There are some amazing caves that can be visited and toured on foot, but there are also caves for cave divers. Parts of these cool caves might be accessible for regular tourists, but it is usually the parts that are reached through or under water that are especially attractive. Here are some of the world’s best caves for cave divers.
1 Waitomo Glowworms Cave (New Zealand)
New Zealand is an island nation of natural wonders, so it’s no wonder that its darkest depths are wonderful as well. Waitomo Glowworms Cave is one of the most popular caves for cave divers. Why? Because the glowworms that dwell within are only found in this country and thrive best in this cave. The “arachna luminosa” are the size of mosquitoes, but banded together by the millions, they light up the underground in an ethereal glow. Waitomo Glowworms Cave is well monitored by a specialist scientific advisory group, so as the glowworms’ environment is properly maintained and not contaminated by tourists. Guided tours include a boat ride along an underground river, with the cave’s ceiling lighted solely by glowworms.
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2 The Blue Grotto (Capri, Italy)
As Capri Island’s most brilliant gem, the Blue Grotto is a sea cave which lies on the island’s coast and is illuminated with a sparkling sapphire and emerald sheen. The source of its brilliant color lies in the placement and limitation of light reflecting within the cave. The cave’s entrance is small, allowing only one row boat at a time to access its pool of water. A second, larger hole is submerged in the sea and lies beneath the entrance, creating a stunning white light which emits atop the water line and a blue glow from beneath, making this gem sparkle and glitter as one of the coolest caves for cave-divers.
3 Mammoth Cave National Park (Kentucky, US)
If you’re looking for a cave system to explore for days on end, then look no further than Mammoth Cave National Park. As the longest cave system in the world, Mammoth Cave is aptly named, covering 52,830 hectares, twice the size of Sac Actun in Mexico, the world’s second longest cave system. You can take a National Park tour, which includes the famed Frozen Niagara, Fat Man’s Misery and Grand Avenue. Tours can last around 6 hours and allow freedom for “wild” caving, where, if you dare to, you can venture off on your own into dark narrow tunnels, dank crawl spaces and other less developed parts of the cave.
4 Cave of the Crystals (Chihuahua, Mexico)
Recently discovered in the year 2000, the Cave of the Crystals is composed entirely of giant crystalline blocks. The largest natural Selenite crystals in the world can be found here, with the longest stretching 4 meters in diameter and 12 meters in length. The magma chamber beneath the cave floor resulted in the mineral-rich ground water, which is especially gypsum-enriched; standing for over 500,000 years, the minerals are what formed the crystals. The humidity in the Cave of the Crystals is around 90-99%, and the natural temperature runs between 50-58 degrees Celsius. The high temperature allows only those cave-divers with protective gear to explore this largely unexplored territory, and only for up to 10 minutes at a time.
5 Puerto Princesa Underground River (Palawan, Philippines)
This Subterranean underground river, located in the Philippines, is a UNESCO world heritage site, and one of the 7 New Wonders of Nature. Puerto Princesa Underground River can be navigated by a boat for only about 4 kilometers, but the deeper corners of the cave are deprived of oxygen and cannot be explored; however, incredible rock formations, a deep river water hole, river channels, marine creatures and bats can all be viewed in the 300 meter cave dome. A second floor to this cave was discovered by environmentalists in 2010, and includes several small waterfalls.
6 Fingal’s Cave (Staffa, Scotland)
With a name meaning “white stranger,” taken from the protagonist of James Macpherson’s book, Fingal, this sea cave is situated on the coast of Staffa, an uninhabited island in Scotland. Created wholly from Paleocene lava flow hexagonally jointed with basalt columns, the cave is a bit eerie, due to the crashing waves echoing around the arched roof of the tall cavern walls.
7 Krubera Cave (Abkhazia, Georgia)
The deepest cave for cave divers is Krubera Cave in Georgia. With a depth of over 2000 meters, Krubera was discovered in 1960 and is locally known as Voronja Cave, meaning “cave of the crows” in Russian. The speleologists crowned the cave with this name in 1980, due to the hundreds of crows which nest at the cave’s entrance. No doubt, one of the eeriest caves for cave-divers to dive.
I’ve not tried cave diving. I’m not sure if I would find it claustrophobic. I’d love to hear from anyone who has done it. Is it exciting?
