Deep Descent: The Tragic Dive of Waldek, a Battle Against the Depths

Incident Location	Diver Full Names
France, Goul du Pont	Waldek

Some caves are so dangerous that they are sealed for eternity. The Goul du Pont cave was never meant to be entered, but one unsuspecting explorer made the quest to discover if it had a bottom, which is when things went horribly wrong.

An extreme amount of discipline is required to remain a living cave diver. Some divers learn the hard way that they are not equipped to tackle a technically challenging cave dive. Most rebreather mishaps have already occurred before the diver goes into the water; the diver just doesn’t realize it.

Exploration and History of Goul du Pont Cave

Yet, according to one prominent diver, Foull Santando, the Goul du Pont cave is home to a cave system. Bull Santanderwa’s speleological diving group made it through the congested entrance and up to the main shaft in 1955. George’s Harad, an officer with the Lyon French Department, provided them with necessary diving gear and handcrafted their neoprene wetsuits. They uncovered a location that turned out to be one of the closest things to the gates of the underworld.

German explorer Joseph Schneider, who ventured deep into the Goul du Pont Cave System, barely made it back out alive since a pile of earth blocked the entrance. It had been over a decade since anyone had dared to dive there. Many groups have tried and failed to go back into this watery oblivion. The cave should have never been unbarred. Yet, in May 2002, an exploring team using cutting-edge excavation technology did just that.

Waldak and His Journey

Born in Poland, married, and the father of three young children, in 1988 he became a member of a British cave exploring team. For nearly a decade, he traveled extensively with the team. These men would take three-hour hikes up icy snow slopes in the middle of winter. The majority of Polish cave divers were rugged.

On the other hand, Waldak appeared to be a different breed of toughness. His physical fitness was exceptional, and he was a skilled climber. Above all else, though, he was a risk-taker and liked to test himself without worrying about his safety or other responsibilities. Waldak would press on and he would frequently accomplish outstanding achievements. On one of his frequent trips, he went winter caving in the Polish Tatra Mountains in December 2000.

A week or so later, he came home feeling dissatisfied, as if there were more challenges for him to take on. By the time he was 42, he had seen younger cavers go into flooded caverns which he had always avoided because they were so dangerous. He decided he had to take on some more challenges in his life. So he left his job as a maintenance worker and went to school to become one of Poland’s first stockbrokers. Waldak was ideally suited for the fast-paced nature of this position.

Waldak’s Introduction to Cave Diving

He made a lot of money rapidly, and because of this, he could spend less time working and more time exploring the world. As he got closer to middle age, he didn’t seem to have lost any of his inner drive or willingness to take risks. But for someone with Waldek’s athletic prowess, he must have started to feel the effects of age. Waldek became fixated on the mystery and thrill of exploring a water-filled cave. Over time, he became more open to the idea of cave diving, and this time, he decided to act on it because he had the funds to do so.

By June 2001, Waldek met Wiktor Bullock, who was one of Poland’s best cave divers at the time. Wiktor helped him pick out and buy the necessary gear, and then he helped Waldek sign up for cave diving school.

Even though Waldek had promised his wife he wouldn’t take up cave diving, she knew that it was dangerous and wanted him nowhere near the caves. In 2001, Waldek went to the East Buru Tech Resurgence in Romania with a group led by Wiktor Bullock. Despite being a complete novice, he dove to a depth of 150 feet, breaking all of his previous diving records.

Becoming a Cave Diver

Good things were happening to Waldek, and he felt a whole new sense of purpose in his life. He then had more good things happen to him and got a bonus from his job at the end of 2001. He used that money to immediately buy scuba gear, including the Buddy inspiration rebreather. He did this because he wanted to break ground in cave diving, just as he had done in traditional cave exploring for so long. By 2005, Waldek had established himself as a top cave diver in Poland, accumulating many cave dives both internationally and in Poland.

The Loss of a Friend

Unfortunately, Wiktor Bullock, one of Waldek’s best friends and mentors, passed away in May 2004 due to complications from a deep cave dive. Victor was the primary impetus behind the initial exploration of the East Buku Tau’s cave dive in Romania. Waldek was absolutely devastated by his friend’s death. It took him about two and a half months to finally come out of his room and live life like he normally had. The thing that shook Waldek the most was the fact that he, too, was mortal and could perish from a simple oversight deep within a cave.

The Dive into Goul du Pont

On April 5th, 2005, Waldek met up with a small diving party and traveled to Bus Santander in the Ardesh region of France. Waldek had set his sights and was determined to go diving in the cave known as Goul du Pont, named after the adjacent Goul du Pont Bridge. He knew about the checkered past of this cave, but because of the challenge and the fact that it wasn’t fully explored, he became even more determined to explore it and find its bottom if one existed. So, Waldek got ready to take his first dive into Goul du Pont on April 4th, 2005.

He wanted to break his record for depth from two years ago, which stood at 336 feet. Even though he was unprepared to go so deep, Waldek was getting ready to do a technical dive, which is the type of dive that needs a lot of planning and special gear. But he was confident in his skills and thought he was prepared for the risky dive at Goul du Pont. After his short dive the day before, the rebreather had some minor problems because there was still water in it. The next day, however, this was nothing that made him panic or ditch the dive. The dive of the next day also showed that…

Preparing for the Dive

All the systems were working well, so his exploration into Goul du Pont could continue. On April 5th, 2005, Waldek dove into the entry pool with two 10-liter cylinders, totaling around 33 pounds, fastened to his harness. In the case of a rebreather failure, these breathing regulators would provide critical life support. One has trimix that can be used in deeper parts of the cave, and the other has an air mix that can be used in shallow parts. Both can be used without the rebreather in case of an emergency.

After testing his rebreather, which took a long time but was necessary, Waldek fully entered the cave. His gear was cumbersome and not well adapted to the tight quarters of the tunnels. The rebreather was attached on his back and protected by a thick yellow shell shaped like a turtle, limiting the ceiling height he would need to pass through. The side-mounted safety cylinders made it much more difficult for him to squeeze through the narrow passages, which made things very claustrophobic. While there was no issue with using such a setup in open water, doing so in…

Tighter caverns was dangerous. Waldek believed that Goul du Pont was spacious enough and well-suited for the hefty equipment he was wearing. Open water diving with standard gear might be challenging for some, but when using a rebreather, divers had a lot more to think about. As they descend, Waldek, on his descent, had much to keep him occupied. In addition to taking in the impressive sights of the tunnel route, a crucial part of this work was checking the oxygen content of the air he inhaled at regular intervals.

Managing the Dive

The rebreather had an automatic control system that managed the oxygen level with a high degree of accuracy. However, it still had limitations and could fail, so a close watch was needed to be kept on the readings at all times. Waldek must also adjust the pressure of the breathing gas in the rebreather to match the pressure of the water around him. This is done by adding or taking away gas for each foot of depth reached or lost on the way up.

This simple action was necessary for Waldek’s device to work. Without it, breathing would become very hard if not impossible very quickly. As he went down, he had to continue to change the dry suit’s inflation pressure to keep it at the right level and keep his skin from getting pinched or ballooning. His diver buoyancy control device served the same purpose, controlling his buoyancy.

In addition, several other responsibilities need to be monitored while he was diving. These include checking the cylinder pressure often using the dive computer, checking the depth, and carefully managing the rate of descent and total time spent underwater.

The Difficulty and Danger Zone

As Waldek made his way through the tight, confining tunnels, he came to a section of the tunnel where, at this point, he was able to see far into the distance with the help of his helmet lights because the water had great visibility that day. This is one of the things Waldek didn’t even check but worked out in his favor. However, the cave route then turned sharply downward at a depth of 60 feet, but this is when he started to face the cave’s true difficulty and danger zone.

There is more to the route. When diving with the Buddy Inspiration rebreather, a diver must have a low horizontal profile. Because of this, getting through these final tunnels was exceptionally difficult for him. So as he descended further into the cave, he took a calculated risk with his life.

Narcosis Sets In

Unfortunately, Waldek ran into some unforeseen difficulties during this part of the descent. First, there was the consequence of nitrogen narcosis, which may affect a diver’s physical and mental capabilities. But Waldek was not the type of person that would allow minor failures or things that came up to derail him from achieving his ultimate goal. But narcosis becomes debilitating quickly. His breathing started to become more difficult than usual. Every breath was slow and hard, and it would only get worse the deeper he went.

Battling Nitrogen Narcosis in the Depths of the Cave

The following section ended at 260 feet below ground and led to a horizontal gallery. Even though nitrogen narcosis had set in by this point and breathing had become extremely difficult, he continued on further into the cave, he had sunk to a depth of 360 feet, putting him in a position to set a new personal record. He loved a good fight and knew that it would make his victory all that sweeter if he continued on. Unfortunately, the narcosis had hampered his ability to evaluate his circumstances and make critical decisions.

This was the most challenging point of the dive, but he persisted. Instead of bailing out, his initial symptoms certainly worsened with each foot he descended deeper into the cave. The narcosis slowly started taking over his body and made it hard for him to use the complicated diving gear he was wearing and to see what was going on around him. It was like he was completely drunk underwater in a cave with no way out.

Waldek still had to change the gas pressure inside his rebreather and use his buoyancy control device to control how fast he was sinking. The narcosis was getting worse, and the gas he inhaled was getting denser, making it almost impossible to breathe. He had to exert more and more effort to get air into his lungs and back out through the rebreather. While he had anticipated no issues working his way down the cave at this depth, he quickly discovered he’d exert an immense amount of effort just to keep his lungs from collapsing.

At this point, he was having a full-on panic attack at depth. The lungs’ efficiency decreases, making it more likely that not enough oxygen is absorbed in the lungs and not enough carbon dioxide is released from the circulation, exacerbating the situation. When he hadn’t returned to the cave entrance by 3 pm, some of his dive buddies at the surface made two dives to a maximum depth of 230 feet to see if they could assist Waldek out of the cave.

When it became clear that Waldek could not make it out of the cave by himself, rescuers were dispatched. Unfortunately, he could not escape the cave on his own due to the high depths and the severe symptoms of nitrogen narcosis. He lay there unable to move his body or control his train of thought to get that emergency cylinder attached to him and use it to breathe.

The Challenging Rescue of Waldek from a Treacherous Cave

Several individuals had to work tirelessly to bring Waldek out of the cave despite being exhausted and terrified the whole time. The rescue operation included divers that went into the cave to get Waldek and a crew outside of the cave with a rope to help pull him out. Outside the cave, the crew rested on their backs next to a rope for an hour while it pulled through the icy water. The French search and rescue team eventually discovered Waldek on April 6, 2005.

After waiting for an hour for Waldek to be secured by ropes, they began yanking furiously. Unfortunately, the rescue crew outside of the cave was close to becoming hypothermic from resting on the cold rocks and pulling the rope. Extreme cold and the annoyance of not knowing what was happening within the rescue made the rescuers extremely tired.

Only three of the hauling party could pull at once because of space limitations, and pulling while on their back was extremely tiresome. You’d think that all of that pulling would get your blood pumping to help get you warm, but it didn’t.

None of them knew what was going on within the cave or how long they would have to remain in such a precarious position. They felt they were simply going through the motions. As the rope got caught on the rocks and other ropes, they had to let out again and again. None of them had ever felt so cold and uncomfortable.

The whole thing was absolutely terrifying. Waldek’s body was discovered at a depth of 344 feet, although he was angled in the direction of the exit, creating a strong impression that he had just turned around and was on his way out. He never made it. His dive computer showed that he had reached a maximum depth of 351 feet. There was no evidence that he was able to activate the fail-safe on his rebreather. Data from Waldek’s dive computer and accounts from the recovery divers were used to piece together the reconstruction of events.

French authorities attempted to seize Waldek’s possessions. It is unknown why Waldek’s diving buddies kept some of his belongings for him, including some of his diving bottles. The French authorities didn’t bother to check Waldek’s possessions before sending him back to Poland. There are conspiracies around his death and what really happened and whether or not the final incident report has all the correct information.

There was speculation that the equipment Waldek used was faulty and caused his death. It took nearly a month after Waldek’s death for his remains to be returned to Poland due to bureaucratic delays. On May 14, 2005, he was laid to rest in Warsaw, Poland, his birthplace. Thank you for watching, and if you enjoyed the video, please subscribe. Also, please hit the like button if you liked the video. I look forward to seeing you at the next one.

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