cAvenue diving is like swimming through the history of a planet. Both humans and animals remain, but there are also stal large stones and sturdy ones. These cannot form when the cave is flooded, so you can see when some of them are submerged and dried.
But when I'm in the cave, I don't check the time. There is no natural light, so the caves look the same whether at noon or midnight. If you dive without proper training, equipment or mindset, it can be a very dangerous place. When I'm there, I have a very contemplative focus. I live now. I can't think of what's going on in the cave. I think it's a very soothing and relaxing thing.
Caves are essentially linked to the ecosystem and the lives of the people who live around them. They are one of the places where they cannot see or have no heart. In the Bahamas, water flows from the above land into the caves, moving not only nutrients but also pollution. In this way, for example, discharges from factories on the surface can travel through limestone into the cave, affecting the seabed, mangroves and the entire river.
The closest environment we have to make into a space is in the cave. Some of the caves I dive in are hundreds of thousands of years old, and marine life is unique. Animals such as blind crustaceans and fish are adapted to living in eternal darkness and very low oxygen environments. These are animals that look as foreign as possible to me, but we spend trillions of dollars exploring. Why do we go to Mars when these animals are just below our feet?
Much of the work I do involves collecting data for conservation and scientific purposes and digitally mapping the caves so that people can see where the cave is compared to the land above. This is extremely important as part of conservation efforts to limit land development.
To become a cave diver, you need to be an experienced diver. I have done over 5,000 cave dives in 80 or 90 different cave systems and am now a cave explorer. In other words, I found a virgin cave. They also teach cave diving at cutting edge levels. If I don't jump into the cave for a few days, I'll miss as much as my husband could say. He looks at me and says, “You need to go diving.”
Sometimes the sharks stroll around. There are plenty of nutrients and fish, so you can see silk, lemon and Caribbean coral reef sharks. Nurses sharks sometimes sleep at the entrance to the Ocean Blue Hole.
I swim past them – I am just as happy with the sharks as in the caves. They live in the sea, this is their environment and I am just a visitor.
I often feel very privileged to be able to do my job, but sometimes I have to forget how unique the cave world is. But then I saw an eloquent pillar 50 feet wide enough to park my car and found it dripped in an inch and a half a year, which would blow my mind.
