Most people’s nightmares can range over a number of individual fears and phobias, but when that anxiety encompasses a multitude of other potential hazards nestled within it, such as fear of drowning, being lost in a deep water-filled labyrinth in poor visibility and bone chilling cold and discomfort, then on a rating of fear, those anxieties are just so far off the scale. I am referring here to cave diving, one of the most dangerous ‘adventure sports’ in the world.
With the advent of technology, social media and iPhone apps, streaming video clips of high octane extreme sports from awesome base jumps to solo un-roped climbing to breath-taking snowboard exploits, we can all now be armchair adrenaline junkies and share at least some of that thrill safely through the GoPro head cams of those who did it and survived. The sport of cave diving is ranked number one on the ultimate danger scale and is in a league of its own in risk taking.
Now imagine this nightmare sport as an everyday profession. Well one man who does that job is Welsh adventurer Martyn Farr, one of the World’s leading respected expedition cave divers and cave explorers. Hailing from his home base near Crickhowell, Martyn is no thrill seeking adrenaline junkie and his self-deprecating manner and schoolboy shyness of publicity have meant that his prodigious underwater exploits in cave diving – legendary as they are – rarely make the big news headlines. Within the annals of this sport and amongst his peers he is a revered pioneer, a technical authority and a major exponent of the game, spanning over four decades.
Now aged 62 years, this flinty individual of compact stature is still immensely sharp and active, which is surprising when one considers the life expectancy of a cave diver is generally quite short and quite a few others have sadly been lost to this adventure sport.
Martyn’s caving activities began at the age of 10 in the underground limestone regions of the southern Brecon Beacons, one of the major areas for caving in the UK. In 1970, whilst a student at Swansea University, he gained a degree in geography and joined the local sub aqua club. This introduction and crossover meant his passion for underwater exploration in caves was born. At that time the sport of sub aqua, especially any undertaking in submerged caves, was a huge risk-taking venture for a chosen few and lacked the sophisticated technology that divers enjoy with today’s diving and lighting equipment.
From the mid 1960s to the end of that decade, cave exploration in south Wales was at the hub of UK underground exploration with major extensions and penetrations into big cave systems, most notably Ogof Ffynnon Ddu, The Cave of the Black Spring, and Dan yr Ogof. Both these systems in the Swansea Valley contain huge complex networks of active river passages which, if breached by diving, would undoubtedly yield many more miles of cave passages that were suspected to lie beyond. At that time, Ogof Ffynnon Ddu was the deepest cave system in the UK at 1,010 feet and a push to circumvent the submerged sections fell to cave divers. The UK Cave Diving Group had been formed in 1946 and it wasn’t long before Martyn joined this intrepid elite band to participate in the exploration.
It was against this backdrop in the early 70s that Martyn, enthusiastic as ever, turned his attention to the long water-filled section of Dan yr Ogof known to cavers as ‘Mazeways’. With the buzz of new cave finds waiting to be discovered around almost every corner, and with the impetuousness of youth, his next effort nearly ended in premature tragedy.
Flooded passageways in caves are known as ‘sumps’ and are notoriously hazardous in the UK in comparison with other caves in the rest of the world, which are generally much larger, warmer and clearer. British caves have tight passages where silt, mud and sediment on walls and roofs can be stirred up in an instant by any movement, bringing visibility down to zero and making the chances of being lost under water a very lethal hazard. For this reason cave divers carry a life-line which is paid out by the diver on the inward swim and religiously followed back to base on their return to the surface. To lose a grip on this line in dark murky water, or worse, to become entangled in it, is almost certain to prove fatal.
In August 1971, hopeful of new discoveries and with two other cave divers in support at an underground base pool, Martyn commenced an exploratory dive trip into a virgin flooded tunnel in Mazeways. As cave diving has no ‘buddy system’ as is common in open water dives, the cave diver swims alone to gain the clearest visibility he can. Bubbles escaping from his demand valve through breathing, combined with finning activity can cloud up the water and serve to severely obscure the visibility.
As he progressed inward, with no warning his breathing valve malfunctioned and jammed shut. With no chance to evaluate the options, no back up, and no air, Martyn jettisoned the mouthpiece, discarded his lifeline and started swimming desperately back to base in a blind panic. To this day Martyn has no recollection of how he managed to cheat death by swimming the 28 metres from 9 metres depth and make it back to the surface. He says he remembered only inhaling water and suddenly seeing in the miasma of his panic the faint flashlight beams of the waiting divers through the murky blackness under water. This near fatal incident served as a salutary lesson and made him re-evaluate his approach. He promised himself that in future he would always thoroughly check his equipment before ever diving again.
A week or two later, with remarkable self-confidence and dedication, he dived back into the cave system and went on to do many more successful dives without major incident. Ironically, his two cave diving companions never cave dived again.
From that landmark day and in the ensuing years to the present time, Martyn went on to make many notable cave dives. As new technology in diving gases and equipment evolved, allowing cave divers to push the boundaries and go deeper and longer, so too did Martyn in his rigorous approach to the sport.
In 1977 and again in 1982, Martyn set two new depth records in Chamber 25 in Wookey Hole near Wells in Somerset, diving deeper than any other diver before him into a British cave. His audacious penetration in the complex Daren Cilau cave system under Llangattock Mountain in 1986 was a huge media event. With 600 metres of continuous diving in a submerged cave it was the deepest and longest, continuous through trip cave dive in the UK.
Martyn then went on to explore and discover even more impressive new cave extensions in the Blue Holes of Andros in The Bahamas, and made the longest undersea cave dive in the world in Conch Sound Cave with a penetration of over one kilometre of submerged tunnel penetrated. Each of these cave diving adventures, and the many others in which he has taken part in, involved rationalisation of immense psychological barriers and an acceptance of calculated risk most of us would run a mile to avoid. Add to that the chilling 7 degree water temperature, the relentless hours of climbing and crawling in wet and cold discomfort, carrying heavy cave diving equipment through tortuously narrow passageways and unstable boulder piles, and swimming across underground canals and active subterranean rivers to pursue his personal quest for exploration. It makes the mind boggle in wonder at the motivation of hardy individuals like these.
Not only has he participated in ground-breaking cave expeditions in most parts of the world including deep penetrations in Britain, Ireland, France, Spain, Iran, Turkey, Australia, Mexico, the USA, China and Brazil, but Martyn is an author and distinguished cave photographer in his own right. He has written many books on the subject of cave diving history, the technical aspects and techniques involved and the caving locations explored. Martyn is also the author of the highly acclaimed book ‘The Darkness Beckons’, regarded as the definitive book on the subject of cave diving.
2013 saw Martyn’s prodigious expedition programme of cave diving reach new levels with trips to China and Spain and some fabulous discoveries in New Zealand. In November and December in New Zealand he discovered another kilometre of virgin cave and in the Pozo Azul Cave system in Spain he supported several other cave divers on one of the most daring and arduous cave dives ever undertaken. This resulted in over 9 kilometres of underwater travel and the world’s longest cave diving penetration to date.
Married to wife Helen, who is also an accomplished cave diver herself, she has accompanied him on a considerable number of his exciting ventures. Martyn also runs a professional cave diving training facility in south Wales where he uses his extensive technical diving experience to train advanced recreational divers in the safety techniques of the overhead environment, places where divers cannot freely ascend to the surface.
I caught up with Martyn on his return from his expedition to New Zealand and we reminisced about our early adventures as members of the South Wales Caving Club. Whereas my caving activities remained recreational throughout my life, it was exciting to see that his infectious boyish enthusiasm was undimmed. Despite pressing him on the challenges and the demanding epics he has encountered over 40 years, Martyn still displayed the same shyness, self deprecation and measured assuredness of a space astronaut. In a world full of vacuous thrill seekers it is reassuring to see true explorers like Martyn Farr still exist.
It looks to me like Guinness World Records will be busy for years to come with reprints on the superlatives about Martyn’s caving diving exploits, and one can only wonder what they put in those Welsh cakes in Crickhowell.
The Darkness Beckons
The History and Development of World Cave Diving
With the help of all the world’s leading cave divers this is a “must have” book not only for technical and overhead divers, but for divers, cavers, indeed anyone with a thirst for adventure.
This is a complete re-write and essential reading for technical divers worldwide. With the help of all the world’s leading cave divers this is a “must have” book not only for technical and overhead divers, but for divers, cavers, indeed anyone with a thirst for adventure. Normal recreational divers and cavers will find the history quite amazing. The stories of individual caves and projects are nothing short of rivetting and incredible. There are plentiful maps and diagrams and the book is lavishly illustrated by the world’s leading photographers… This hardback version is superb value for money. There are accounts of epic achievements undertaken at places such as Wookey Hole and Keld Head but most of the book is devoted to momentous international explorations – the world’s longest and deepest: sites such as Pozo Azul, Wakulla, Bushmansgat, Zacaton and Olwolgin.
This book can be found on Amazon
To find out more about Martyn Farr’s cave diving adventures check out his Facebook page: @farrworld
All images © Martyn Farr
First published in Welsh Country Magazine Mar-Apr 2014
