The highlight (for me) of the 2006 expedition to Papua New Guinea was definitely finding the huge river passage in Phantom Pot. That said, it was made extremely hard and painful by having a cracked rib. The first 2.5 km of the cave was tight, meandering and like a cheese grater. When we broke into the river passage, we first headed upstream. Swimming 300 metres was difficult with the pain in the chest, but well worth it as we were rewarded with the discovery of this stunning and beautiful ‘Myo lake’. It is quite simply one of the most spectacular sights I have ever seen underground. The passage in the distance on the other side of the lake is the one that we came from. We named the lake after the newly released Petzl Myo head torch, which was revolutionary at the time and most of the expedition members were using it. Myo Falls, which is the 10m high waterfall on the right of the picture, was climbed with the aid of a piton that we discovered in Ora cave. The piton had been left behind by the original explorers in 1972 creating a rather nice homage to that first pioneering expedition to Ora.
