Cave Diving - No Place To Lose Your Mind In Panic

A cave will do its best to kill you

- Dharshana Jayawardena

Cave diving is one of the most dangerous forms of scuba diving, requiring specialised gear and training that is far more technical and challenging than recreational scuba diving. Cave diving training is mainly about building mental fortitude to remain calm while diving through zero visibility water and wriggling through claustrophobic spaces. It is no place to lose your mind in panic. In an underwater cave, panic will kill you.

The question I asked myself is: Are there underwater cave systems in Sri Lanka, my home country? My search started in 2016, after completing an intense two-week training on cave diving in Thailand. While there are plenty of dry caves in Sri Lanka, it seemed that no one knew of any underwater caves. Then, in June 2017, I heard about a place called Nil Diya Pokuna (“Blue Water Pond”), situated deep within a mountain in the small town of Ella, about 200 kilometres east of Colombo. No one knew how deep the “pond” was and if the cave continued underwater. I decided to investigate.