Aucloggeen Spring, 6 August 2023

Diver: Hugh Norton

Gear: 2x7L @ 240bar

Having spent the Saturday attending a Rescue Practice and Barbecue at the BOEC I got up and decided that I would check out another one of the promising risings I had identified while going over the GSI water traces. This particular one is situated just outside Corrandulla near a bend in a road that I had driven past several times on my way to Cong.

I parked besides the old pumphouse and checked out the rising. A lot of water was coming out of the rising with the water visibly mushrooming over the center of the resurgence pool. The water coming out even looked quite clear! Even with the high flow I decided it was worth a quick dive to check out the sites potential. I got my kit together and set off.

Straight after getting in the water it was apparent that this flow was going to make things difficult walking backwards to the center of the pool I found myself getting tangled up in the weeds and algae and had to stop every 2 meters to clear myself of it. Once I was nearly on top of where the water was coming out of I dived down and finned towards where the water was coming from. I got to -3.6m where it was definitely sloping down at a 45 degree angle. Just below that point I could make out a limestone shaft going straight down. At this point I could feel one of my fins starting to get loose so I returned to the surface and fixed the strap back in place, I reckon it was probably pulled off by the weeds while walking backwards.

After catching my breath I dived back down with my reel in hand and tried to find somewhere to tie off my line. Any of the rocks I tried on the slope immediately rolled down into the void. Due to the fact that I still had light from the surface I decided to continue down the shaft a little bit further to see if anything else that could be tied off came up. Pulling myself down the sides of the walls while finning strongly I managed to get to 5.5m where I could see a slight undercut developing on the Eastern side of the shaft that I was on. With still no prospect of a tie off and the light behind me getting weaker I decided to call the dive there. It was best to come back another time when the flow would hopefully be lower so as to make exploration easier.

This site has a lot of potential with some if its water being traced from Ballyglunin Cave 10km away.

Hugh