21 Spectacularly Beautiful Underwater Caves to Scuba Dive

[scubatrevor]

21 Spectacularly Beautiful Underwater Caves to Scuba Dive

[promotional link removed]

Which ones have you guys been to? What made it memorable?

[LowDrag]

Those are some cool looking caves. Later tonight I am going to see how many I can find on YouTube. THanks for posting the pics and info.

[LCF]

I've been to Dos Ojos, and Jackson Blue, and the Blue Abyss, and the Cuzan Nah loop in Grand Cenote is our shakedown dive for most of our cave trips. I've also been to Manatee and Ginnie Springs.

Dos Ojos was the best of my first set of cavern tours, and probably finished setting the hook on me becoming a cave diver. It was the most "cave-like" of the cavern tours, with sections where I really felt surrounded by white limestone, and a long way from any daylight. It's also memorable to me because the day after my Cave 1 class, we did a photo shoot with my instructor in the cave there, which is the only time I've ever actually dived the CAVE (as opposed to the cavern).

Jackson Blue is a beautiful cave, made of huge chunks of white limestone and filled with deep blue water. It's memorable to me for several trips where I got to dive there with good friends, and also for a horrendous botched air-sharing drill during my Cave 2 class.

I dove Manatee when everything else in Florida was flooded -- that's when the flow goes down there. It's a dark cave, kind of spooky, and not terribly pretty. Under normal conditions, it's a scooter dive.

Ginnie is . . . well, Ginnie is Ginnie, and everybody who has done training in Florida knows that cave. The front part, called the Gallery, is quite beautiful, with a lot of sculpting from the water flow, and golden stone with patchy black goethite on the walls. The flow ranges between strong and horrendous, and learning to pull and glide there gives most of us "Ginnie fingers". I have good memories of diving with friends there, and really bad memories of diving in class there. I made the worst mistake I have made cave diving in that place.

Pet Cemetery, which is the site where you get access to the Blue Abyss, is one of my favorite cave dives. The first time I went to the Abyss, we swam about 35 minutes down a truly lovely tunnel, big enough to be easy, but small enough to be both comfy and turquoise. From there, you do a jump, and things get smaller; another jump, and things get downright tight, and then you swim up a little slope studded with stunted little stalagmites stained deep brown from tannin. Then, you sail off . . . into absolute nothingness. You think sailing off the top of a wall in open water is dramatic? Try doing the same thing when the wall falls off 200 feet below you, the space is over 100 feet wide, and it's totally dark. It took my breath away. There are prettier places in other caves, but nothing else I have seen has matched the sheer shock and awe of finding a space bigger than a 747 hangar underwater.

[Grateful Diver]

Pet Cemetary's my all-time favorite cave (so far) ... this was from my first-ever dive there ...



... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[kdupreez]

15. Devils Eye Spring, Florida, USA (And its not 18ft.. average 100ft deep)

19. Manatee Springs Cave, Florida, USA

The Devils "Ear" dive right next to the "Eye" is freegin awesome! there is enormous flow through a tiny "slit" that you have to deflate everything you got in order to let gravity help you fight the flow and weazle your way into the cave entrance directly vertical down.. the first 10-15ft is almost zero viz due to tannins in the river water.. When you hit 20ft, its crystal clear.. The return is the opposite, it geysers you straight up and out and mach5!! if you dont exit straight vertical, it will barrel roll you head over ass

That photo is not photoshopped, its tannins from the river at the cave entrance and looking up, the sun shines through the tannins and you see that dark red water..

They have since put up silt barriers to keep the spring water clear and keep the river muck out.. that silt barrier is between the "Ear" and the "Eye" so you have to hop over the silt fence to dive the Ear.

[spatman]

It's too bad the OP is just trying to drive traffic to his website, and not really interested in an actual conversation.

https://www.google.com/search?q=scubatr ... cubatrevor

[Tangfish]

I removed the link. He's welcome to join us in actually talking about diving, and like anyone else can include tasteful promo in his sig line.

Btw I love the cenotes in the yucatan. It's been way too long, I need to get back there.

[kdupreez]

It's too bad the OP is just trying to drive traffic to his website, and not really interested in an actual conversation.

https://www.google.com/search?q=scubatr ... cubatrevor

Hook... Line... Sinker...

[Waynne Fowler]

I removed the link. He's welcome to join us in actually talking about diving, and like anyone else can include tasteful promo in his sig line.

Btw I love the cenotes in the yucatan. It's been way too long, I need to get back there.

Who is that man in the avatar... is that Bruce Lee????? Awesome avatar TF!..



he'da a got me too Koos... it there'd been a link, i'da clicked it!

[LCF]

It may have been a promotional post, but I was looking forward to reading other folks' stories about why those caves were memorable (thank you, Koos)!