Cueva Ensueno (Dream Cave)

First off, was it a dream or a nightmare? Jeff and I headed out on a SEPRI (cave group) trip that lead us to Cueva Ensueno in the Camuy area. I had just crunched my knee the night before - smacked the kneecap on the road and it was swollen and raw. I needed a diversion from the selling-the-house mess so I figured I'd go anyway and skip the second cave. Cave 1 was a short walk and short cave so I figured it'd be ok. There are different reasons people go into caves- for some it is a totally ruckus affair and totally social and for others, like us, it is a quiet commune-with-nature-and-marvel-at-nature-with quiet friends kind of thing. This trip was ruckus. The cave itself, once I could think, was quite beautiful and very decorated. It was a small cave but it was full of helictites and flowstone. What it lacked in "adventure" (climbing, crawling, swimming etc) it made up for with formations. Here is Dallas working his way through the cave.

The group, like most groups, was too large. 15 people is just too many to move through a cave. Too many personalities, too many "missions," and definitely too many people moving at different paces in tight places. To move carefully you have to have some room so you can stay fluid. When people jam up, whoever is behind has to shift their weight around while they are crouched in uncomfortable positions. People just don't seem to understand this and they don't leave room for fluid movement. This is when formations get bumped, hand prints get on clean formations and things break. Oh well. I always try to be first or last because I move smoothly and quickly. Didn't happen this trip. So back to the beauty. The room was covered on the ceiling with helictites, or what Puerto Rican's call ecentricios (don't know if I spelled that right). I figure that means "eccentrics" or something close to that since they are the anti-gravity grow-in-all-directions formations. This cave has beautiful ones! Here Jeff is pointing out another one...

Here it is up close. At the end there were the drippy, candle-wax flowstone formations. Perfect for Halloween.

This was my favorite formation of all - a giant slab of bacon hanging from the ceiling. With the bacon and helictites it is clear where Chihoully got his inspiration (underground and underwater and flowers I think). Nature's chandeliers trump anything man comes up with.This formation was HUGE!

It was also very clean and well-formed. It was very high up so it was intact without damage.

More helectites..

The water drops show that the formations are still growing.

Here Bro is on his way out. Above him are lots of stalactites and shields.

Leave the dog a bone.

The jungle walk is always full of beauty as well. Here a palm has a multi-colored trunk. I'll leave out the worst nightmare. Sweet dreams!