Reached terminus in Intsra cave #1

Solo cave diving exploration of Intsra Cave, located in the Samegrelo region of the Republic of Georgia.

The waterfilled portion of the cave was first explored by soviet speleodiver Kiselev in the 1980s, but he was not able to push farther than 45 meters due to poor conditions and strong current. Later, Georgian speleodiver Guja Jamrishvili reached the 70-meter mark (or slightly more) but couldn’t proceed. There is a minor restriction that essentially requires a side mount configuration to pass through, and my guess is that he didn’t fit through with a back mount tank.

I pushed all the way to the terminus and laid a total of 120 meters of line. In this section, the cave passage is sandwiched between two inclined limestone layers, and has a large air pocket where a waterfall is emerging from the top left side.

Here cave becomes too narrow to continue. Water temperature was 9°C, with perfect visibility which is extremely rare for this cave system. I made a quick survey on the way back so stick map will be published soon.

Thank you, სპელეო კლუბი - ეგრისი, ბექა გოგილავა and others for logistical and moral support!

Equipment used: XCCR rebreather Flex 2 eCCR with 2L carbon O2 - robust exploration grade machine

Orcatorch D630 and Mazu TD01

Hauberk drysuits Drysuit undergarments 400g/m