It was a real privilege to be tagging along with UKMC's exploratory dive into Rhiwbach Mine.
I spent a day playing sherpa, and another praying I'd get something OK out of my camera from the dive; the emphasis was 100% on dive safety (and rightly so). These aren't the shots I had in mind, but I can't complain

Cracking banter, good company and a jaw dropping destination - a pretty perfect weekend.

The UKMC bunkhouse


Lugging the dive gear up the mountain


Looking into the abyss from dive-base


The enchanted forest near the mine entrance


Descending from dive-base


A photographers excursion into one of the chambers near dive-base


This was my first time tagging along on a dive trip; I'd prefer a diver explained what they were up to as I don't know diddly squat.
But I hope I didn't get in the way too much and fingers crossed I'll get an invite to tag along on a future trip.

LOVE the shot of the diver in the pool 

Diver Paul Marvin and friends dived Taylors Incline shaft at Goginan Silver Lead Mine (mid Wales) on Saturday and took video footage. Look out for a write up in the Cambrian news who were on site.
They later went on to Rhiwbach.

Pegasus said:

LOVE the shot of the diver in the pool 

Click to expand...

Cheers Pegasus 
We tried to plan this shot. Illumination is from a second diver who has gone ahead and turned his video rig back towards the entrance while the diver in shot descended.
This wasn't a photo shoot... This shot existed for just a second or two and then the divers vanished into unexplored tunnels laying new line.
Conditions weren't quite what I was expecting as the water lost it's clarity taking on this translucent green hue as the divers entered the water.
I'll be better prepared next time!

After they dived, two of us went off exploring - it's an amazing mine and well worth visiting for pure photography. Access might be an issue though; I was very privileged to be allowed to tag along.

Duncan, no issue with access as its controlled by Cave Access Ltd of which I am a director.

Permits and the lock code etc are obtainable from: http://rakelane.anduin.org.uk/cal/index.html

Cheers Roy - very interesting info which I only knew snippets about.

Rhiwbach is used by adventure caving company Go Below and we met multiple groups underground on both days.
So apart from the usual permit application and restrictions we had a healthy dose of 'don't get in the way of commercial operations'. Fine by me, and it was great to see so many people enjoying the thrills of being taken underground. Gotta say I was impressed with what I saw; their trips look loads of fun!

A code of practice with regards to the interaction between private explorers and the paying groups is something we have yet to look at as the scheme is still in its infancy.

I personally have very good relations with GoBelow and its owner but have to be explicit in that CAL is the access controller and all commercial groups will have to go though us same as private cavers and explorers once their existing agreements with NRW expire.