Bermuda, Crystal Cave

 Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Bermuda archipelago consists of 181 islands. Many of the islands are limestone.

I joined a tour to Crystal Cave on Bermuda. The cave is in the parish of Hamilton. Went in a van from the Royal Naval Dockyard and saw virtually all of the north side of the island during the 70 minute ride. Crystal Cave is at the eastern end of Bermuda, in an area where several other caves are marked on my map. 

Had to wait for our tour. In through the gate then down a slope through a man-made tunnel. 

Where the natural cave starts are stairs going down to the floor of the chamber. This has lots of stal.

This whole chamber has a lake, which is crossed on floating pontoons. The lake is crystal clear, hence the cave name, and is up to 55 feet deep. It is salt water and there are 2 flooded passages leading to the sea. The ceiling is covered with stalactites, really beautiful, although many are broken at the end. There is at least 1 stalagmite in the lake. 

Very beautiful cave and everyone was very impressed. Fairly short cave, and you go out the same way. 

Outside on the hill opposite the cafe is a small building which is where the original entrance is located - this is close to the sinkhole which was the original entry used by the 2 boys who found the cave when looking for their cricket ball. We didn't have time to see it after (it is a pity the van driver hadn't told us when we arrived, when we had 35 minutes to spare).

The cave was discovered on 3 March 1907. Two boys lost a cricket ball in a hole in the ground, and clambered down to look for it. Later one boy was lowered into the rope by his father, using a strong rope tied to a tree. The child descended 140' using a bicycle lamp. They never found the ball, just the cave. This entrance was called Discovery Hole. The cave was surveyed and it was found that an entrance suitable for visitors could be made a short distance away. A wooden staircase was built enabling visitors to go down to the lake. 

The cave first opened as a show cave on 8 Jan 1908. The cave became to popular that it was necessary to find an easier way to gain access. In 1912 work began on the present day tunnel. After opening in 1914 the original entrance was disused and the staircase removed. 

Fantasy Cave is also well decorated with stal and has pools at the bottom. 

The islands of Bermuda sit on a long extinct volcanic seamount in the part of the North Atlantic known as the Sargasso Sea. The islands were created by mid-ocean volcanic eruptions about 35 million years ago. Today the above water island rocks  are almost exclusively limestone, with the seamount below. So Bermuda has igneous and sedimentary rocks.

See The Crystal Caves website. And Crystal Caves on Wikipedia.