Sa Oche

Wednesday September 9th 2015

Members present: Alistair Rollinson,  Dan Boothby,  Luke Brownbridge,  Rachel Findlay,  Will Scott

After the more serious undertaking of Su Palu the previous day (and consequently celebrating our efforts that evening) those of us who wanted to go underground were looking for an easy, fun trip.

Brownbridge, Lumens, Boothby, Doyle Scott and I left in the “YUCPC bantz mobile” and headed back towards Su Bentu. However, this time the visit was intended for its resurgence – S’oche.

After speaking to our new Italian friend at the visitor centre, who immediately recognised us from our Su Bentu trip, we quickly arrived at the large entrance to S’oche. We kitted up in wetsuits and dive masks and set off down a pile of boulders.

The first section was lit up with floodlights allowing us to see a dry calcite flowstone in all its glory. After a small free climb we reached a very clear lake. Although inviting, the water was surprisingly cold! At this point Boothby decided to remove his willies after his fiasco in Dan yr Ogof.

The next 20 minutes or so were spent swimming along a 70m long passage with smooth vertical sides and complete darkness below us. Finally, after turning many corners and wondering if the lake ever ends, we reached the 90m deep sump which connects with Su Bentu some 130m away. Adorned with dive masks and goggles we all had a look into the sump, this was a mistake as being able to see the dive line disappear off into darkness just made the place more eerie! Will spluttered, “Fuck, I’m getting out!” after taking a brief look at the depths below him. Lumens, Doyle and I swam to the adjacent wall, spooked ourselves out with the realisation of how dark and mysterious it was below us and so quickly exited the sump.

On the swim back we stopped at an alcove on the right. A slightly awkward climb led to a small Pot Sump where only one of us could fit down at once – hugely smaller to the previous sump we had just viewed!

Doyle, Lumens and I then took to jumping/bombing off a ledge into the depths below us and trying to capture this on Lumens new GoPro. This led to trying to get some underwater ‘free diving’ footage. Once too cold we made a swift exit back into the warm Sardinian heat.

A short yet fun swimmy cave that was definitely worth the visit just to see the spectacular terminal sump!