Boesmansgat

Boesmansgat (or Bushmansgat), also known in English as "Bushman's Hole", is a deep submerged freshwater cave (or sinkhole) in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, which has been dived to a depth of 283.9 metres (931 ft). Nuno Gomes dived to a record depth of 282.6 metres (927 ft) in 1996. Its altitude of over 1,500 metres (4,921 ft) makes this a particularly challenging dive, requiring a decompression schedule equivalent for a dive to 339 metres (1,112 ft) at sea level. Gomes' dive was a close call, as he got stuck in the mud on the bottom of Bushman's Hole for two minutes before escaping. On 24 November 2004, Verna van Schaik set the Guinness Woman's World Record for the deepest scuba dive by a woman, diving down to a depth of 221 metres (725 ft). In October 2022 Karen van den Oever broke her own Guinness World Record when she descended to 246.65 metres (809.2 ft) using open-circuit equipment. In May 2024, Richard Harris used hydrogen as a breathing gas in his twin rebreather system to explore the bottom of the cave, at a depth of 283.9 metres (931 ft) . On his second dive to 272 metres (892 ft) and accompanied by dive partner Craig Challen, Harris suffered decompression sickness requiring treatment in a Johannesburg Hospital.