of self an security in lots of cases!
also https://bonneterremine.com/ near St Louis.
"The World's Largest Subterranean Lake Is A Vibrant Scuba Diving Paradise In Missouri"
I recall seeing a clip of an interviewee who is a cave diver. He was giving a description of the time he came closest to death while cave diving, and it came down to someone in his group losing it, and him attempting to prevent that person's death, and then being stuck without a guide line and functionally blind in a muddy cave underwater after the person freaking out sped out of the cave. He said he was able to get out by slowly crawling back and forth upside down on the surface of the cave with his face pressed against it trying to find a thin crack he remembered led back to the surface.
What struck me the most was him saying "calm the f down cowboy, calm the f down or you're going to die", and his face when he said it. I can't imagine the sangfroid required. I also can't imagine the conversation when they both reached the surface.