Underwater Caves

Underwater Caves
By:  Cave Spelunking



Caves exist all over the world.  They exist in mountains and in valleys.  They exist in frozen regions of the earth and in the hottest deserts.  Caves also exist underwater, either totally or partially.  Underwater caves are some of the most fascinating places on the planet.  They are also some of the most dangerous caves on the planet for cavers to explore.

Cave diving became very popular in the 1970s in the United States — and during that decade, about 100 cavers were killed attempting it.  The problem was that interest was high, but information and training opportunities were nearly nonexistent.
Sheck Exley was the first and best-known cave diver in the United States.  He began his cave-diving career in Florida when he was only 16 years old.  He would continue his cave diving career for the next 29 years.  He made over 4,000 dives and is one of only seven divers in history to successfully make a cave dive below 800 feet.  Sheck Exley died doing what he loved to do when he was only 45 years old.  He was trying to dive to a depth of 1,000 feet.

Cave diving is a dangerous sport, but it is one that draws cavers like honey draws flies.  Today there are strict and enforced rules concerning cave diving.  Divers must have proof of their level of training in order to be allowed to cave dive in the United States.
Much of the focus of cave diving clubs and organizations today is focused more on training, exploration, public awareness, and cave conservation than on simple adventure and pushing the envelope for the thrill of it.

There are cave diving venues all over the world. Northern Florida is the most popular venue in the United States, but cave diving can be done in the Bahamas, the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Brazil.

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Cave Spelunking.

What's Under Alaska?

What's Under Alaska?
 By:  Cave Spelunking

Alaska is a land of extremes.  Most often when people think of Alaska, they think of extreme cold and the extremes of daylight in the summer months and dark in the winter months.  But there's another Alaska extreme that's less well known.  That extreme is the number of caves that lay beneath it.

Volunteer cavers, attached to the Forest Service, are working hard to map the amazing cave systems that have been found.  In the Tongass National Forest, the largest national forest in America, visitors are invited to feast their eyes on some of the wonders of nature that abound, like eagles, bears, and spawning salmon.  The vistas of this wild land are breathtaking.  But, as they say, "you ain't seen nuttin' yet!" That's just what's on top of the ground.  Wait until you see what's UNDER the ground!
So far, more than 600 caves have been found and charted in the Tongass National Forest.  That is probably only a very small fraction of the number that are actually there.
The temperature in Alaska can be a pleasant 80 in midsummer (or even higher), but the temperature dips well below zero during the winter months.  But underneath Alaska, the temperature remains a constant 40 degrees. That might not sound like a really comfortable temperature, but as compared to the temperatures above the ground, it's wonderful!

If you ever have the opportunity to visit the caves of Alaska, you'll never regret going.  You'll see moon milk — a lot of it.  You'll also crawl through openings so narrow they look impossible to get through and then you suddenly see a 15-foot drop right in front of you that drops into a silo-shaped room — and the wonders just keep coming!

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Cave Spelunking.

Cave Spelunking - Cave Weather

Cave Weather
By:  Cave Spelunking  

You probably wouldn't think of a cave as having "weather."  It obviously isn't going to rain inside a cave, is it?  Seasonal changes aren't going to affect the temperature, are they?  Caves don't have seasonal changes like the sunlit world that we live in, do they?  Not exactly, but that doesn't mean that caves don't have weather. Caves do have weather.

Weather changes don't occur nearly as quickly in the dark, dank underground world of a cave, but changes do occur.  The cycles are slower — a lot slower than they are up here on the surface of the earth.

All caves don't have identical weather patterns.  As a matter of fact, each cave has its own completely unique weather patterns.

The temperature inside a cave can vary slightly according to the movement of air near the mouth of the cave.  The temperature of the water entering the cave can also affect the air temperature in the cave.  The location of the cave (whether it is in a mountainous region or in a valley) also affects the air temperature inside the cave.
There is even a wind chill factor deep underground in a cave.  The difference in the temperature between the entrance temperature and the temperature of the inner passageways causes a kind of "chimney effect" and creates wind.

This chimney effect can also cause "rain" inside a cave.  It won't be rain as we know it here on the surface, of course, but there will still be water falling in drops when the chimney effect changes the dew point inside the cave.
Changes in the barometric pressure can also affect the weather in a cave.  Air movement, humidity levels, and dew points are all affected by barometric pressure, and an experienced spelunker can discern weather changes on the surface even if he's hundreds of feet below the surface.

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Cave Spelunking.

Life Underground

Life Underground
By: Cave Spelunking

Caves are dark. When you go into a cave, in the entrance zone there will be plenty of light. As you proceed into the cave, there is less light. The area is called the twilight zone. It's the area where sunlight and total darkness meet. There is still some light, but not very much. When you reach the dark zone, you have really arrived in the cave.

You couldn't live in the dark zone of a cave. Your body is not adapted to living in total darkness. You need sunlight. Even if you could adapt to living in total darkness, you'd starve to death because there are no green plants in caves. Green plants require sunlight in order to live, and there is no sunlight in the dark zone of caves. Food sources would be limited, to say the least. The lack of light would cause you to lose your sense of time.

The creatures that do live deep in the dark zone of caves have evolved over millions of years and are totally suited to live in complete darkness. The creatures that live deep in the dark zones of caves are albinos; that is, they have no skin pigment or color. The total darkness of caves makes coloring as camouflage useless. Sight isn't possible in total darkness, so all of the creatures that live deep in caves are blind.

The creatures that live out their entire lives in total darkness have developed extra sensory organs to compensate for the loss of sight and lower metabolic rates to compensate for a low food supply.

Cave biology is called biospeleology. S cientists who study cave biology care called biospeleologists. Cave organisms provide direct evidence of evolutionary changes. Evolution is, after all, the adjustment of life to a changed environment.


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Cave Spelunking.

Big Eagle Cave Legend

Big Eagle Cave Legend
By: Cave Spelunking

American Indians used caves in many ways and for many purposes . Some caves were considered sacred. Some were simply used for shelter. Some caves were used to store food. Others provided necessary materials like flint.

American Indians are great storytellers. As you might imagine, many of the legends and stories that are part of the various Indian cultures center around caves because caves played an important role in everyday existence.

One of my favorite Indian cave legends is about three boys who went out hunting and never returned. The legend says that a war party was formed and the boys were tracked to the entrance of a cave. Each member of the war party descended into the cave and immediately disappeared without a trace. The last member of the war party heard a death song that he'd never heard before coming from the cave.

Rescue was attempted several times, but each time a man got to a certain point of the descent, he disappeared and the eerie song was heard.

One day a boy appeared at the Indian campsite. He was leading a blind man who was completely white. The tribe thought that the boy was one of those who had been lost to the cave, but he said that he came from another tribe to the Northwest.

The all-white man became a great healer. The chief asked the all-white man to try to find out what happened to the three boys and the war party at the cave. He and the boy went to the cave and descended down into it. Just as they disappeared, the song of death became louder.

Much time went by, but finally the all-white man came out of the cave alone. He climbed into a canoe and paddled away across the lake. Later, some adventuresome braves descended into the cave and found a chamber where there was a giant empty throne, and laying about it face down around it, the bones of all the boys and men who had descended into the cave.

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Cave Spelunking.

Caves Of Belize

Caves Of Belize
By: Cave Spelunking

Belize is a tiny country in Central America. It was once called British Honduras, and way back in the dim and distant past, it was part of the Mayan Empire. Belize has a long and storied history, and even today, political unrest is the norm.

But beneath Belize is one of the most beautiful cave systems in the entire world. Once inside the caves, everywhere you look — on the ceiling, along the walls, beneath your feet, and hanging off ledges — you'll see cave formations that will put every "crystal" or "cathedral" cave you've ever been into to shame.

There is also evidence of the humans who lived eons ago evident in the caves beneath Belize. You'll see the charred wood and ashes from fires that were build eons ago and scattered around the ashes, you'll see broken pieces of pottery and other artifacts that make it look as though the fire had been set yesterday and the fire builders might return at any moment.

It's clear to archaeologists who have studied the caves that the caves were very important in the ancient Mayan culture. Clay pots have been found sitting beneath stalactites that were apparently placed there to collect water. Belize has a long dry season when water is scarce.)

In drier caves, even larger pots containing grain have been found. Archaeologists believe that the Mayans stored grain in the caves to preserve it during the rainy season.

Mayan legends tell us that the caves were also sacred. They represented a portal through which the spirits of the dead could come and go between the real world and the spiritual world. Because they were so sacred, according to the archaeologists, the caves were the site for many rituals that included human sacrifice.

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Cave Spelunking.

A Cave Is More Than A Hole In The Ground

A Cave Is More Than A Hole In The Ground
By: Cave Spelunking

Humans have been exploring caves since the beginning of time. Caves are fascinating…intriguing…mysterious. A cave is much, much more than just a "hole in the ground," as non-cavers claim.

Early humans made their way deep into caves for the purpose of performing rituals to appease whatever "god" was being worshipped (or feared) at the time. Today, caving is a sport. In America caving is sometimes called "spelunking." In England, it's sometimes called "potholing."

Caving is a sport that is enjoyed by more and more people all over the world every day. The haves have been there waiting for eons, but humans have just recently begun to appreciate the beauty and the mystery that lays in these underground wonderlands.

As you leave the world of light behind and descend into a world of utter darkness, there is that moment where light meets dark; where the two extremes blend into a twilight zone that is truly awesome. It appears that the dark rises and turns the sunbeams away.

What lies behind that twilight zone is even more amazing. There are cave formations that have been in the making for millions of years. Stalactites hang from the ceiling, and stalagmites rise from the floor. Sometimes the two meet to form a column. There are helictites that look like tree roots that have been turned to stone. There are gypsum flowers that actually reflect light. And moon milk — let's not forget that wonder. It looks like milk, but it isn't liquid. It's not rock, but it is almost solid. Amazing!

Who knows what mysteries lay yet undiscovered in caves that haven't yet been found? Yes, caving is one of the fastest growing human activities (I hesitate to call it a sport, but that's what others call it.)

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Cave Spelunking.

The Bandits Of Colossal Cave

The Bandits Of Colossal Cave
By: Cave Spelunking

Caves and bandits just go together! Stories abound of bandits burying their loot in caves. There's probably at least one such story that's associated with every cave in America. Some of these are just "tall tales" and are not based on any kind of substantiated fact but some of the stories are true.

Colossal Cave is a cave in Arizona near the town of Panto. Panto is a small town that lies just a few miles east of Tucson and just a few miles south of Colossal Cave. In 1884, near Panto, four men held up a train and got away with $72,000 in cash and gold. There escape route led through the Rincon Mountains and toward Colossal Cave.

The sheriff, a man by the name of Bob Leatherwood, got a posse together and went after the gang. He and his posse tracked the bandits to Colossal Cave. When the sheriff tried to go into the cave, the bandits fired several shots at him, so the sheriff decided that he could just wait them out. "The bandits," he reasoned, "would finally just get hungry enough to surrender."

So Sheriff Leatherwood and the posse waited. They waited for two weeks. Finally a deputy came riding up and told the sheriff that the four men were about 70 miles away at the Corner Saloon in Willcox. He said four bandits were throwing money around, whooping it up and telling everybody how they had fooled the sheriff and left him sitting in front of an empty cave out in the hot desert.

Sheriff Leatherwood and his posse went after the bandits. They cornered the bandits, and there was a shootout in which three of four of the bandits were killed. The robbers didn't have the money with them when they were killed. The fourth robber served 28 years in the Yuma Prison.

The sheriff and his men searched Colossal Cave. They found the hidden entrance where the bandits had escaped, but they never found the $72,000. Maybe it's still there...

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Cave Spelunking.

Caves Of Madagascar

Caves Of Madagascar
By: Cave Spelunking

There are 18 different ethnic groups in Madagascar. The common thread that connects all of them is a powerful spiritualism that is both simple and complex. There are groups that practice Islam and groups that hold Christian beliefs, but all of them have a belief system in everyday life that is dominated by reverence for the spirits of their ancestors and other spiritual beings that roam the Earth, both above the ground and below the ground in the extensive cave system.

The people of Madagascar believe that when a person dies, the spirit stays behind. The spirit can "manifest" in any of several metaphysical entities. The most important spirits are the spirits of each person's own ancestors, called "razana." But there are other spirit entities that have almost the same importance. These other spirits are called "tromba" and are said to be the spirits of kings, queens, and children.

Then there are the earth, fire, and water genies to be considered. The razana, the tromba, and the earth, fire, and water genies control the destiny of the living.

Many of these spirits live in or have a connection to the caves that lay beneath Madagascar. The spirits most often found in the caves of Madagascar are those of people who have died in the caves or those who had some direct connection to the caves in life.

The beliefs vary between the different ethnic groups. One group believes that the dead live out their Earthly existence inside the caves, while others believe that the dead live out their Earthly existence among the living.

There have been several attempts to open the caves of Madagascar to the public and gain the financial advantage of tourism. There was even one attempt to electrify a cave, but fortunately, that didn't come to pass. Recently, a five-cave complex was opened near Belopoka.

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Lighting For Caving

Lighting For Caving
By: Cave Spelunking

Caves are dark places. As a matter of fact, you might say that they are the darkest places on — or in — the Earth. The sun never shines in a cave. You have to take your light in with you. Going into a cave without reliable lighting would be foolish, to say the very least. There are safety headlamps, flashlights, torches, emergency strobe lights, and lamps available today for caving. Led, halogen, waterproof, and portable technologies are all used.

Every caver will have his or her own preference for lighting. Mine is the LED. The latest generation of the LED caving lights are really "state of the art" in cave lighting. This latest generation features an incredibly small maintenance-free rechargeable lithium ion battery in an anti-static housing. But there are other choices — lots of them.

Of course, different kinds of lighting are needed for different kinds of caving. Lighting that would be more than sufficient for a decent into a cave on dry land wouldn't be worth anything to cave divers.

For many years the typical recreational dive light consisted of a self-contained light head that contains the power supply and bulb. There would be a handle attached to the light head. Then, to attach the light to the user's wrist, there'd be a lanyard. It was the combination of the parts of a typical recreational dive light that made it basically unsuitable for serious cave divers.

Things have gotten better over the last few years. The new generation of cave-diving lights are made up of a waist-mounted battery canister that's connected by a power cord to a separate, very compact, light head. This newer design allows the use of larger power supplies so cave diving lights can burn brighter and last longer.

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Cave Spelunking.

Cave Formations

Cave Formations
By: Cave Spelunking

There are more than a dozen differently named cave formations. The collective term for all of them is "speleothems," much like the collective term for blooms is "flowers." The best-known cave formations are stalactites and stalagmites.

Stalactites are the icicle shaped rock-like formations that hang from the ceiling of cave chambers. All of them began ages ago with a single drop of water and all of them have a central hallow tube.

Stalagmites might be thought of as the children of stalactites. They are formed by water dripping off of the parent stalactite. Stalagmites are smoother than stalactites, and they don't have a hallow tube at their center.

A column is a speleothem that's formed when the stalagmite grows upward and the parent stalactite grows downward until the two meet and grow together to form a column.

Helictites are another speleothem, and the best minds in the scientific world still can't explain them. They remain a mystery. They look a great deal like a tree root that is growing in all directions in search of water. Helictites are the most delicate and most beautiful of the cave formations.

One of the more interesting speleothem is the Gypsum Flower. Gypsum is a mineral made up of calcium and sulfur. Gypsum forms in the dry areas of the cave. It forms a crust that reflects light and makes it appear to sparkle. Gypsum Flowers are twisted projections that don't require any support. Usually they are about a foot in length. They're very fragile and sometimes fall from their own weight. Native Americans harvested gypsum and used it as paint for their faces and body and also for medical purposes.

All of the apparent magic afforded to modern-day scientists still can't unlock many of the mysterious formations in caves.

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Cave Spelunking.

Alf Bolin's Outlaw Loot

Alf Bolin's Outlaw Loot
By: Cave Spelunking

The treasure isn't buried IN the cave, but it's buried near the cave using the cave entrance as a landmark. At least that's what legend tells us. Alf Bolin was an outlaw who terrorized Missouri and Arkansas in the 1800s. He built a fortune in stolen gold and silver over the years. Obviously, Alf couldn't just deposit his ill-gotten fortune in a bank, so he buried it.

Alf Bolin was a heartless outlaw, and he terrorized the people of Missouri and Arkansas. When he was tricked and killed by a Union soldier masquerading as a sick Confederate soldier, his head was cut off and placed on a pole, and all of Missouri and Arkansas rejoiced. Alf Bolin was only 21 years old when he was killed.

Caves were often used by outlaws in those days as hideouts and as safe resting places. Caves are easily guarded, so they make the perfect place for those who don't want to be found.

Many years ago, a man claiming that he had been told by a member or Bolin's gang where the treasure was hidden, came to a farm in Taney County, Missouri, and talked the farmer into letting him look for the treasure with a promise of dividing the loot when it was found. He didn't find the treasure, and nobody else has either over the years. Still, the rumor persists that there IS treasure and it IS buried near the mouth of the cave on Fox Creek.

Outlaws aren't known for being the most truthful of souls, however. The facts are: Alf Bolin DID steal a lot of gold and silver. He didn't have it with him when he was killed. He was known to hide out in or near the cave on Fox Creek. It stands to reason that the treasure is still buried there waiting to be found.

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Cave Spelunking.

Creatures That Live In Caves

Creatures That Live In Caves
By: Cave Spelunking

The creatures who live in caves are divided into four categories. There are troglobites, trogloxenes, trogolophiles, and incidentals...

Some creatures live their entire lives inside dark and sunless caves. They never see the light of day. As a matter of fact, many of these creatures are so acclimated to living without sunlight that sunlight would kill them. They're called "troglobites." Troglobites include the blind Texas salamander, blind flatworms, eyeless shrimp, eyeless fish, cave beetles, cave crayfish and some bristletails, isopods, and copepods.

Trogloxenes are creatures that live part of their lives in caves, but also go outside of caves to complete their life cycle. Some examples of trogloxenes are animals that sleep only in caves, like bats; or animals that nest only in caves, like packrats; or like cave crickets, who live inside the cave but eat outside the cave. Gnats and flies are also trogloxenes.

Trogolophiles are creatures that sometimes live in caves but sometimes live in other places. It isn't necessary for trogolophiles to leave a cave or go into a cave because they need to do either. Trogolophiles simply choose to live in caves sometimes. Some trogolophiles are cave crickets, cave beetles, salamanders, millipedes, snails, copepods, segmented worms, mites, some spiders, and daddy longlegs.

Incidentals are us. Human beings are considered incidentals. Incidentals are creatures that occasionally visit caves but don't live in caves. Frogs and raccoons, for example, sometimes visit caves. Humans also sometimes visit caves.

Various types of creatures live in various parts of a cave. There are three cave zones: the entrance zone, the twilight zone and the dark zone.

The entrance zone (some light) is home to rats, spiders, beetles, earthworms, salamanders, snakes, millipedes, and any other creature seeking shelter.

The twilight zone (less light) is home to cave crickets and cave beetles.

The dark zone (no light) is home to blind crayfish, eyeless shrimp, and other creatures that are totally adapted to life without light.

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Cave Spelunking.

How Caves Are Formed

How Caves Are Formed

By: Cave Spelunking

All solution caves are formed in basically the same way. While wind can have some effect on cave formation, wind isn't really responsible for making the caves themselves. Caves are formed by water.

The purest of moving water is a powerful force when the water picks up eroding chemicals along the way, it becomes an even more powerful force. Caves are carved out of rock by water.

Let's talk about the caves that are formed in the limestone layers of the earth, since they are the most common. Limestone is a porous rock that will dissolve in water that's been enriched with carbonic acid. So here's what happens.

Over many, many, many centuries, rain falls and mixes with plant material, where it picks up carbon dioxide. Water and carbon dioxide combine to form carbonic acid. The water, now containing carbonic acid, trickles down through the earth to the water table. The water table is sometimes called "groundwater."

Now, the groundwater also contains carbonic acid. The groundwater finds tiny pores and cracks in the limestone layer and slowly begins to dissolve the limestone. The cracks get bigger and bigger and become chambers.

Time marches on. Eons pass, and this erosion process continues. Larger and larger crevices and passages are formed for the water to flow through.

Chambers and passageways are formed in all shapes and sizes. Some are small and narrow, but others can be very low and wide, or they can be high and narrow. There are passages and chambers that are large enough to drive an 18-wheeler through, and there are chambers big enough to fit an entire NFL football stadium, and then there are chambers and passageways that aren't large enough for a child to crawl through.

Caves are all completely unique. There are no two exactly alike anywhere on Earth.

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Cave Spelunking.

The Wabasha Street Caves Ghosts

The Wabasha Street Caves Ghosts
By: Cave Spelunking

The Wabasha Street Caves in St. Paul, Minnesota, appears to be simply a building like many others in the area. It's not. The original building was built in the 1800s. It's original purpose was used for mining silica. The Wabasha Street Caves is actually built into the sandstone caves, and today it is an event hall.

The caves that house the Wabasha Street Caves have a long and storied history. The caves have provided a hideout for gangsters, a place for mushroom farmers to grow their plants, a site for a nightclub, and more.

There are a great many ghostly hauntings of caves reported all over the World. Most of the time the ghosts that are said to haunt caves are described as unhappy spirits of Indians or miners. Usually, they are supposed to be the spirits of someone who was killed in the cave. The ghosts that haunt the Wabasha Street Caves, though, aren't just the usual unhappy and disturbed spirits or Indians, miners, or victims of tragic cave accidents...

The ghosts that haunt the Wabasha Street mines have class! The ghost that is most often reported is an apparition of a man wearing a Panama hat. He's been seen in several different areas of the caves. There's another man who appears, but he's always with a female companion at the bar, usually around 3 AM...

Another female ghost has also been seen roaming through cave passageways at various times of the day and night.

During the 1930s, legend has it that three local gangsters were gunned down in the Wabasha Street Caves. All three of the gangster's ghosts have been seen by children, and one of the gangsters has been seen in full-bodied and solid form by several guests. He suddenly appears right in front of guests and then quickly disappears....spooky!

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Mammoth Cave

Mammoth Cave
By: Cave Spelunking

Mammoth Cave is included in the Mammoth Cave National Park in central Kentucky. Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave system in the world. Mammoth Cave tours have been conducted for the public since 1816, but Mammoth Cave is a treasure trove of information about prehistoric life on our planet.

Prehistoric people left evidence of their existence in Mammoth Cave over many, many centuries. And scientists are still probing for more answers to their questions about prehistoric life.

According to a somewhat disputed legend, the first European to discover Mammoth Cave was John Houchin, in 1797. It's said that while he was hunting, Houchin chased a wounded bear to the cave's large entrance opening near the Green River.

Evidence of humans having been in Mammoth Cave spans at least 6,000 years, and could be much longer. There have been human early American Indian remains found in the cave. There's also evidence of intentional burial of human remains that date back well before Columbus discovered America.

Interestingly, in 1935 the remains of an American Indian adult male were discovered under a boulder. He was apparently the victim of a mining accident. The boulder had shifted and settled onto his skeleton. The remains of the ancient accident victim were named "Lost John" and exhibited to the public until the 1970s.

The remains of "Lost John" were buried in a secret location in Mammoth Cave for the purpose of preservation. Political sensitivities to the public display of Native American remains probably had more to do with the burial of the remains, however, than did preservation concerns.

Today there are several federal and state laws that protect the ancient artifacts and human remains that are still in Mammoth Cave. Even slightly moving an artifact from the position in which it is found destroys all of its research value, so explorers are training to document, not touch.

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