Operation W.E.K.A

Winchead Resurgence is one of the more picturesque dives in New Zealand. The surrounding area is made of the Punakaiki limestone which is extremely layered in texture.

 

Visibility in the cave can vary from 1m-10m depending on rainfall. During a dry spell there is a creek bed leading to the cave covered in moss. After rainfall, the creekbed quickly fills up and the cave starts flowing as it is the drain to three dry caves in the area. Close to the entrance pool is a fossil resurgence where the water used to emerge from before it took it's current path. A dive is still yet to be undertaken in here due to the unstable nature of a siltpile. It is however believed to connect to the main dive around half way in as a silt bank with gravel stones can be observed just off the main passage.

 

The dive itself starts in a small entrance pool where the cave then drops rapidly to 6m in a rockpile. Once at the base of the rockplie a passage heads off on the left hand side towards the fossil resurgence. A depth of roughly 6m is followed along the passage with large portions of roof collapse along the way. The cave then drops rapidly to 15m where a phreatic tube is encountered for a short distance. At the end of the tube an intersection leads either up into a large air chamber to the left or up a rockplie on the right to a depth of 4m before gradually descending back to 15m in a phreatic tube. The very end of the cave has an oxbow where the passage splits in two and re-joins shortly after. The way on is still yet to be found.