Writings of an Introvert

Caving and Other Things Underground

I haven’t been to much caves, but just recently, I had two great opportunities to visit caves in Cagayan de Oro and in Bohol. I am not quite a fan of dark, swampy underground areas as I have this great fear of snakes, and for sure, my mind would play tricks on me if I can’t even see the ground where I am treading.

The first cave we went to was a shorter one but it can be a challenge at one point where you need to do a little bit of crawling. With the excitement building up in me, i forgot about my fear of snakes. The cave has a pretty big opening though and it gets smaller and smaller in the middle where the crawling has to be done and exits to a pretty big opening that overlooks to a scenic view of the Cagayan de Oro river where the whitewater rafting is held.
 

Unlike the first cave, the Hinagdanan Cave in Bohol is a much different picture. It has a pretty small opening where you descend vertically into a bigger and wider space underground. With the island being touristy, the locals probably found the need to put a steel staircase on the entrance for ease of entrance.

 And the sight underground was way better. Stalactites are everywhere and in the middle of the cave is a 12 to 14-feet dark underground water that looks eerie to me. In several parts of the cave are big holes that cast sunlight into the caves. Our tour guide said it was through these holes that the cave was discovered.

Aside from being a great tour guide, he also had great skills on any camera that he is handed to and took great pictures inside the cave. If I would have taken the pictures myself, it would have been all dark around us.
I would surely need to learn cave photography before the next cave adventure that i will be dragged to.
Oh, i almost forgot about the planned trip to the world renowned underground river in December, so i really need to make some crash courses on cave photography ASAP.