On the morning of January 13th, it was announced that we were going on a tour of the Green Grotto caves. Although I was over the moon to be going on another field trip, I wasn’t sure quite what to expect from the cave tour. After all, we went into it totally blind, just like the cave fish! (But no seriously, the rumor that the fish living in the Green Grotto caves are blind was debunked). I was somewhat perplexed when we were all handed hard hats, but the reasoning for this became abundantly clear when I nearly smacked my head into low-hanging rock formations an embarrassing number of times. At one point, I looked up too high and my hardhat fell right off my head and created the loudest, most reverberated noise known to man. Oops…
Here’s an extremely washed-out photo of me wearing my stylish hard hat before entering the caves. Photo creds to Lauren, who took it with my underwater camera that should probably stick to taking photos underwater.
The caves themselves were very interesting, especially when we had to duck under low ceilings and squeeze through openings (nothing too strenuous, but enough to make me feel adventurous). The tour lasted for about an hour, and included both underground and aboveground portions. The highlights included the families of bats that could be spotted swooping around or hunkering down in rock formations high above us, and the underground lake that housed the aforementioned not-blind fish.
The underground lake in the cave system. Any photo or video that I take at night or in any sort of darkness with my underwater camera is immediately granted a certain… found-footage quality. I can’t tell if it’s the lack of color or the yellow timestamp straight from the 2000s, but I appreciate the eerie vibe.
An end-of-tour group photo organized by Tegan (and captured on her phone). We were very happy to be out exploring!
Overall, I had a great time at the Green Grotto caves. Seeing sights around Jamaica besides the marine lab was such an important part of the trip for me, even if I felt a little like a tourist. I’m not looking forward to January in New York, but I have a few days left to soak up the sun. Till next time!
- Egg Bagel Emma