Boesmansgat

A very deep flooded dolomite sinkhole on a private game farm in the Northern Cape, at roughly 1,500 m altitude. It is known for extreme-depth record dives, including the current Guinness women's record, and is not a public dive site.

Boesmansgat (Afrikaans for 'Bushman's hole') is a water-filled sinkhole in dolomite on Mount Carmel, a game farm near the road between Kuruman and Danielskuil in South Africa's Northern Cape. Divers reach the water by scrambling down from the surface and squeezing through a narrow crack; below it the flooded chamber opens out into a very large, deep void.

The sinkhole is famous for depth. Sheck Exley reached the bottom at 263 m in 1993, Nuno Gomes went to 282.6 m in 1996, and in 2022 Karen van den Oever made the dive Guinness World Records lists as the deepest scuba dive by a woman, 246.56 m. Published figures for the deepest point vary between about 282 m and 286 m, partly because the water level has changed over the decades.

The altitude matters as much as the depth. Because the surface lies at about 1,500 m, air pressure at the lake is lower than at sea level, so decompression has to be planned as if the dive were deeper than the gauge shows; Gomes's 1996 dive was treated as roughly equivalent to a 337-339 m sea-level dive. Dives here are long, multi-gas expeditions with large support teams.

Boesmansgat has also seen deaths. A diver lost in the 1990s was found on the slope at about 270 m by Dave Shaw in 2004, and Shaw died in early 2005 while trying to recover him.

The site is on private land and no public access procedure was found. It should be read as an expedition venue, not as a destination for visiting divers.

Boesmansgat is a collapse sinkhole in dolomite. Accounts describe a small entrance crack leading into a flooded chamber that widens rapidly with depth, with a silty floor at the bottom.

The water is clear and was about 19 C when measured on dives in 1996 and 2002, but brown mud on the walls absorbs light. A 2002 report noted that the water level had fallen over time, which made older depth markers on fixed ropes inaccurate.

Divernet describes Boesmansgat as the third-deepest known sinkhole in the world. It has hosted a series of depth records: Exley's 263 m in 1993, Gomes's 282.6 m in 1996, Verna van Schaik's 221 m women's record in 2004, and Karen van den Oever's 236.04 m (2021) and 246.56 m (2022) dives, the latter recognised by Guinness World Records.

About 19 C in reports from 1996 and 2002; no recent measurement found. Visibility was described as clear, with silt on the bottom. The altitude of about 1,500 m changes decompression requirements.

현재 상태가 아닌 공개된 자료의 일반적인 범위입니다.

One natural entrance is documented: a small crack, roughly 1.5 m by 3 m, through which divers drop to the water. It is on a private farm and not publicly accessible.