2015-04-03 - Part V - Angeles Cave

The last day of Puerto Rico was spent with Aventuras Tierra Adentro on an insane cave tour. My brother and I woke up early and fast-walked/ jogged to the meetup point. At 5:45 everyone walked up the red carpet into the bust for the long drive to the Arecibo and Rio Camuy cave section region. The guides entertained and instructed us along the way. After a breakfast and supply stop, we soon reached the forest! Training began and we graduated as ninjas. There was a movie being filmed and a test and everything. Then, off we went. We took three ziplines and a rappel down into the mouth of the cave. Photos do not do the experience any justice as all.

They were not kidding about swimming. We changed from our zip-line outfit into life jackets with a helmet, headlamp and backpack. A short trek into the cave and we started swimming into the mouth of the darkness. We would swim and float and get wet often on this trip. There were some great cave formations along the way. A giant slip and slide and places that smelled like chocolate. Floating through caverns of rock. Waterfalls. Pitch-black cliff-jumps. The guide would tell us to turn off all the lights and we would jump, but not too far or you may land on a rock and break your leg. We saw scorpions, spiders, cockroaches, bats, and felt blind cave catfish bump into our legs.

We had lunch by candlelight and headed back. We had to do another cliff jump. Back up the slip and slide! The trip led us back to the amazing formation near the start. A guide shined a flashlight from the back into the falling water. The others would surround the people in the center and shine our headlights at them. This provided amazing photos. Each time we began to dry off, we got wet again. :) We had to do two zip lines and climb up rungs and ladders back to the changing area. After a nice shower and free snacks, we got back on the bus for the long ride back. The guides were utterly fantastic and the ones you want to be in going into a truly wild environment. I highly recommend.it. It was the best tour I have ever been on.