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Two friends and I visited the large cave at Rapid Bay one day when we couldn’t (wouldn’t) dive at Second Valley due to less than ideal conditions there. We drove on to Rapid Bay and went deep into the cave, with just one torch between us. We took the obligatory photos for Facebook: –

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(Taken by Felicia Lee)

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(Taken by Felicia Lee)

We were interested in finding out more about the cave. It soon came up in conversation on the FUSSI Facebook page. This resulted in my colleague Neville Skinner offering to show us some more caves in the area. Only I was able to accompany Neville to the location for the first trip back there. Neville was very thorough in his approach and preparation for a trek along the Rapid Bay cliffs to a secluded cove where we found a couple of caves to explore. The scenery on the way there was quite spectacular in itself: –

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(Taken by Steve Reynolds)

Several tunnels in the above rock formations caught our imagination: –

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(Taken by Steve Reynolds)

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(Taken by Steve Reynolds)

The two caves that we found at the secluded cove were also very interesting. A large cavern there was not particularly spectacular, but deep enough to be worthwhile exploring: –

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(Taken by Steve Reynolds)

A small cave found nearby was of a bit more interest. It was narrow and confined, but it had a strange ledge near the entrance: –

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(Taken by Steve Reynolds)

There was a tunnel or two within the small cave. I managed to poke my helmeted head into a tunnel from where I could see that there appeared to be another deeper tunnel. We didn’t have enough time to check it out any further at the time, so we made plans to return.

We returned to the location a week later, this time accompanied by Felicia, one of my two dive buddies from my first visit. Although Neville came along once again to enjoy the trip, he mainly wanted to ensure that no-one did anything to endanger themselves. Felicia and I really appreciated his concerns.

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(Taken by Steve Reynolds)

We found the rock climbing needed to get to the secluded cove somewhat hard going this time, largely due to tide levels along the cliffs.

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(Taken by Steve Reynolds)

We didn’t quite make it to our destination this time, but we still enjoyed our introduction to rock climbing. We vowed to return soon and make it further next time.

Felicia said to me afterwards, “Thank you so much for organising this. It was heaps fun! We always have so much fun exploring.”

Many thanks go to Neville for introducing Felicia and I to rock climbing in our quest to explore some caves at Rapid Bay. Felicia and I soon wanted to make another trip to visit the caves. We decided that, rather than be disappointed if we didn’t make it to the caves again, we would try another approach – kayaking to them.

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(Taken by Felicia Lee)

We hired a couple of kayaks for the day. These were delivered to Second Valley beach, ready for us to jump on them to paddle towards Rapid Bay. We were both novices at kayaking, but we managed to paddle around the jetty and the point and along the spectacular coastline towards Rapid Bay.

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(Taken by Felicia Lee)

We sighted one promising landing point but that turned out to be very rocky and dangerous for us so we headed further towards Rapid Bay until we spotted a magnificent cove to land at. I had seen the cove previously on Google Earth. It had apparently been dubbed “Secret Cove”. It turned out to be a much better proposition than the spot that Neville & I had visited some weeks earlier.

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(Taken by Felicia Lee)

Felicia and I enjoyed exploring several caves at the cove. We took lots of photos and enjoyed some lunch before making the trip back to Second Valley beach. We only had to wait for the kayaks to be picked up by the owner before we were able to return home very satisfied with our day.

Click here to view photos from our kayak trip.

Whenever I return to Rapid Bay now, I try to find time to revisit any of the caves to be found there. I was able to show the large cavern that started my interest to my son-in law after our dive on 31st October. I was also able to show the same cavern to my grandson after our dive on 21st November.

By Steve Reynolds

Steve Reynolds is the current President of MLSSA and is a long-standing member of the Society. Steve is a keen diver, underwater explorer, photographer and is chief author of the Society's extensive back catalogue of newsletters and journals.

2 thought on “Rapid Bay Caves Expeditions”
  1. Greg James says that some of these caves between Rapid Bay & Wirrina were used as accommodation by homeless soldiers after WWI and there’s a big cave just south of Wirrina, high up in the cliffs, which used to have a hut & tracks for a fishing boat.

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