BAD Exploration Team

Even in holliday break Bartłomiej Pitala and Mariusz Banaszak embarked on couldn't be complete without caving. This time, their destination was Spain and the Fuente Azul cave.
The cave's last exploration took place 15 years ago, in 2011, so the team decided it was high time to push it a bit further.
As usual, the weather wasn't favorable. Heavy rainfall caused the Rio Arlanza to swell, significantly impeding access to the Fuente Azul cave.

Below is a short account of Bartek's exploratory dive:

I managed to navigate the horizontal passage at -135m quickly and efficiently using the Seacraft, reaching the end of the line at -43m with almost no decompression stops. After attaching my reel, I began exploring new sections of the cave.
After traveling about 40m along the passage at a constant depth, I reached a crevice running almost vertically downward. From this point on, the cave has a distinctly Swiss cheese feel – blind depressions and false passages that forced me to backtrack a bit two or three times and choose a different route. Imagine my surprise when, continuing down the crevasse, I reached a depth of over 100 meters, and a passageway stretching there. Unfortunately, it didn't get any easier, as the cave almost immediately began to shallow again with a series of passages and vertical pits.

I also had some trouble stabilizing the handrail, as the cave walls are very smooth, and the formations growing on them are too delicate to be used for stabilization. However, they were perfect for obscuring visibility with the slightest flick of a fin, or even when exposed to gas bubbles released from the rebreather.
After shallowing down another well, heavily overgrown with formations, to a depth of -57 meters, another horizontal passage appeared. However, the distance from home, the complex profile, rapidly deteriorating visibility, and the general "unpleasantness" and narrowness of the passage made me decide to end my exploration and begin my "ascent," or rather, my return journey to -100 -> -43 -> -135 -> 0 meters. The dive lasted 4.5 hours. It's a shame we didn't have another day to calmly, this time on a string, reach the new face and continue a bit further.

In the comments, you'll find a video from the expedition prepared by Bartek.

We are proud to announce that the exploration activities conducted in 2025 by Bartłomiej Pitala (BAD Exploration Team) have been awarded a distinction at the Colossus Gala (Kolosy) 💪
Kolosy is the name of the Polish awards for exploration achievements, presented annually for over 20 years.
We are pleased that our successes in exploring underwater caves are recognized by the community of discoverers and explorers.
fot. Kolosy

A few action photos from the dives. We hope you like them as much as we do.
We haven't said our final word on the project yet. We'll soon share a video documenting the expedition, which was created by the great Andrea Mescalchin 🤩

We also wanted to share with you the fantastic photos taken during the project by Matteo Mescalchin 🤩📸

There are so many of them that it's impossible to choose our favorites. We've divided them into two packages: preparations and action. Today we're publishing the first batch of photos. We hope you'll also be captivated by the picturesqueness of this fantastic cave. We love returning here and have been doing so for nearly 10 years. It's definitely a special place.

PART 3/3 "GRANDE FINALE" 🤩
It's time for a grand summary of our—we can certainly say so—long-term project of exploring the Elefante Bianco cave.
On the day of the final dive, we started early. By 10 a.m., all the equipment had already been transported to the cave, and we began preparations for my dive. As usual, everything was meticulously written out on a whiteboard, ensuring that no detail was lost in the excitement of this moment.
At 11:05 a.m., Tomasz Wciórka and I began our descent. Together, we descended to a depth of -40 meters, from where I set off alone. My rendezvous with Tomek would take place in 20-25 minutes, at a depth of around -130 meters, where my first decompression stops should begin. After a few minutes of express descent, I found myself at -235 meters, at the reel I'd left behind from the previous dive. Almost without stopping, I picked up the reel and set off into the unknown—through a corridor no one had ever seen. For over 100 meters, the corridor continued northward, slowly deepening, until finally, what we'd all been wondering about happened – another well! The fifth, this time taking the form of a vertical crevice, several meters wide and who knows how many meters deep. Without slowing down on the double scooter, I dove into the crevice, knowing these were the final seconds of my exploration, for which we'd all been preparing for so long. -250... -260... -270... -280 meters, and the bottom was nowhere in sight. Only after crossing -280 meters of depth did I see the outline of the seabed below, strewn with huge rock fragments. I decided to reach the bottom, and swim for just a few more seconds to capture as much footage of this extremely deep part of the cave as possible. Then I cast my reel to the bottom and immediately began my journey towards the surface. My computers unanimously showed a depth of -292 meters... Incredible. I met Tomek at one of the wells, at a depth of -120 meters. In the following hours, Bartosz Zdziebel and Luca Cavicchioli took care of my ascent, while Michał Sojka managed everything from the surface.
After eight hours, at 7:12 PM, long after dark, I emerged to the surface, where our entire team and colleagues from the GGG Gruppo Grotte Giara Modon were waiting.
This year's exploration of Elefante Bianco is an incredible success for us, fulfilling a dream that has been ingrained in us for years and has accompanied us through many stages of our diving development. It's an incredible feeling to be able to follow in the footsteps of giants like Luigi Casati and Olivier Isler, pushing this "relay" of underwater exploration forward.
They say there are no coincidences in life 😉, so I'm thinking that maybe that's why the cave prevented us from continuing our activities in 2025 – so that we all have time to prepare, refine our procedures, experience, and equipment, so that we can safely complete such a far exploration this year.
A film will be made of our entire expedition this year, for which Andrea Mescalchin and Matteo Mescalchin collected footage daily, documenting our activities above and below the water. The film will be available soon (really 😃), so stay tuned to see for yourself what only I and the guys from the crew have ever seen ✌️✌️✌️
A huge thank you to the entire crew – the divers, the filmmakers, the support staff, and the "sherpas" 😃

BAD Exploration Team
Bartłomiej Pitala
Tomasz Wciórka
Bartosz Zdziebel
Michał Sojka
Andrea Mescalchin
Matteo Mescalchin
Luca Cavicchioli
GGG - Gruppo Grotte Giara Modon
TK Diving Team - for the gases placed in a point!
SANTI Diving - heating and battery support
Seacraft for the world's best Ghost and Future scooters!
GRALmarine extreme diving expedition support for flashlights that withstand any pressure I put them under

PART 2/3
The first days of each of our expeditions are, of course, dedicated to preparing for operating safely in the deeper parts of the caves – repairing the guidelines, deploying safety tanks, acclimatizing to increasingly greater depths, and testing our bodies' reactions to increasingly higher pressures and longer dives.
This time was no different. After several days of preparations in Elefante Bianco, I managed to reach approximately 530 meters from the entrance, to a depth of -186 meters – the spot where Gigi Casati ended his exploration 22 years ago. This meant we were about 130 meters short of our previous exploration limit, reached two years ago. In 2024, our exploration ended at -227 meters, in a pit whose bottom could not be reached. The plan for the next dive of this expedition was to reach the bottom of this pit and search for another horizontal passage, which likely leads out somewhere there. I knew the task might not be easy, as the deepest pit was enormous, and I'd have about 2 minutes at the bottom—if I even managed to reach it—so that I could complete the entire dive in 5-6 hours...
Ten minutes after beginning my descent, I was already in the passage at -190 meters. After a few seconds, the abyss I'd seen two years ago opened up beneath me. Without slowing down, I headed down along the vertical rock face. -210... -220... -225... the outlines of the bottom began to appear below me. I began swimming along the bottom at -230 meters, along the wall, still operating the reel with my right hand.
A moment later, a spacious shadow appeared in the wall in front of me, indicating a possible continuation of the passage! After another dozen or so meters, I was certain—the ceiling above my head closed in an arch, and I was in another horizontal tunnel—at a depth of -235 meters. The path to further exploration was—literally—open! The objective of this dive had been achieved, so I left the reel on one of the rock ledges and quickly began my return to the surface. After another six hours, I was able to share the good news with the rest of the team back on the surface. It was now the time to plan the final exploration dive...

📸Matteo Mescalchin

PART 1/3
The Italian caves of the Veneto region are a special place for our team. It was here that each of us took our first, or perhaps some of our first, steps into cave diving. It was also here that we met in 2018 – on a joint trip with Robert, Rafał, Tomek, Bartek, and Michał. Since then, we've been visiting Veneto together practically every winter. Over the years, we've all pushed our "personal ancestors," but none of us really considered true exploration – beyond the unreachable limits of Luigi Casati, Alberto Cavedon, and other "masters" of yesteryear. It wasn't until 2023, after reaching a depth of over -150m in Elefante Bianco, that I think the thought actually crossed my mind for the first time – "only 100m of passage remain to reach the end of Casati's line..."
As the months passed, our team became increasingly serious about pushing the cave beyond its known limits, until finally, around late autumn 2023, we decided to try our hand at it in February 2024.
Unfortunately, after years of perfect winter conditions, in February 2024, we were greeted by rain and cold in Veneto, which, as you can imagine, had a very negative impact on the conditions in Elefante Bianco. Visibility was only about 3-5 meters, so our entire project was left hanging by a thread. Nevertheless, over the next week, with the guys' help, I managed to reach my dream "forehead" and explore for over 100 meters, deepening the cave to -227 meters in one of the next cavernous pits without reaching the bottom (you can read more about that expedition on the blog - link in the comments).
Encouraged by this and other exploration successes in the following months, we were determined to make another attempt in the winter of 2025. Unfortunately, the cave wouldn't let us reveal its secrets, and despite our willingness, there was no weather window between January and April 2025 to carry out our "mission." Conditions this bad throughout the entire winter in Veneto hadn't been experienced in many, many years.
So, we had to wait until the winter of '26 for our "second round." This time – as if to spite us – throughout January, the internet was flooded with photos from friends praising the excellent conditions in the local caves. And then February arrived, bringing rain and snow... Full of trepidation, after many discussions and consultations, Tomasz Wciórka, Bartosz Zdziebel, Michał, and I decided to try our luck, with Andrea Mescalchin and Matteo Mescalchin meticulously documenting our efforts. How did we do? We certainly weren't ashamed, and the number of kind people we met, the conversations we had, and the support we received truly exceeded all our expectations!

📸Matteo Mescalchin

Albanian caves 💪
At the beginning of May 2025 we had a chance to dive some of the south Albania's caves. Beautifully situated between mountains and Vjosa river, they left us hungering for more.
Accidentally, I also managed to push an exploration in a tight corridor on the bottom of terminal shaft in Skotini cave 🙈. The corridor has in the past been spotted by some explorers, but due to the depth (90 meters on high water level, 75 meters with low level) and tightness, it has not been explored in the past. After about a dozen meters the corridor splits into two, with the bigger one descending some 10-15 meters deeper and ending with a crack in the bottom without an obvious continuation below (will need an investigation, though 😉 ).
Unfortunately I didn't take the underwater camera, this single time... Definitely will have to get back there and film the corridor and the terminal fissures 🧐