Cave Modeling - The long and slow of it.

So cave modeling, it sucks. It takes for ever to actually model a cave seeming as they are a natural creation with annoying shapes. Anyway I've spent a long long long time researching the best way to go around modeling a cave system.
Anyway after a long time I've final figure out a system that though may look crazy is actually a good way to model a cave system.
The following images are what the cave system currently looks like, before it has gone into mudbox.

Kinda Scary

Its somewhat funny that after we decided to add a ship level to are game, the Costa Concordia cruise ship sinks. Its funny because are ship is suppose to have flip when it was sinking. Its just weird that now there is a cruise ship that has sunk. Though this is a terrible, terrible event. It has giving us a good insist into what a ship looks like after it has sunk.

Main Mechanic

High Poly Model

Cave Modeling Tester

Alright this is the first attempted at modeling the a section of the cave, this tester pieces will of course not be used but its to figure out the best solution to this problem. I've spent some time researching different ways and techniques trying to found the easier (in the terms of work flow) and most realistic way of making a natural cave system.
Current I have found two very different, very interesting ways of modeling the cave. Firstly is modeling the shape of the entire cave system by using faces/planes, this method is slow and complex. However the advantage is that once you finish the cave system, it can broken up.
http://www.hourences.com/tutorials-cave-modeling/ 

Secondly is by using a box the same length, width and height of the section of the cave your modeling and making the entire face of the cave out of extruded boxes. This method is faster is the terms of what you can modeling but takes longer to actually modeling the entire cave, furthermore compare to the first one it is far easier to actually get work done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnnWNvvsP3s

The following images are a quickly made cave section (about 30 minutes) using the second method.

Heat Disc

Below is the final concept of what heat disc will look like. The player simple push down on the section that says 'Push', which bends the disc in half releasing the gas that when combined heats the air around it.

  

Ship and Level Layout

First is the layout for the ship that the player starts in. 

 Next is the Cave Style level lay out. Note: each section of the cave is much like a single level, the player must solve a puzzle to move onto the next section/level.