Visit to Cueva Monte Grande and Cueva Tuna

With the pending Tropical Storm/Hurricane due to breeze by on early Sunday am we opted to do a gentle and close-by pair of caves rather than go where we may get stuck in landslides, downed trees, sinkholes or the like hours from home. We took some infrequent cavers to Cueva Monte Grande and Cueva Tuna which are both kind of in San German/Cabo Rojo. They are small caves but hey, they are 1/2 hour away! With my sore elbow I wasn't about to do any climbing or rope work or anything anyway. Jeff had scouted these out with coordinates from Tom a while back and it was my first time in Tuna. Like I said, nothing super exciting but a good little excursion that wasn't very taxing. We parked and did a quick 15 minute walk in around 30 minutes as we blabbed our way to the top. We passed by avocado trees,  cool King Palms (?) and other homestead-type trees.

At the top we got to this little outcrop which gives me all kinds of cool garden inspiration. I love all the roots and rock and ferns. We scrambled down into the cave entrance which is really big walked toward the steamy bat room. On the way we saw many guava. This one appears to be munching on a Maria Tree nut.

We encountered many many cockroaches as we plowed through deep guano. They sounded like the hiss of running water or a steamy pipe or something - faint and weird and interesting all at the same time. They were carpeting the floor, but by the time the others arrived they had dispersed and covered the walls instead. There were a couple bats, half alive, on the ground. One appeared to have a broken arm and another seemed to be part of a conjoined twin or something. This one was twitching a little but it could have been the cockroaches moving it as they nibbled it. The stuff of nightmares.

There were a few nice formations but this was probably the best. A nice, clean sparkly flowstone cubby hole. Inside was a little room with the beginnings of sorbetos (straws) and possibly helictites.

Another nice spot must have been a spectacular sight when the dams were full of water and everything was clean. All in all a pleasant and short day with friends. There was even time to go home, clean up, and then meet back up for dinner (at Faccio's Pizza) a few hours later.