Aguas Buenas

Aguas Buenas

This morning Marion clogged the sump so we spent about 2 hours running around trying to find a plunger. Once the sump was flowing again we set off to Aguas Buenas. We pulled over near the same area to get better directions. The locals told me the cave was closed and that you couldn’t drive there. They said it was definitely too far to walk. What little directions I did get somewhat resembled the description I’d got the day before. Turn onto ???. Follow it until you see a stop sign. Turn right, then stay left. We soon came to a dead end road blocked by a gate. On the right a spring fed a pipe which locals were using to fill their large water jugs. We asked them where the cave was and they said ahead past the gate. They told us to take the trail to the left. We hiked far up the hill sloshing though mushy mud interlaced with cow shit. It was quite disgusting. We had not seen limestone for quite some time. Alan’s intuition said the cave was at the mouth of the stream we’d crossed at the bottom of the hill. That felt right. We slogged back down the hill and started up the cascading stream. The mood soon changed. The scenery was beautiful. I love boulder hopping up cascading streams. Soon we saw a hole in the bluff. The stream flowed from the mouth of a cave. The large volume of water splashed down two cascades from the tall cave entrance. Alan and I took a few pictures here from two different angles. Then, I climbed up to a somewhat tricky climb and chimney around the edge of a waterfall. It was fun! It took a little effort to skirt around the rather forceful waterfall. I was really excited. I already knew I would have a great time traversing this cave. We certainly saved the best cave for last! We climbed up the cascades and splashed ahead in the stream. I followed a dry overflow route to the right. I climbed back down noticing that the passage had transformed into a tall canyon. Not far ahead, Marion pointed out many bats higher up the left bank. My backup light was dim so I hadn't noticed them. I'd already got many bat pictures but climbed up the slope anyway. There were bats flying all around me. I focused my light above and realized many bats bats hung from the walls and ceiling as well. Alan climbed into a smaller standing room and beckoned me to come. I carefully ascended the slick guano slope and soon saw the wall ahead alive with motion. It was covered in bats! They were flying off the wall to get away from us. I felt bat wings hitting my arms as we took pictures. While I was taking pictures one of the bats launched a guano missile into my left eye. Two and a half weeks later she told me "I think I can help." My doctor pulled up my eye lid and scraped a cue tip across. A small seed a little bigger than the tip of a ball point pen had been high under my eye lid for over 2 weeks. Anyway, we continued upstream passing through a couple large rooms and occasionally smelling bat guano. I reached a fork in the passage and climbed up a cascade to the left. I soon reached a deep 25' diameter pool. I jettisoned my dry box and swam across to battle the infeeding cascade. I clung to the left wall and tried to swim up into the cascade. It pushed me back out into the pool. I smiled big because I was having a great time and gave it another try. I clung to the wall and climbed up into the stream. Soon after, I could hear roaring water ahead and caught a glimmer of sunlight. I was looking up a tall breakdown slope. Water cascaded down from a large entrance with vines hanging down and jungle beyond. It took me awhile to climb up to the entrance. I was loving every bit of it. Finally, I perched myself atop a large rock and gazed back into the cave. The entrance was formed at the base of a tall 100' bluff. It was a beautiful entrance. The stream cascaded out of the jungle an into the cave. I soon spotted a headlight below and met Alan. Marion caught up and we headed back into the cave. I swam across the pool and got my camera out to capture Marion swimming across. I'd forgotten my card was full. I'd taken 960 pictures. We went back to the fork and continued upstream. At spots there were neat flowstone formations that reminded me of limestone dip. Ahead, we witnessed a volcanic intrusion. The whole right wall was igneous rock. The contact point looked neat. Alan thought we were in Cretaceous limestone. He'd seen an identifying crab fossil. We continued ahead. Footing was often precarious. I spotted formations scattered throughout and occasional bat colonies. Of course there were also cascades and small waterfalls. I saw a climb-up. I ascended into a tall, 70' diameter room. I heard bats high above but my low battery backup light did little to illuminate them. To the far left a steep slope descended far below. I wanted to shine a brighter light down but Alan and Marion had passed up the climb-up so I gingerly worked my way down. I had a couple options. I went left and found myself further downstream near an easily identified waterfall. To the right I soon found myself in the main passage not quite as far downstream. I followed this route to a short swim where I'd left my dry box. I took it with me this time and pushed ahead. This section of cave contained many waterfalls and climb-ups. I left my dry box below a taller waterfall and climbed ahead. I found myself below a more intimidating waterfall climb-up. Two waterfalls converged into the stream. I decided I needed more light to continue. My backup light was dim and flickered when I touched it. I really didn't want to climb back down the waterfall with a photon light clenched between my teeth. Both my photons were hanging inside my helmet ready to penetrate darkness and color the passage a brilliant blue. I fiddled with my battery pack in the darkness and saw a glimmer of light emitting from the headlamp. I knew I was making progress and kept whacking the leads. After some more twistin g and prodding the passage lit up before me. I was now ready to climb the waterfall. I knew Alan and Marion wouldn't let a silly waterfall halt exploration. 3 to 4 climbs later, I met Marion and Alan. Alan said he'd traversed many more climb-ups to a larger bat room. He'd turned around at a more difficult climb. I asked if it would take me long to tour it and he replied that it wouldn't. They waited as I toured ahead. After several waterfall and cascade climbs I stood in a larger room. I judged the next climb as doable and ascended soon traversing the breakdown above into a 20' H x 12' W room. Another climb led to a smaller room. Above, I could see light. I climbed higher and peered up through a tight breakdown squeeze into jungle. I thought I could fit but time was running short so I decided to route. I was glad I toured the cave to the bitter end. I met back with Alan and Marion. Three climb-downs later I finally got a chance to tell Alan I'd seen E3. We routed out of the cave occasionally pausing for Marion to catch up. I remembered to retrieve my dry box on the way out. I often unclipped it to keep it above the water. I don't quite trust it. Exiting the cave was fun. It was somewhat awkward climbing down to the side of the waterfall. I held myself suspended in the air trying to determine what combination climbing chimneying maneuver would work best. Once outside the cave, Alan and I heard an explosion of curses. Marion had banged his knee pretty hard just outside the entrance. We traversed back down the slick boulders and wet cascades to the vehicle. We certainly saved the best cave for last. It had everything: beautiful walking passage, water, fun cascades, waterfalls, climb-ups, through trips, dense bat colonies of two species of bat, crabs, swimming, and loads of excitement! The hike to and from the cave was exceptionally nice. What a wonderful trip. I wonder how many days it will take before all signs of Puerto Rico have disappeared from my body. I've got a few scrapes, a rash, some leftover blisters from poison wood and I can't look to the right without my eye blinking, twitching and watering. Hopefully, I don't get Histoplasmosis. I won't be surprised if I do since we hiked through a lot of guano from a variety of caves. Two of the caves we visited gave Mimi histo. We drove back to San Juan and cleaned our rental car. It was disgusting! Then we came back to Mimi's, ate dinner, and got our stuff packed. Later, Mimi, her father, and Heberto came home. Mimi had been in Jamaica. I had a second dinner and a glass of wine and talked to them a bit.

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Fotos de Aguas Buenas

Taken by Brian Killingbeck

Taken by Alan Cressler

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