You should be able to make it without drowning. Your characters might take some damage but nothing major. If you have some one with the Witch's stick, have them stike with it. If it takes damage instead, keep fighting it until it falls asleep. When it does, swim past it and fight it from land. You might die a couple of times before you get it but the patch is not neccesary.

Mabey I am misunderstanding on this problem from previous posts. It seems that you are supposed to be able to swim and enter the far end of the underwatter cave where the swanp muck thing was. I have also killed some monkeys thay came through. I have tried to let the pixie go first, droping all eqpt. Oh yes and drowning several DOZEN times. Do I need to find a patch for the game? Is there anyone working on a editor program?

I have killed the swamp muck thing. I can not get in the far sidecave. I get stuck. It appears that my party is partaly out of the water, stuck, unable to move forward and still drowning. I have read posts of that say if I let a pixie go first you should be able to go, tried that didnt work.

Have you tried to swim down as far as you can and then go through? I got through with my elf, if that helps any.

Pull the lever in one of the Serpent hold rooms first before you dive.

I believe I was able to get through by hugging the left side at the blockage. Nothing else worked for me.

throwing the switch didn't work for me either.
i think it's a bug.
here's the info from the book you need (courtesy of this forum) :
As the serpent charms, the servant bows
Whilethe seepent schemes, the servant dreams
As the serpent sleeps, the servant waits
When the serpent strikes, the servant prays