Ançã cave

For decades cave divers in Portugal wanted to penetrate this virgin cave, but the entrance was narrow and it was not possible. From the first look at the cave it seems that it is a young spring because of the extremely narrow entrance. Only the huge volume of water which all year round, even in very hot summer season, goes out confuses and says that no, not at all. The cave must be very old and huge inside. Summer 2024 became historical. Miguel Lopes, António Mendes and Anton Zhuchkov (me) worked 11 hours underwater and made the entrance big enough to go in. We found a lot of stalactites and “chaos of blocks” which proved our idea that the cave is ancient and was formed before the ocean level rose. The entrance collapsed and that is why there was just a tiny hole with a very strong current of the water. So strong that our regulators free-flowed. For penetration we used sidemount OC, wetsuits, no fins.So, we are in! The exploration is going on!