SOURCE BLEUE DORTAN 2008
I had dreamt of the “Source
Bleue” for many years, but, at that time, when I arranged to explore it further
with Lulu and Bébert, Jean Jacques imposed his veto, wishing to lead the
exploration himself. No feuds of course have ever existed between us and, even
on that occasion, not only did I consider it right that it was he to take
command, but I also thought about not coming into play if not before seeing Jean
Jacques reach his personal satisfaction in his attempt to make progress.
The “Source Bleue” is located in Dortan, a
small village in the French department of Ain. It was Jean Jacques who revealed
it to me about 20 years ago, when I was an inexperienced cave diver, still under
his protective wing. At that time, the explorations often took Jean Jacques to
the nearby area of the French Jura, where he came into contact with an
inseparable duo of excited cave divers: Lulu and Bébert. At that time, Lulu was
in charge of he French Underwater Speleological Commission and Bébert was an
exceptional cave diving photographer, among the best in his field. It was thanks
again to Jean Jacques that I too entered in friendship with that unusual couple.
On Tuesday 29 I cross the Alps and I
reserve two days to go and see some of my friends in Switzerland. Among them,
Patrick and Daniela, who live in Châtel-St-Denis. In their company I spend a
pleasant theatrical evening in Lausanne, where we enjoy a ballet by Béjart. My
last stop on Swiss territory is at José’s, one of the companions who would join
the ranks of the expedition team.
The French transfer began on day 31, a
Wednesday: we take a couple of hours by car from José’s home to get to Lulu’s
house, in Oyonnax, a little village very close to the source. This would become,
for a few days, the base camp of the team. We unload the car at once and we
prepare for the first dive in the source.
The enchanting “Source Bleue” is located in
the castle park of Dortan. Its name derives from the charm of the water: when
the small liquid mirror reflects a calm sky, it transforms into a intense
blue-coloured jewel, set in the green of the surrounding woods.
The fact that the source is situated on
private property does not create any problems because Lulu, who has a good
relationship with the castle’s owners has authority to enter.
We open an old iron gate that takes us into
the park. We drive over a kilometre on a unpaved but well kept road, until we
get close to the source. There, I notice a few hoof prints: it seems we are not
alone, we hope that our visit is also welcomed by the wild boars that roam
freely in the park!
Had it not been for pure laziness, I would
probably not have parked my car right on the edge of the pool, thus limiting the
access to my companions. But in my mind it had seemed easier to jump straight
into the water directly from the rear door of the car. It seemed like a fairy
tale, and how could it be otherwise when the source is located near a castle?
Very well! For the respect of the others, I sacrifice my comfort and move the
car back a little.
The time available is never enough to be
able to take care of all the work planned before the exploratory dive. We
prepare the scooter and the stage cylinders to be placed in the water, check and
organize the remaining equipment and when finally we can put on our drysuits, it
is already afternoon. While Lulu’s group positions the emergency decompression
cylinders at -21m., José helps me transport the scooter and three 20lt cylinders
to the depth of -25m.
I enter the water by jumping off the wall
that defines the pool’s entrance, I take the reel, a 20lt cylinder and the
scooter and begin to descent into the vertical shaft. Starting from -18, the
shaft began to tilt. I cover about a dozen meters over a gravel bottom which
slopes gently down until where, at the depth of -22m., the ceiling and floor
almost meet creating a first narrow passage. I pass it and find myself in a
notably wider environment. At -26m. I ascend into a chimney that takes me up to
-21m. and, after only a few meters, I am at the entrance to a conduit. There,
José hands me the second 20lt cylinder and he prepares to take the third to
-36m. Movement in the conduit remains easy until -40m., the point where the
morphology of the gallery completely changes: the walls get closer and closer
while maintaining a width of a few meters, the ceiling, on the other hand,
lowers to such a point that I hit my "Copis” in continuation. For the following
200m in that gallery, progression becomes more difficult because the conditions
gets more and more hostile: the visibility is quite reduced, in fact I can
hardly distinguish the rocks which are about two metres away from me; the
current is still very strong, the ceiling remains low and it never exceeds 80cm.
of height; the old line I follow is, at times, truly small and of poor quality.
It was Jean Jacques who laid it. I
remember, he had a considerable amount of that type of line. For a long period
of time he had awaited impatiently for the arrival of a better one but in the
meantime, now resigned to the delay, he continued to use the only line that he
had available.
At a distance of 430m from the entrance, at
the depth of -66m., I decide to put down the 20lt cylinder and begin my
re-entry. When I surface, after 72', everyone has already put their equipment
away. It is late and I have left little time to prepare the new equipment would
be used the following day. In fact, I simply take care of the most urgent jobs,
such as dismantling the “Copis” and substituting the cylinders. The filling of
all the other cylinders will be left to Lulu who offered to spend the evening
near the compressor. The day ends quickly: we would have certainly preferred to
have accompanied our chatting over a glass of French wine, instead we limit
ourselves to water, then all to bed.
On May 2, the company meets at Lulu’s
again. We finish the preparation of the equipment while waiting for the arrival
of all the other friends and, shortly after 11a.m., we arrive at the source. The
team gives the impression of being ready for the efforts of the day ahead but
after we have unloaded just a little of the equipment from the cars, I see some
of the labourers disappear from sight. What are the fugitives doing? The
sparkling air has whetted their appetites so, to placate their pangs of hunger,
they decide to have a snack. Difficult to resist not joining them, but I manage
to remain focused on the work to be done. Before leaving, I just take a sip of
an energy drink postponing the pleasures of a good meal to the end of dive.
The tasks to be done are distributed
amongst us. The first to dive is Lulu who is in charge of taking the scooter and
a 20l cylinder down to approximately -30m depth. Meanwhile I finish dressing. I
have decided to put on my large heavy duty suit, the one I reserve for
challenging dives. It is the first time I have used this together with my "Copis",
therefore, before diving, I estimate the correct weight required for that new
configuration. I'm ready: I climb onto the wall, take one step further into the
void and splash! I am heavy, in reality too heavy. I run for shelter and get
José to remove 3kg of weights fixed with two elastic bands to my emergency
oxygen cylinder. After doing that, buoyancy is definitely better, but not yet
perfect: it is now slightly too much. Therefore, to counteract the upward force
for the first few metres, I manage to perform a pike surface dive even though I
am carrying a 20lt stage cylinder.
The descent is rapid and the ADV intervenes
in a precise way with the increasing pressure. The current is still strong and I
become aware of it as soon as I reach the first restriction.
The first dive surely served to conduct an
evaluation on the particular conditions of the cave and how those would have
influenced my progression. Above all, I had to put aside the risk of being
slammed violently against the ceiling, in fact I knew that, even though the
gallery in all its length was not very high, the ceiling was always smooth. I
had left behind me even the discomfort caused by the turbid water which I was
already familiar with. In short, my progression would have been more serene than
the day before.
I reach the cylinder which was waiting for
me 430m. from the entrance and I judge it is better to reposition it a few
meters further on, so I carry it to around 500m in. I am already over 70m.
deep, the current is strong, it hinders me, and what is more, when I get to
600m., the line that I am following is broken and dangerously tangled in some
points. I am obliged to replace the guideline: I stop, I take the line from my
reel, tie it to the end of the broken one in a knot and begin to pull the reel.
Then I move ahead for about 15 meters until I see the old line reappear: I stop
again and tie another knot. I ct off my line, put away the reel and I am ready
to set off again. My hope for trouble free progress only lasts a short time
because I find another tangle of line announcing another break, which, I quickly
find a few dozen metres ahead of me. These amassing of line constitutes a real
danger because a diver could become entangled in it. The rebreather gives me a
long autonomy therefore, if I were to find myself in this unfortunate situation,
the probability of running out of air before freeing myself from the lines would
be quite remote and difficult to imagine. However, just the fact of remaining
entangled always presents a risk, especially if it is added to other variables
which create additional stress (low visibility), which require work and
concentration (strong current) or which are physiologically demanding (depth,
etc.).. And what should we say about the unhappy subtraction of time taken away
from exploring and the inevitable waste of energy due to physical and
psychological tiredness?
Despite these obstacles, my enthusiasm is
difficult to mitigate. Once again, after having attached my line to the broken
one, my good exploration companions show a strong desire to progress: the reel
is ready to lay new line while the scooter is anxious to go on. A few metres on
I encounter a new problem: because the rock is smooth, I can not find many
places to anchor the line. But it is precisely the sight of that particular
morphology which explains clearly the reason why tens of meters of the original
line could have spread and tangled in the gallery. Let me explain why: if, in a
very eroded cave environment, the guide line breaks because of a strong current,
it will be transported away until it comes across the rare areas of the gallery
where it will be caught. In particular, the points where the rock is rougher, or
where the morphology of the tunnel becomes more tortuous, or even on corners.
Thus, meters and meters of floating line stop in a single location, entangle and
accumulate.
While I am looking for an anchor, I cross
an area where the morphology is very interesting: the entire gallery is
uniformly eroded but, where the height makes the transition easier to pass, the
width reduces which increases the flow of the current. I decide to turn back but
I still have not found any rock projection on which I can tie off the line. The
task is really difficult. I go ahead for other 20m. reaching the depth of -78m,
when at last I see a femur-shaped block of rock projecting from the ceiling: a
gift of nature and of course a perfect anchorage. I stop to tie off the line but
the current pushes me back. I reset my equipment so that I am heavier and gain
a little stability and return to my task. Using the scooter’s propulsion, I
manage to keep my position, I then grab hold of the “rocky femur” with one hand,
whilst with the other, I secure the line. I leave the reel and one of the 20l
cylinders there, then I head for home. 60' have passed since I set off, of
which 40' were spent at over -70m. With the current on my tail, my return is so
fast that I have to reduce speed of the scooter to avoid any unpleasant
consequences. I get to the first deco stages, then I meet José who retrieves the
scooter and hands me the battery for my electric jacket and something to drink.
Between one stop and another, I pretend to be in the mercy of the current, but
in reality it is the current which is in my power, in fact I take advantage of
it by letting it carry me to the next stop. I surface after 190' and finally I
can tuck into my share of the food.
We get together to decide the future of the
exploration. The conditions of the source are surely not the best: the
visibility is average, but the current is very strong. We can, however, hope
that the strength of the flow will decrease, since the weather forecast predicts
fine weather until Sunday. So we opt not to abandon the expedition.
On May 3, I take a day off. While the rest
of the group is diving, Bébert and I remain on dry land: we go and visit the
entrance of another small source in the area, take a look around and take some
pictures. Feast your eyes on this: I have published some of these in the section
below the report, such as the panorama of the Jura tableland or Dortan Castle as
seen from above.
On May 4, at mid-morning, everything is
ready: we wait for the last late comers and we head to the source. I ask them to
take the scooter and a 20lt. cylinder to the depth of -30m.
I prepare myself quickly. Since the day is
hot, while I am dressing, I move out of the shadow of the plants into the cool
water of the source. As soon as José has zipped up my suit, I do not wait a
second before jumping into the water to enjoy a few minutes of refreshing
coolness. I get out again and, while finishing to suit up, the air is filled
with the tasty smell of cooking food. Lunchtime has arrived! But what lunch?
With the mask I tap my inebriated nose and leave the sins of the throat behind.
I have to make a move. In front of me the beckoning of the charming source is an
even stronger temptation. I climb onto the wall, jump and splash! I am in its
entrance pool, ready to penetrate into its cavities, excited to be able to push
as far as it would allow me to.
At a first sight the water level seems to
have slightly fallen but I would make a more precise judgement when reaching the
first restriction. With the bulky suit and the 20lt cylinder attached to my
side, it is not easy to perform a correct pike surface dive, but as soon as I am
ready I do it perfectly and let myself sink down in the vertical shaft. I pass
the restriction and it seems to me that the current flow has diminished; I reach
the scooter in 3' and also in the conduit, leading to over -40m, I have the
feeling of progressing with less effort compared to the previous dive.
Unfortunately, the visibility has not improved and does not go beyond two
metres, but this does not slow down my advance. I am full of enthusiasm and
continue until the reel is reached. Just over 700m achieved in 35': a huge
amount of time compared to the 17' I took to travel the same distance at Oliero
cave, but a good result given that the morphology of the source, the current, at
times very insistent, and the poor visibility, have made the progress difficult.
I grab the reel and advance exploiting both the pull of my propulsion vehicle
and the push of my fins. The rock, eroded and very smooth, offers sporadic
anchor points which hinders me from fixing the line for long stretches. Here I
am at the shaft described by Jean Jacques: it goes down for about ten meters,
then a short horizontal stretch and finally ascends again. At the bottom I find
a hole in the rock: at last a fabulous anchor point. Again the power of the
current is felt, where the gallery narrows in respect to the previous part.
I continue to follow the rising gallery
and, at -71m., I find myself in front of a conduit a couple of metres in
diameter. I enter and arrive into mid-gallery, where I experience a really
unique situation: the scooter is at full speed, I keep finning but,
nevertheless, I remain stationary, not advancing at all. The current is really
too intense so it is useless to insist: I have to be satisfied with reaching the
point where Jean Jacques had stopped last autumn due to gas autonomy problems
and battery power on the scooter. As soon as I stop the scooter’s engine to turn
back and begin my re-entry, I am violently pushed by the current: I let go off
the scooter and try to balance myself with my hands, I quickly recover the line
to prevent it from getting entangled around me. When the last anchorage is
reached, I stop, cut the line, get myself into order and then I go on again
pulled by my aquazepp. 55 ' have passed since my departure. I significantly
reduce the speed of the scooter because its velocity, in addition to that of
current, is too high for this type of environment.
I get to the first stage cylinder and I
clip it from the valve to the bottom of my “Copis” harness. Since the stage
cylinder has a positive trim, I find myself with one flapping cylinder behind
me. I abandon the zone of the over -70m after staying there for 70', I reach the
second stage cylinder and clip it to me in the same way as the previous one. I
transport a total of four 20lt cylinders, so I must be very careful with the old
lines and entering the narrow passages which, because of deteriorated
visibility, I barely manage to glimpse. A few short decompression stops then, at
-45m, Josè arrives, to whom I willingly entrust the reel and the cylinders in
order to continue a more comfortable re-entry.
Shortly after I am present at the coming
and going of the French support divers in the gallery who are helping José to
take all the cylinders and the scooter out of the water. As I am at almost -21m,
I only have one 50% nitrox cylinder with me.
Taking turns, my friends go back into the
water to bring me drinks and the batteries for my electric jacket and, impatient
for news, wonder how long they will still have to wait for me.
I surface after 256' and they are all
there, joking and laughing, eating and drinking: I'm looking forward to throwing
myself into the melee of those French party makers. In fact the time necessary
to liberate myself from the burden that I am wearing seems infinite.
The “Source Bleue” did not concede this
time, but I am equally satisfied to have travelled in such complicated
environments, in extreme conditions which have severely tested the limits of my
abilities.
