To the Bat Cave!

I have been on my share of spelunking adventures. Climbing up to the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; checking out stalactites and stalagmites in the Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mountains, Australia; "black water rafting" in the underground rivers of caves in Waitomo, New Zealand. But none were quite like the impromptu caving adventure I went on the other day.

John Wayne and one of his friends took me, Caitlin, and Lacey to some small caves near the airport. There is a dive site called Airport Caves which is under the OLD airport, which they shut down when they realized it was built on top of a cave system. The new one is close, but I guess this time they did their research before building. We went local style, 3 of us on an ATV and 2 on a small dirt bike. Whole families here pile onto either type of vehicle, so I guess we were being conservative. After the paved road ended, and then the dirt track ended, we hopped off and went the rest of the way on foot, through jungle and the densest mosquito population I have encountered.

The caves are full of freshwater- the coldest water I have found on the island, including from bottles of refrigerated drinking water. It was chilly, but the only respite from the bugs. We brought masks and snorkels and looked around, but the passages underwater looked way too spooky to enter. We agreed to check out the other cave close by.


We had passed by the entrance on the way in but didn't even notice the 3'x3' hole close to the ground. John Wayne had a packet of candles, the white taper kind you buy to light in church. We each got a candle and climbed in. If the opening was small, the rest of the cave was tinnnnnyyyy. We were able to crabwalk for a bit, then kind of scootch along, and finally it was crawling and almost slithering through a low passage, candles aloft, until we reached the main part of the cave that opened up. There was a deep water pool, but none of us were feeling brave (or crazy) enough to jump in. Bats were swooping around us, no doubt woken by our light and noise. On our way out, on my hands and knees, one flew inches from my head and I could practically feel its wings pass my face. I like bats, but this was a bit too close for comfort.

Once we had braved the mosquitoes and bumped back down the road, us girls jumped off the second story dock of the bar next door and into the harbor. While we all agreed the water was pretty dirty, we figured it was cleaner than the mosquito blood and bat shit we were covered in. Another awesome day in Utila.