Cueva del Indio

We descended down through the town and drove through Arecibo. When we reached the coast, we saw some massive swells coming in. We pulled into a dirt drive with a sign indicating a cave. We paid $1 per vehicle and hiked out on the rugged limestone outcropping. Ahead, we could see the swells pulsing into a small bay. To the right the waves crashed into 40’ tall cliffs containing natural bridges. Many large and small pits entering the cave. I looked at all of them before figuring out where I could safely enter. I climbed down to a small window across from a large entrance. I climbed up through a small elliptical shaped passage and climbed down to the water level. I’d left my headlight above since there were so many entrances letting in light but I should have worn it coming in; I could hardly see where I was going. I really felt my way through and was careful not to fall. The elliptical tube opened below and then emerged into a larger room. I chimneyed to a ledge on the right and climbed down to where I could see better. Ahead, I saw a shallow pool fed by the outside waves which rhythmically penetrated a hole in the cave wall. To the left I viewed a larger room containing many petroglyphs. When I met Marion he saw I didn’t have a light and told me I was crazy climbing down from the elliptical tube without a light. Above, light shone in through two large pit entrances. I climbed over a limestone wall in the larger room and emerged at the other side of the shallow pool. I went back to the entrance, checked out a potential skylight exit and climbed back outside to take some more pictures. I got some good sunset pictures and more neat coast shots. We headed back down to the cars and drove back to camp. I’d taken way too many pictures today. I spent ½ an hour deleting duplicates and bad shots. I now have 65 shots per day for the rest of the trip.