Dam Cave 1 - Represa

Somewhere in the Camuy area (Hatillo, Arecibo) we arrived, parked, and walked through fields of cows and stickers to arrive at the entrance to the "Dam" Cave. It was a large opening.

Pretty quickly the roof lowered and we had to go into crouch mode - it was a great work out for the legs as we had to squat more and more and more.

It kept getting lower and lower and lower and then would open a little more until finally we could stand up.

We had to climb up and into a little hole to get to the next part. I opted for feet first since you couldn't turn around and I couldn't see what this would come out into - turned out to be a 6 foot drop.

When things opened up we saw a lot of really spectacular formations. Nature's architecture is pretty wonderful. There were occasional places where stalactite spears and dropped curtain formations had fallen and stuck into the floor - a helmet won't help you in that case!

Here's Julio coming out the hole. Note that he is wearing gloves - something that is a good idea (I need to get some) when you are in Karst country.

Dam Cave 2

Yes - caves are dark...sorry about the photo. This shows 3 of us wandering through one of the large open parts of the cave. We are walking in an underground river, so it is slippery, muddy (with bat stuff) and part wet/part dry in this section.


Everywhere you see the effects of water...look at the ridges on these stalagmites. What you can't really see is the water drops on the tips...they are growing growing growing.

This is in the waterfall area of the cave and Jeff is looking at all the mineral formations.

Ivan is standing/floating in the river near the waterfall. A few of us found hand holds and struggled against the swift water to climb up and over the waterfall. To come back the guys jumped/slid off of the top and I (Katrina) wormed through a tiny tunnel along side the falls. It was tight!

This is a tight tunnel Bro is coming through. Taking off the life vest helped make it easier. Life vests in this cave are a must - parts of the cave are pretty deep and there is no way to walk around the water.

Here's some water sliding off a curtain formation (I think that's what they are called).

Dam Cave 3 - "Tight Fit"

This is the "tight fit" hole.

Julio had me go first so I could experience the cave as the discoverer instead of the follower. I was happy to oblige and went for it! I had to climb up to this little hole and then seeing that it got smaller decided to try it feet first. I'm glad I did since you couldn't really turn around or anything and there was a drop of 6 feet or so on the other side.

Here's Ivan coming out the tight hole on the other side. His head looks a little uncomfortable.

Bro is coming through and Julio is behind.

Julio came through head first and is contemplating what to do next!

Dam Cave 4

Our journey through the cave took us to what I call the tunnel of teeth - because of the stalactites that looked to me like alligator teeth! This area of the cave had the roof get closer and closer to the water to a point where we had to float on our tummies and pull along with our hands so our helmets would clear the ceiling. I imaged an alligator mouth slightly ajar and we were going down the throat! If it were to start raining, this part (a long ways) would be filled with water completely. It was creepy in a good way!

There were neat formations and water dripping off of them. The previous two days had rained so the water was up.

I think these are called curtain formations but I'm not sure. Some parts of the cave (like this one and the waterfall area) were steamy, and other parts had a cool breeze.

More neat formations.

Just think of how long it has taken these to form.

After a few hours of exploring, and going about half way into the cave we came back out into the beautiful Puerto Rico sunshine. The trip was only halfway due to the expectation of rain - this is not a cave to be inside of when the water rises. We have only been in 3 caves but they all have been a little different. We are looking forward to our next caving adventure.