点评:I booked the Max Depth tour direct with Horne Lake Caves for my two teenage sons and me. It was amazing! I’m really glad we drove out here from Nanaimo where we were staying. Our tour guide, Sophie, was outstanding, but all the other staff we met were also friendly, helpful and enthusiastic. The boots, oversuits and gloves were included as part of our tour, which isn’t apparently the case with some of the shorter tours. Make sure you are wearing several thin layers of warm synthetic clothing because the walk up the hill to the cave entrance in the warm forest is pretty sweaty, but when you’re underground for five hours and it’s 8 degrees Celsius you’ll be glad of the extra fleece layer! After some rappel training on the tower, and the interesting walk uphill through the beautiful forest, your adventure begins! The crawl squeezes were fun (we chose to do them in total darkness on the way back!) and the calcite formations in the chambers beyond are varied and very beautiful. The long rappels and the more technical aspects are great fun, but Sophie was very reassuring and supportive with a member of the group who wasn’t very experienced/confident. In the way back up to the surface, we were given the opportunity to climb some of the vertical sections in the dark! Who knew this would even be possible, let alone fun?! Amazing day. Loved it!
翻译:我为自己和两个十几岁的儿子直接通过Horne Lake Caves预订了“最大深度探险游”。这次体验太棒了!真高兴我们从下榻的纳奈莫驱车来到这里。我们的导游索菲表现出色,而我们遇到的其他工作人员也都友好、热心且充满热情。此次游览还提供了靴子、防水服和手套,不过据我所知,一些时长较短的游览项目并不包含这些装备。务必穿上多层薄款的保暖合成纤维衣物——因为在温暖的森林中爬上通往洞穴入口的山坡时你会出很多汗;但当你在地下待上五个小时且气温只有8摄氏度时,多穿一层绒面衣物的好处就显现出来了!在塔楼上完成速降训练后,再沿着美丽的森林小径艰难上行,你的冒险之旅便正式开启了!那些狭窄的爬行通道也相当有趣(我们决定在返回时完全在黑暗中通过它们!洞穴内及后续洞室中的方解石结晶形态各异,美不胜收。长长的下降过程以及那些技术性较强的环节都极具趣味性;不过对于团队中经验不足、缺乏信心的成员,索菲始终给予安慰与支持。在返回地面的途中,我们还有机会在黑暗中攀爬一些垂直岩面!谁能想到这竟是可行的,更别说还如此有趣呢?真是令人难忘的一天,太喜欢了!