More caving adventures!

There were still many caves I wanted to explore, so after breakfast I rented the same bike and crossed the bridge. The first caves were close to each other but I didn't think they were anything special. Maybe I would have seen more with a guide but the guide fee was twice what it was to enter the cave. I rode to the Diamond cave after this. These caves were not as popular as blue lagoon of Tham sang or Tham jang and sometimes I was the only person there. Diamond cave started out with a ladder climbing up into it. The chamber was just tall enough that I could walk standing up straight. It went up and down on some ladders and became larger. This cave was really fun and there was only one obvious way to go. The owner, whose cave was on his property, said there was swimming inside the cave but I took the cave to the definite end and saw no swimming place. The entrance to the cave had a crystal clear lagoon similar to Tham Jang. I hid my pack in the forest and entered the water. I followed it into a narrow chamber running against the current that appeared to go into the cave. Maybe this is what he meant by swimming in the cave. This passage didn't go very far but was quite narrow the whole way. I swam it to the end where the water continued under the rocks. I could feel the current coming out strongly from underneath. The ceiling was low with some rocks almost touching the water. Once I got to the end I turned around and saw a freaking huge spider (20cm/7" from leg tip to leg tip) looking at me at almost eye level. I was a bit surprised to see this but the spider never moved. I wished I had my camera. Swimming out of this narrow passage was difficult and my finger accidentally brushed the side and was cut open by the limestone. It wasn't to deep a cut but after this I doggy paddled my way out. I hung around the entrance to the cave drying off and no one else arrived.
I got on my bike and road to Luci cave, 3km away. The trail was long to the cave and under the canopy of a mostly teak forest. I passed a group of 4 travellers along the way. Luci cave had a lagoon deep inside it that I wanted to visit. A guide was mandatory but they told me I needed to be at least 2 people. The constant plague of solo travel, being only one person it's tough to do things. I knew the others were coming so I waited for them. The guide told me it was an hour and a half to the lagoon and back. It was 2.30 and I was going to go for lunch after this but could wait that long. I asked if they had any food. The guy gave me his leftover lunch of a piece of pork and sticky rice for free. That was nice of him and this would last me till later. The others showed up, 2 girls from Israel and 2 guys from Australia. This cave was fairly interesting and the ground difficult to negotiate at times. There was a few ladders to climb and some really low spots to pass through. It was fun. After 30 minutes we reached the lagoon. The chamber containing the lagoon was huge and the water so still and dark it was hard to even see that there was water in it. I came all this way and wanted to go in the lagoon. I was the first in and the 2 guys and the guide joined me after 10 minutes. The girls stayed behind. We walked to the other side of the lagoon. The water was muddy and hard to see into but was only crotch high. We reached dry land on the other side and then kept walking. We came to another lagoon were there were actually a few tubes. I hopped in one a paddled to the end of this lagoon. The cave kept going but we turned around went back. I saw the exact type of huge spider I had seen in the water cave earlier in the day and was able to get a photo this time. When we came out of the cave it was after 4. I decided to call it a day and rode back to town and returned my bike. I ate a delicious curry dinner at Kangaroo and spent the evening drinking and talking with an Irish couple and an Aussie.