Sacha at the entrance to Bel Torente
With large volumes of fresh cold water and spewing out of the caves, we may not be able to swim up any of the known cave passages, but these conditions offer a rare opportunity. There are stretches of the coast that to date have no known cave passages, but where Rick and Toddy both believe there must be. So the plan is… we go out over the next few days and do rapid surveys of the coast – on breathhold/snorkelling initially, and bringing diving gear and scooters for deeper and more detailed searches where it looks like there might be a passage. We will try to cover a significant stretch of the coast from in the water (see the attached photo), looking for signs of large, potentially diveable passages. The coastal cliffs that can be hundreds of metres high continue below water as drop-offs into the blue. Thousands of species of marine life cling to the honey-combed rock so it’ll be a beautiful snorkel whether or not we find anything.
The tell-tale signs of possible diveable cave systems to look out for are:
- A sudden drop in the temperature of the water. The ocean around here is about 24 C at the moment, but the freshwater in the caves about 16-17 degrees.
- The hazy heatwave effect caused where the 2 waters of different density (the cold freshwater and the warmer seawater) mix. This is obvious as the oceans around here have stunning visibility so any disturbance should not be hard to spot.
- Any sign of murky water
- The formations visible in the rock both under and above the water. Caves are often found where there is a large fault which may be visible in the cliff faces above the water.
All seem very confident that we will be able to find new systems. A word of warning: with so many amazing caves and caverns and areas that are relatively unexplored, if you have any interest in visiting the world below – whether as a tourist or as a more intrepid tech diving junkie - don’t come to Sardinia or you may just get hooked.
Wow…really nice caves!