Abacos, Bahamas: A Cave Diver's Paradise

Boarding a small, twin turbo-prop plane in Ft. Lauderdale, Brett Hemphill and I wondered if our overweight luggage packed with large amounts of dive and video gear was accurately calculated…we weren’t so sure about this little airplane. Lifting off the ground was a great feeling bringing our confidence levels up and increasing our excitement about getting to Abaco and hooking up with Brian Kakuk of Bahamas Underground for five days of cave and blue hole diving around Abaco.

In less than an hour, we were cruising over the Bahamian Islands, and with our low altitude, we could see everything. Islands dotted the Atlantic Ocean as we headed towards Abaco. Descending on Abaco, it was hard to tell the difference between land and water, as the water was so clear, we could easily see the bottom. Knowing that blue holes were abundant throughout the islands, we kept keen watch out our windows hoping to spot what we came to dive.

Birds eye view of the Bahama Islands

Touching down in Marsh Harbor, Abaco and taxiing up to its small, one-building airport immediately gave us the feeling that we were on a small, tropical island. There was no “baggage claim”…we simply waited outside until the baggage cart was wheeled over with everyone’s luggage piled on for a free-for-all search and grab. With our large boxes and bags in tow, we made our way through customs and met Brian waiting for us with the Bahamas Underground van. Within minutes, we were talking about cave diving and the plans for the next five days.

The Abaco Islands are a group of islands and cays forming a boomerang-shaped chain that stretches about 130 miles from Walker's Cay in the north of the island to Hole-in-the-Wall in the south of the island. It lies roughly 175 miles east of Palm Beach, FL and 106 miles north of Nassau, Bahamas. Marsh Harbor is located in the center of the island and is the capital and largest city on the island. It is also where Bahamas Underground resides. Marsh Harbor boasts many of the amenities of home, including large grocery stores, excellent restaurants, resorts, and hotels. Everything you need for a diving vacation is available and in close proximity.

Bahamas Underground is the Bahamas only technical, cave, and blue hole diving and training facility. Bahamas Underground provides training and guiding services to some of the best blue holes and underwater caves in the Bahamas. They offer gas fills including, air, oxygen, trimix, and nitrox. They also have rental gear including, double cylinders, single cylinders, BCDs, harnesses, HID lights, reels, and other necessary equipment for your cave diving adventures. They also carry Sofnolime 8-12 grade for CCR, as well as spares or replacement equipment for both CCR and open circuit diving.

Bahamas Underground owner, Brian Kakuk

In addition to the equipment and gases, Bahamas Underground also provides unmatched experience, knowledge, and guide services for diving the blue holes and inland caves on Abaco. Brian’s vast experience and knowledge provides you not only a cave dive, but also information about the geology, topography, hydrology, and biology of these unique karst features. This is truly invaluable and something you can’t find everywhere you go cave diving. Bahamas Underground’s flat boat and van get you to the best cave and blue hole diving opportunities on the island and Brian’s guiding allows you to see everything these beautiful caves have to offer from many perspectives.

For our trip, we had several goals. First, we wanted to dive the top-notch inland caves. Second, we wanted to head offshore to dive some of the great blue hole caves. In addition to diving these systems, we also wanted to shoot video of as many places as possible. And third, we were hoping to dive the virgin blue holes that Brian had been saving for clients wanting to find new cave. The excitement of exploring a virgin system is one of the most exciting experiences any cave diver can have and doing it in the Bahamas made it even more exciting.

Arriving early on a Friday, we had all afternoon to get in our first dive. Brian was eager to show off one of his prime inland cave dives, Dan’s Cave, which is probably the most beautiful cave dive on the island and arguably one of the most beautiful cave dives anywhere. His descriptions of beautiful flowstone and decorations in crystal clear, blue water got us fired up.

We brought side mount gear for all of our diving, along with our Amphibico housed Sony video camera, dual 24-watt HID lights, a 50-watt HID light, and two 35-watt handheld HID lights for all of our videoing. With it all unloaded at the Bahamas Underground shop, Brian quickly started filling side mount tanks for our first dive. We rigged bottles, organized our dive gear, and soon found ourselves making tracks for Dan’s Cave.

Right: Entrance to Dan's Cave

Turning off the paved road and onto a hard-packed, narrow dirt road, we drove deeper into the jungle forest. Feeling as if we were heading deep into unknown territory, the remoteness sparked even more excitement. Brian pointed out a plant, poison wood, which seemed to be growing everywhere. Poison wood is just that, poison, so coming in contact with it leads to skin blisters, itching, burning, and complete discomfort. We needed to avoid this plant at all costs.

Pulling into a small clearing, Brain stopped the van and backed into a small parking area. At the rear of the van a small path led to Dan’s Cave.

Dan’s Cave entrance is a beautiful clear pool that slightly undercuts a vertical rock wall face. Plant life is abundant as well as resident frogs that sang to us as we geared up. The pool tapers down to the cave entrance with large speleothems hanging down. The water is crystal clear allowing our HID lights to illuminate much of the cave.

Cavern of Dans Cave

Diving Dan’s Cave is much like diving caves in Mexico, however, to see the variety of cave decorations, breakdown, large rooms, and shear beauty, you have to dive several caves in Mexico…Dan’s Cave has it all.Clear, opaque stalactites and stalagmites turn large rooms into theaters of beauty. Large breakdown on the floor and the cave’s white walls and blue water are something very few other caves can boast. With 200 feet of visibility, an average depth of 90-100 feet, and the ability to dive back mount or side mount, Dan’s cave is one of the premier caves on the island.

Right: Decoration inside Dans Cave

With silent amazement after the dive, we packed our gear and headed out. It was hard to speak about the beauty and just how awesome the cave was. We new the next dive we would be taking the video camera, so we headed back to the shop to fill tanks and prep gear for the next day’s dives. Our plan was to do a video dive in Dan’s and then head over to Ralph’s Cave, which is nearby and another cave with decorations and beauty that rivals Dan’s.

Ralph’s cave is another phenomenal cave dive. It is highly decorated with stalactites, stalagmites, massive flowstone blankets that drape over breakdown, soda straws, and something we had never seen before…pools made of crystal formations that looked as if they were created by a master jeweler using precise cutting tools. The crystals growing from the bottom of the pools and the ones resting on top looked like cut diamonds. These crystal pools are truly unique and something we had never seen before in a submerged cave. Tens of thousands of years ago, these crystal pools were alive and growing. Today they no longer grow, but their beauty remains the same. Make sure Brian takes you to Ralph’s on your trip!

Ralphs cave entrance

After spending a couple of days diving the inland caves, and waiting for the weather to change so that we could get offshore, we made plans to spend a couple days on the Bahamas Underground Carolina Skiff diving blue holes around the island. Brian had saved three previously unexplored blue holes for us to check, plus he wanted to take us to a couple of his standard client blue holes. On our first day, we dived Iron Cay West and Iron Cay East.

Iron Cay West is a typical-looking blue hole with a decent amount of cave at the bottom. The hole starts near shore at around 25 feet deep. It drops straight down and then begins to level off where the cave passage begins. Throughout the entrance and the entire cave, the walls and ceiling are covered in soft corals, sponges, and hydroids. Wearing gloves is a must on these ocean cave dives. The floor is comprised of broken shell and sand. Depending on when you dive this system, it can either be a siphon dive or a spring dive. The tides highly influence its flow. Reaching the back of the cave, a small, round restriction requires you to take both bottles off to squeeze through if you have the heart for it.

Iron Cay East blue hole cave is also close to shore in a lagoon area surrounded by mangrove islands. It’s a beautiful, protected area, where right in the center, the floor drops away into a cylindrical tube that stair steps down before you pop into a large and decorated room. A few places along the edge of the room, the bottom drops away and into other smaller rooms, but nothing has been found to get out of the room from these lower levels.

Right: Iron Cay east entrance

Both of these blue hole dives are teaming with life around their entrances. Tropical fish, corals, sponges, larger fish, and lobster can be seen. Within the caves, lobster can be seen hiding in the rocky crevices and the diverse colors of growth on the walls, ceiling, and floor are truly unique. Ocean blue hole diving is very different than the fresh water inland caves, but are a must dive when you come.

On our last day of diving, we headed to a couple blue holes that had been previously unexplored. One, Brian found using Google Earth…a perfectly round blue hole resting just offshore. It was a long boat ride, but we wanted to check this beauty out.

The GPS numbers from Google were spot on. Arriving at the hole, it was easily 150 feet across and perfectly round. With the boat anchored, we quickly suited up and jumped into the water. The hole started in around 15 feet of water, so we tied the exploration reel to a nice outcropping near the anchor and dropped straight down into the hole. The walls peeled back as we dropped deeper and deeper. Huge stalactites hung from the ceiling as we dropped past 150, 180, 200 feet deep. Visibility was only about 30 feet, so it was hard to tell just how deep this hole would go. Continuing to drop, we finally hit bottom at around 250 feet deep. Spooling out line for a short ways around the bottom, we tied off and turned to head up. We were diving air with O2 for deco, so we needed to limit our exposure this deep. As we slowly ascended, we took time to check out the massive formations hanging from the ceiling. This blue hole was huge and the formations reflected it. One stalactite we measured to be approximately 50 feet long and over six feet wide where it attached to the ceiling! We could only imagine what this place looked like when it was a dry hole!

We made one last dive into another previously unexplored blue hole surrounded in a mangrove jungle. There was one small stream heading out from it and with the extremely shallow flats in the area, it was difficult to get to. The hole looked extremely promising from the surface, but unfortunately, after a huge effort, we couldn’t find any going cave or deeper section. But that’s exploration cave diving…you never know until you check it. Being able to check unexplored blue holes in the Bahamas is a treat all it’s own, even if they don’t go.

The author and dive mate, Brett Hemphill, join Brian Kakuk looking for virgin blue hole

With a return to the dock and trip back to the shop, our trip ended as quickly as it began. We rinsed and packed gear and then enjoyed a great dinner at a local restaurant. The morning came quickly and before we knew it, we were flying back to the States in another small airplane. They didn’t even weigh our stuff this time…we really hoped everyone else on the plane had packed light!

Cave diving in Abaco offered a truly unique experience. After cave diving extensively in Florida as well as in Mexico, Abaco offered something completely different with its inland caves to its ocean blue holes. If you’re a cave diver, you should definitely plan a trip to Abaco with Bahamas Underground and see what we’re talking about. You won’t regret it!

For more information, click Bahamas Underground for a direct link to their website, call them at 242-359-6128, or email them at bahamacave@aol.com.