Into the Center of the Earth

Yesterday we grabbed some old rope and set off on the long walk down the beach with our island friend Brad. Brad had discovered some caves on the island and we were now on a mission of further exploration. Many sun burnt heads were turning as climbed up the coral wall with our rope and disappeared into the trees. When we came to the entrance of the cave, I thought he was joking. There was no rock entrance to crawl into, just a muddy hole going straight down to the abyss that looked as if some quicksand spot had given way.
After securing the rope to a nearby tree we began the slippery descent into the cave the locals refer to as "hell". Bats flew out of the narrow, twisting passage as we lowered ourselves down and tried to grip the muddy wall with our feet. When we finally touched out feet to a flat stand-able area, besides the hundreds of bats that circled our heads, we were greeted by a tarantula next to our feet.

The only way to other parts of the cave is through the water. So using a mask and a dive light, we would dive through the top layer of muddy water to reveal crystal clear water just 10 feet below. Diving deeper we found passage to other huge sections of the cave. It was always slightly scary turning from your diving to come back up. You need air, but the clouded, dirty water above you doesn't let you see if you had dove under any rock or ledges.

Walking covered in mud and insect bites back up the beautiful beaches, past plenty of indulgent sun bathers, we certainly did not blend in.


Today we did our last dive. A drift dive, where the boat drops you off in the water and you move along with the current. We went deeper than we had ever gone before and dove next to the wall of the reef. We saw a new vibrancy of the reef we had not yet seen. The island is surrounded by the reef and is varies a bit in depth, but then like a shelve, the reef drops off (hence the "wall" term) to deeper parts of the vast blue beneath us.

We are heading to Guatemala for Thanksgiving. The teachers we lived with also have a short break, so two of them are joining us for a bit. The four of us board a boat back to the mainland tomorrow.