The Return to Thailand (Pt.2) – Revisiting Tham Luang

After four and a half years, Chris Jewell and John Volanthan revisit Thailand to retrace their steps from the 2018 Thai Cave Rescue.

Meanwhile, Vern had organised a team of thirteen strong cavers to help us with diving equipment to the end of Tham Luang, the site of the 2018 rescue. I’d not been inside and seen the cave without its flood water so the visit here was going to be something special.

During the rescue the boys had been stuck at what is now known as ‘Wild board Aven’ – around 2.3km from the entrance, with 1.5km of diving and swimming involved. That felt like a very long way at the time but now we were going to the very end of the cave – a 6km journey one way and carrying lots of heavy dive kit.

This was going be a long hard trip so we were pleased to be joined by a good team which included Paul Callister ‘Cal’, Siripon ‘Amp’ Bugnngern and Kido Pakpoom with a group from his military unit. The Thai PBS documentary crew was also coming along to film the historic trip.

On the way into the cave I was amazed to see what Tham Luang looked like without water. I could now see clearly all of the obstacles we’d faced during the rescue. Vern guided us through the cave explaining what we were seeing whilst John and I marvelled at actually seeing the passages we’d groped our way through in the dark, underwater those four years ago.

At key land marks we stopped to look at the places we recognised and recalled our memories of swimming down these threatening water filled tunnels which were now empty, quiet and benign. The constant reminder of what had happened and where we were was the dive line, a thick rope still tied on to rocks and stalagmites, leading us onwards. At Wild boar Aven where the boys had been trapped, we paused and I climbed the steep muddy slope to the little camp where the 13 boys had waited to be rescued.

Going ever deeper we made good time but it was also tiring and everyone’s energy began to wane. Eventually we reached the dive site, a pool at the bottom of a steep sandy slope in a low passage filled with sand. All our equipment had to be prepared very carefully in the confined space and it was nearly impossible to avoid getting sand everywhere

After a lot of struggling we were finally in our wetsuits sitting in the now very silty pool. John led off with line reel in hand whilst I followed on capturing some survey data. We surfaced quickly then dived again but after a short distance and at a depth of 13m we reached a sand and silt barrier where no further progress was possible. John was satisfied that the cave was really finished, whilst I was disappointed we hadn’t discovered more.

Back at dive base our team was content, if a little chilly. However we knew the hard bit was still to come, a long tiring exit back through the many obstacles we negotiated on our way in.

Covered in sand and completely soaked, after around 14 hours underground we finally emerged exhausted into the dark night of the Thai jungle surrounding the cave. We hadn’t made a substantial new extension to the cave but we had answered the question of what happens in the terminal sump.

At the same time we’d had an excellent (if exhausting) caving trip with great friends. And we’d been able to share memories and reminisce about the events there four ½  years earlier when the situation and condition had been very very different!

Images by: Josh Morris & Siripon Bugnngem