Report of the photo / documentary team
Of course, pictures and video sequences were to be taken during this project as well. In addition to the actual push dives, other areas of the cave were to be searched for possible diversions. Our support and video / photo teams were responsible for this. Already during the material transport we started with video recordings to capture first impressions.
The first dive in the Castor was due to the video team, consisting of Tom, Marcel and Mats. Since we had to realize last year that the visibility in the Castor clouds over very quickly for many divers, the good visibility on the first dive was to be used to create video sequences and pictures of the support team setting up the deposits and to produce first wide-angle shots of the cave. So the video team descended a few minutes before the support and placed themselves in the cave. Already at the first descent the cave welcomed them with fantastic visibility and ideal conditions to shoot pictures. So the 3 divers started right away and filmed and snapped what they could. Shortly after, the support team consisting of Ben and Guy came by with their scooters and each with an "anchor" of stage bottles. After the first shots of the support team were done the photo team went a little deeper into the cave and had also here best conditions. Up to a diving depth of about 45m pictures were taken and small video sequences were shot on this day. After the dive everyone was excited to see what they would find on their memory cards. The first pictures looked very promising. As feared, the team had to realize in the course of the day that the cave became more and more cloudy due to a lot of clay and the great visibility, which was present at the beginning, slowly dwindled. If the team had known that the visibility would become so cloudy, the first photo dive would have been much longer.
On day 2 Tom and Heinke wanted to do another photo dive in the morning. Unfortunately, Tom's JJ was a bit on strike, so the plans were changed at short notice, and Heinke together with Mats and Marcel searched for possible branches in the area of 300 to 400 meters. In this area there are halls that are up to 25m high and taper into different corners. For the team it was very impressive to climb from 45m to about 20m vertically without hitting their heads on the cave ceiling. Unfortunately, no further passage was discovered here, but some impressive parts of the cave were dived.
On the third day of diving, the team, consisting of Marcel & Mats, was to go behind the bend at 70m for the first time. The plan was to bring some stage tanks to the end of sump 1 and to re-route part of the line at the narrows at about 680m, as the push divers complained about loose line here. So, armed with backup gas and stages for the push divers, the 2 divers made their way to the "back". However, it should take a few minutes to reach the bottleneck. The line situation in the back is not exactly clear and so the 2 guys first dived a small loop before they took the right turn. At the tight spot they started laying the line. When the job was done Mats signaled that he was a bit worried about his ears and preferred not to show up further. Therefore, the team decided to drop the stages for the push divers at the narrows and start the way back. On their way back the 2 divers first noticed how many different lines are stretched in the back area and decided to work against this problem on another dive.
The following day, Mats and Marcel took action. Armed with a handful of cookies, arrows and reels, they made their way to the back again. Arrows were laid at every blind spot and the branch to the Swiss Bell was marked with a cookie. The team then made their way back along safe routes. On the descent to the 70m point the team was overtaken by the push team Max, Olli and Steffen, who mastered the descent with a different speed. On the way back, the first depots were dismantled and some bottles were taken outside.
Parallel to this work, the photo team Heinke and Tom with their model Florian set out to shoot a few more great photos. Unfortunately, due to the many dives during the week and the clay in the cave, the visibility was even more clouded, so that wide angle shots like on the first day with large corridors and crystal clear water were no longer possible, but nevertheless the team created some great pictures.
Also on the last day, the photo team Tom, Heinke and Florian set out again to shoot a few pictures. Hoping to have better visibility, the team was sent into the water first. This move should be rewarded. Some great pictures were taken in the canyon. Team Marcel & Mats also grabbed the camera once again and went "in the service of science" to look for cave dwellers. Besides a few fish, the main goal was to find a small crustacean. The team set the maximum depth for this dive at 50m. As luck would have it, the 2 of them found a crustacean at 49m and were able to capture it on camera. On the way back even a second one was found. With a short dive out of the cave the first dive team of the week also finished the last dive.
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