THE PROJECT
The Faroe Island, situated in the North Atlantic Sea, is a group of 18 major islands with 1117 kilometers of coastline. It is home to caves, explored and unexplored as well as kilometers and kilometers of un-explored coastline.
It is estimated that of all coastlines in the Faroes, less than half have been explored, leaving almost more than half unexplored with many possibilities of finding caves and wrecks. Several cave points of interest were identified during 2022 by Bogi Krossteig that laid the grounds for this project.
The challenge
Looking into the execution of the project, the Cavettes team was faced with several aggravating factors from the start since boat dives were out of the scope of this project. The first one was entry point scarcity, the number of sites in which we could enter water was few. Either, they were protected harbours kilometres from the cave point of interest, or closer but natural beaches where tide, distance and kelp made entry tricky and arduous.
The team have to carry the equipment some distance and then crawl over the kelp, fully geared, out to sea. The biggest challenge in the water was to face tides, strong currents, high waves, swell and unknown visibility and be required to travel to the cave point of interest and the same way back, regardless if the current was heading the same way.
The solution
The solution to face those factors was chosen as the primary tool Seacraft DPVs and ENC3 navigation consoles. Used by the team scooters Future Air Travel 800 offers the best power-to-weight ratio for the range as well as the requirement of air-travel friendly batteries was not an issue to get into the island with all equipment by passenger plane.
The magnetic propulsion feature of the scooters would turn out to be vital because all debris and kelp getting stuck in the propellers of the scooter could be easily removed.
The result
Out of the 5 cave points of interest identified, 3 were successfully reached and documented, while 2 were not reached due to strong currents. Total of 10 km of coastline was traveled in strong currents and swells, and 2 new cave points of interest were identified. More remain to be dived and seen, but would require boat support in the future.
SEACRAFT EQUIPMENT
This international team of cave and mine CCR divers share a common passion for exploring underwater caves and mines in cold-water environments. They actively engage in exploration projects, emphasizing wrecks, caves, and mines, leveraging their diverse expertise as full cave CCR divers and rebreather instructors. They are also committed to promoting diversity in diving, with a particular focus on encouraging women to embrace technical and cave diving through initiatives like ‘The Cavettes’.
MeetBogi Krossteig
MeetMagnus Määttä
