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The lure of the deep

Carol Nader
March 5, 2011

Agnes Milowka, as she appeared in a video she posted on Youtube.

THEY call it ''laying new line''. And in the language of cave divers, it is about marking virgin territory, going where no one has gone before you. And it's what drives you.

On the day that Agnes Milowka died, she achieved this goal again, as she had many times before. Last Sunday, she went to a place she had been to often - Tank Cave, near Mount Gambier, in South Australia - one of the best spots for cave diving in Australia.

She got what she came for, laying new line. ''We don't know how much line she has laid yet,'' says Andy Higgins, a fellow cave diver who was with her last Sunday. ''We know the line goes further into the cave but we don't know how far. So she certainly achieved a goal that she wanted to.''

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They called her ''Ag'' and she was his friend. She was brave and adventurous and popular with other cave divers. She was in a group of 10 cave divers who dived Tank Cave last Sunday. Mr Higgins was the supervising guide. It was Mr Higgins who unlocked the gate and set up the ladder for the divers to enter the cave. Throughout the morning, they went in and out of the cave at staggered times, one always remaining on dry land at the entrance. Nine out of 10 of them were out by about midday.

After Ag failed to surface when she was meant to, it was Mr Higgins who made the call to the water police. The divers spent all day and night trying to find their friend. Late that night, they spotted her body inside Tank Cave. It wasn't until Wednesday afternoon that her body was recovered.

Of course they understand the perils of their sport. So what is the allure? Mr Higgins started cave diving in 1999, almost unintentionally. His interest in diving was mainly old shipwrecks. When he heard about the much higher technical skill involved in cave diving, he did the course to help his wreck diving. It became addictive. ''It can be quite a tranquil thing to do,'' he says.

What he loves about it is it is technically challenging. You need more equipment. And you have to master buoyancy control, to be perfectly still inside. Hitting the bottom of the cave can dislodge particles called silt that affect visibility, and hitting the ceiling can dislodge rocks.

He has done more than 100 dives in Tank Cave. ''It's beautiful,'' he says. The terrain is diverse with multiple colours. He has seen fossils, sea urchins, whale bones and bones from prehistoric wombats.

It is the most technical cave, with passages and tunnels varying in size. When you first start to dive Tank Cave, the tunnels are a nice comfortable size. Then you get into tighter areas, and you need to ''side mount'' - where you wear your tanks on the side to help you squirm in. Ask him if he feels fear when he does this and he responds: ''You build up to it.''

He calls it a ''calculated risk''. Each time he manoeuvres his body into a tight restriction in a cave where he thinks he might get stuck, he always stops and asks himself: ''At this point, if I need to turn around or need to back out, can I do it? And if my answer is no, I will stop.''

He's been in some pretty tight squeezes, almost burying himself in a tunnel once in Tank Cave. The ceiling and wall collapsed around him and there was a total ''silt-out''. He couldn't see a thing. The tunnel was big enough only for him to move backwards. ''You don't have time to panic. You have to compose yourself,'' he says.

So he pictured a mental image of how he must be lying in the cave. Slowly, he began to move backwards, his confidence growing as he started to feel more room around his legs. He could tell that the cave was opening up, that he was almost free.

Mr Higgins knows all about laying new line. He has done it himself, in another cave near Mount Gambier called Stinging Nettle. It is this explorative desire that drives so many cave divers, he explains. Perhaps it is also what bonds them. The cave divers are an elite group. The umbrella association has about 800 members. The higher up the ranks you move, the smaller the group gets. They even have their own sign language to communicate under water. To indicate silt, for instance, rub two fingers and a thumb together.

His wife, Helen, is also a cave diver. He met her through diving - before he took up cave diving. They took their little girl Natasha, now five, on her first trip to the entrance of Tank Cave when she was just six weeks old, Helen breastfeeding in between dives.

Mount Gambier has the largest concentration of caves and is accessible, which is what makes it so appealing. The other place to go in Australia is the Nullarbor in Western Australia. It's much less accessible but very pristine. But the best spots in the world for cave diving are Florida and Mexico, where he says it is more clear and the water is a more comfortable 26 degrees. In Tank Cave, it is about 14 degrees.

Mr Higgins says cave diving is more rigorously policed here. All advanced caves in Australia are under lock and key, and who gets the key is controlled by the Cave Divers Association, in which he is an advanced cave instructor. He says safety is a priority. Even after you've completed a cave-diving course, it still takes at least three years before you're allowed to attempt the advanced caves.

Among the association's rules to keep people safe is the use of a continuous line that gets you into the cave, which you can follow out to safety. It can literally be a lifeline. The association's official position is that it is opposed to solo diving, that cave divers should be with a buddy - although individuals have differing views. It has emerged that Ms Milowka was solo diving last Sunday.

Mr Higgins has previously done solo diving himself and says it can be done while minimising the risks. ''But you're never going to eliminate all risk, or with anything that you do in life.''

Steve Trewavas, national director of the Cave Divers Association, says it appears that she breached at least a couple of guidelines. Solo diving is one, and the circumstances around which she was diving solo remain unclear.

Another is the use of marked lines on intercepting lines within the cave. If you come to an intersection where there is another line, you're supposed to mark the intersection with an arrow indicating the return route so you can feel your way out.

''She probably went over at least eight or nine intersecting lines which she never marked,'' he says.

Mr Higgins is visibly distressed by the loss of his friend, and also faces the stress of being investigated by the Cave Divers Association, as he was the supervising guide on the day.

There are things about Sunday that Mr Higgins can't talk about because there is a coroner's inquiry under way.

He describes his friend as an exceptional diver. ''She had this drive to keep going and exploring.''

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