Exploring an underground river on a raft is one of the most dangerous things I’ve ever done. I embarked on a journey with one other adventurer to a particular cave known for it’s long underground canal. There are several factors that led to its danger.
I took a backup raft to tow as a safety precaution. After getting all the way out to the location, I discovered my power supply wasn’t compatible with his car, so I was unable to air up the backup raft. Solely reliant on the single raft, we took off on the water and explored perhaps .25 mile of passage. As we were exploring, certain factors I noted made me in a near panic. It was a disaster waiting to happen- for 3 reasons:
1. There was nothing to hold onto on the sides of the cave. It was totally smooth, and the water was very deep, so if we fell in, we’d have to swim all the way to the ‘shore’ (up to 1/4 mile) to the walking part of the cave.
2. It was pitch dark, and I only had 2 waterproof lights- at least one of which was low on batteries and growing dim. Our main lights were not waterproof, so if we fell in, we would be swimming almost completely in the dark. Perhaps we would have been unsure what direction to even swim.
3. The raft began leaking and taking in water. I was sitting toward the rear and was sitting in a pool of water- the pool grew and grew until it was almost level with the water of the canal. The situation was becoming desperate.
Fortunately, the raft allowed us to make it back to dry land and to relative safety; a potential crisis was averted.