In cooperation with the eco association "Bužimski izvori" – "The Bužim springs", of which we are founders and members, we continued the explorations on the Bužim territory, and the assumption from three years ago was turned into a pleasant reality.

Our assumption was that the Vrbas spring is connected to the shaft located a hundred metres above it. Vrbas is a rich water spring from which drinking water is provided for Bužim, Smiljan and a part of Gospić. Thanks to this extremely dry year we set out to confirm out assumption. On 5 September, the following members of our team arrived here: Tihomir Kovačević, Alan Kovačević, Damir Pavelić, Beata Prpić, Marjan Prpić, Milan Ćaćić- our member and also the president of “The Bužim springs”, as well as the secretary of the association, Đurđica Butković.

First we entered the "Mali Vrbas", which has run dry at the moment. That is where we reached the siphon which, according to Alan who shortly snorkelled under it, can be dived through. Beata and Damir started to record Mali Vrbas topographically. Luka, Alan and Tihi went to the other spring - Vrbas, at the end of the fossil chamber, where a small creek flows and outflows in the middle of the portal between the two entrances.

We were lucky that the level of water in the siphon entrance was low enough to go through it. "Low enough" means that at the lowest level between the ceiling and water, with a little bending of one’s head with a helmet on, one can go through without water entering one’s mouth.

Alan and Luka went through (Tihi was waiting at the edge of the entrance and was taking photos), and then the real thrill of a true explorer began. Before them opened a chamber with a lake some 5 metres deep, and a waterfall above which was visible that the channel is continuing. Climbing up the waterfall, and through a narrow passage, named "entrance into a fairytale", a beach is reached, behind which a meander continues.

The whole way, we were enchanted by the beauty nobody had ever had the chance to see. Bright and smooth limestone rocks were beautifully shaped by the water. Every new step we took we would see waterfalls, slides, lakes, siphons. Somewhere halfway, we arrived to the most beautiful place in the cave – The chamber of stone waterfalls. We found a passage leading on and by every next step we were more surprised. The rocks were extremely slippery, and we helped each other, but we kept up the pace. One does not experience such a discovery and such a beauty very often. The wish to exit on the other side – into the shaft – kept us going on.

We reached a slide some two metres high, water flowing through it, and with some more effort – pushing, pulling, leaning on the slippery rock – we arrived to the channel, and Alan shouted – "I can see daylight! We are on the other side!"

We were at the bottom of a thirty metres deep shaft; actually we were standing at the edge of a passage in a rock. Near us was a "well", the bottom of which we could not see, but we are certain that the depth is over ten metres. Thirty metres above us trees, sky… The first time we have connected the spring with the shaft. We were standing there for a while, commenting on the depth, making plans for filming and feeling happy about the return the same way we just passed through.

Somewhere far away, at the entrance, Tihi was waiting impatiently (on that day he did not put on his diving suit, and therefore he did not set out with Alan and Luka). His heart would not have him just wait, so he crawled through as much as he could over the rocks above the water, holding on like a spider in a narrow space, to keep him from falling into the water with his camera, and he waited. Then, he saw two red helmets swimming towards him with a large smile on their faces.

"We exited the other side! We have a through cave! It`s beautiful! We saw this and that… tomorrow we are filming the whole day"… and so on…
At the end of this exciting day we descended another shaft of a similar depth not far from the first one and the spring. We hoped to find a passage and a connection there, but it won’t go without diving this time.

The second day

We made a script.
We took the camera, and as usually, we filmed the whole action where the following members participated: Beata, Damir, Alan, Luka and Tihi. Now, we won’t reveal the details of the film, but let me tell you shortly – after our briefing, two teams start from two directions – through the spring and descending the shaft. They hope to pass through and meet somewhere underground…

While we were filming, repeating, transporting gear swimming over the lakes and siphons, climbed the waterfalls, we named every pretty part of the way: Majk`s lake, Entrance into a fairytale, Alan`s  meander, Luka`s meander, Tihi`s waterfall, Beata`s knee, The Chamber of Stone Waterfalls, Tara`s slide, Damir`s siphon... There is an anecdote about Damir. He was listening to us giving names, and then said dead-serious: “If you are done with giving names, I have a suggestion too: let this be called "Damir`s Cave".
The suggestion is being discussed, for a while until we stop laughing.

By the way, we think we finally got Croatian speleological Hollywood.
The space between the spring and the shaft, topographically recorded by Beata and Damir, is just one of the beautiful caves we had the chance to see.

After almost 6 hours we came out, not so tired and frozen, so we checked another thing… A successful day had to be spiced up with another beautiful thing. We turned the time back for some 300 years, and entered something built by people into a real cave (we will see what it is…).

On this occasion we would like to thank the Town of Gospić and the hospitality of the mayor Milan Kolić, as well as Đurđa Butković, and of course to the eco association "Bužimski izvori" and its president Milan Ćaćić – Majk. The first and the most beautiful lake in, now already confirmed, Vrbas system was given the name Majk`s lake. In it, there is a siphon that will soon be dived through and this beautiful system, a new under-Velebit pearl, confirmation will continue.
We will be back! Soon!
Authors of the photos:Tihomir Kovačević - Tihi, Marjan Prpić - Luka, Damir Pavelić, Đurđa Butković.

Copyright DDISKF 2009.

See more: nastavak istraživanja u Bužimu...

(I malena opaska administratora: naslov ovog teksta izmjenjen je nakon određenih saznanja o "postojanju mnogobrojnih traverzi na području Lijepe naše", no to svakako ne umanjuje značaj i vrijednost otkrića kojeg su napravili dečki i cure iz DDISKF. Na kraju, lijepo pozdravljamo sve one koji su proteklih dana toliko intenzivno posjećivali i upoznali naš novi portal, nadamo se da ste uživali i da ćete i nadalje uživati čitajući o akcijama kluba čije kvalitete i vrijednosti daleko nadmašuju (administratorski) naslov jedne priče.)