COMING UP!
Jonathan and Cameraman Zach explore the depths of an ocean cave that goes under an island
in the Bahamas!
Welcome to Jonathan Bird’s Blue World!
The Bahamian Exuma Islands are famous for being some of the most beautiful on Earth.
They are a known as a yachting capital of the world, a haven for swimming pigs, and
of course an ocean Blue hole dive paradise.
Wait a minute, swimming pigs!
This I have got to see!
My adventure begins with a flight to the remote Exuma islands of the Bahamas.
As we fly in, I can see why people say they are so beautiful.
Look at that water!
The Zachs are excited!
Soon we land on Great Exuma, and load our van.
We take a trip up north to Exuma Point Beach Bar, to rendezvous with local celebrity Elvis
Rolle.
We load our gear on to a small boat…and Elvis takes us out.
We make a short run to a small island just offshore.
As we pull to the beach, we are greeted by a welcoming committee.
And they wade right up to the boat.
Some say that the pigs were stranded here after fleeing a sinking ship and swimming
to the closest island.
Others insist that the pigs were left long ago by sailors to fatten up so they could
be eaten later.
But this is not a very good place to fatten up a pig…there isn’t much to eat and no
fresh water.
Elvis throws them some bread, which is a favorite snack.
Of course, pigs are notoriously not very picky eaters.
Sometimes he brings vegetables, or whatever he has on hand.
The pigs don’t really care.
But of course, I like to swim with the marine life.
So in I go.
With a piece of bread, I want to see if I can get a pig to demonstrate actual swimming.
And yes, they can actually swim!
They also know who has the snacks!
And is there anything cuter than a swimming piglet?
The pigs have this entire island to themselves, and while they can forage for their own food
to a degree, Elvis does need to bring out fresh water for them to drink.
We’re having fun playing with the swimming pigs, but we came to go cave diving.
So the next day we grab our gear and head on over to Dive Exuma.
We load the boat and start putting our cave diving gear together.
Then captain Jonathan pushes off and we’re on our way.
We’re heading to Stocking island, a favorite destination for the yachting crowd because
of the extremely well-protected harbor.
And within this harbor, something easily visible from the air: The entrance to an ocean cave
that goes under the island!
With the boat moored only a few fin kicks from the entrance to the cave, Cameraman Zach
and I start suiting up.
My water entry is as graceful as ever!
Then we descend!
We have timed our dive just past slack tide, so that the tide is gently pushing water out
of the cave.
This means we swim against the flow to get into the cave, making our return trip back
out of the cave safer and easier.
Fish love to hang out in the entrance to the cave.
But we pass right by, heading towards the darkness that lies beyond.
At the back of the cavern zone, Zach ties his reel to a rock, and then leads the way
ahead.
The water coming out of the cave is not that clear.
Recent storms have churned up the ocean and this water is coming in from somewhere under
the ocean on the other side of the island.
The murkiness makes it pretty spooky.
The walls of the cave are absolutely covered in colorful sponges and tunicates, fed by
a constant supply of ocean nutrients forced through the cave by the tides.
These simple animals thrive in complete darkness, their color never seen unless illuminated
by artificial light.
Eventually we find the remnants of an old guideline, placed in the cave untold years
ago by previous explorers, but not suitable for use anymore.
So Zach carries on with his reel.
Unfortunately, we soon hit the end of the line—literally.
So we tie on a spool and keep going.
Eventually we reach an older section of cave line that looks pretty solid, so we tie on.
There is so much marine life on this line that it looks like a rope reef!
As we proceed further into the cave, following the rope along the silty bottom, the walls
begin to narrow.
As the water flows through this thin slot in the rocks, the velocity of the water increases,
so swimming against the current is more difficult.
Our air consumption rises.
Protocol in cave diving means you can only use 1/3 of your air on the way into the cave.
You leave another third for the swim out, and the last third for reserve in case of
an emergency.
And even though I really want to see what’s around the next corner, we have to turn back.
Fortunately for us, the swim out is super easy because now we are going with the tide,
gliding along with very little effort.
We follow the reef rope back to Zach’s spool.
Hand-winding the spool fast enough to keep up with the water movement is a challenge!
Winding the primary spool is a lot easier.
And within only a fraction of the time it took to swim into the cave, we reach the cavern
zone again.
Of course, knowing that we would get a fast free ride out of the cave, we could have gone
past our thirds and explored a little further, but that is breaking the rules, and cave diving
is one place where you don’t break the rules.
Of course that extra air means we have plenty of time for an extended safety stop watching
the fish in the cavern zone.
And finally, its time to head back to the warm sun above us.
That was amazing!
We got way into this huge, huge room and then as we continued to swim the walls got closer
and closer like we were going through a crack.
It was just like Stargate over on Andros.
Unbelievable--except it was seawater and the whole thing was covered with sponges and marine
life.
That was just the most amazing cave and I’ve never seen anything like it!
So much fun.
Captain Jonathan helps us remove gear in the water to make the ladder easier.
Woo hoo!
That was sweet!
That was an awesome dive!
The Exuma Islands of the Bahamas are a beautiful place.
The blue water and protected moorings make it special for sailing, but the ocean caves
make it exciting for cave divers, one of the few places in the world with so many such
dives.
I don’t know when we will be back to the Exumas but I sure wouldn’t mind another
dive trip to explore more of these unique underwater formations in the Blue World!
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