The Caves

This morning I headed off to Parque de las Cavernas del Rio Camuy. When I arrived the park was pretty empty. I was surprised because it is a popular tourist destination, but then I found out why. This part of the island has received so much rain over the week that the main cavern, and really the main attraction, was closed. If I still wanted to enter I could and they would show me the sinkholes, but for safety reasons we could not tour the cavern.

I drove over an hour to get there so I stayed and boy am I glad I did. We watched a short safety video and then headed to the trolley area. The super intendant came out and said he had just been down at the cavern. They were trying to see if we could still go, but due to the rain and the amount of rocks and sediment that have fallen from the ceiling, the trolleys could not enter and it really would be unsafe.

We went to the first sinkhole called Tres Pueblos. Three towns have their borders all meet in the middle of this sinkhole. It was an amazing view and hard to imagine the size. Our guide told us that you could fit the El Morro Fort into the sinkhole, that is how large it was. We walked around the perimeter as he pointed out different plants and even some very large spiders before we arrived at a second platform where you could see further into the sinkhole and actually view part of the underground river. At this spot you could see where it left one side and then flowed north towards the Atlantic Ocean into the other side of a cavern. I thought it was impressive.

From there we journeyed to our second destination. The Spiral Sinkhole. To get there you walk down 205 steps to a platform that over looks what seems to be the mouth of a cave. We had water falling on us from the ceiling above. It was hard to see into this one. Our guide said it was about 300 - 400 feet deep. This sinkhole made the trip worth it. The view was just amazing and at one point our guide started making a screeching noise and we could see the bats wake up and start to fly around inside. The trek down was not so bad but 205 steps up with some serious humidity was not as fun.

Overall I thought the tour was cool even if I was not able to see the cave. From there I headed further west. I wanted to see the Indian face carved into the rock near Isabela. Monumento al Indio is a monument in the honor of Cacique Mabodoma. I would say that this is probably something that you could forgo if you were coming to Puerto Rico. It was neat to see but there wasn't really a spot to pull off and then after I saw it there wasn't much else except to turn around and head back.

It was another fun adventure for a Saturday in Puerto Rico.