TO SEE ALL PREVIOUS "photo additions" to the Barbados Photo Gallery.... please go HERE

Prologue and preamble to the SIXTH expedition into the cave labyrinth:
Coles cave is a karst cave formed in limestone, water levels in the labyrinth vary with rainfall and it has many fine examples of all types of speliothems

Photos from 20 June 2009 expedition

More photos from this expedition are on Flickr and Facebook... as well as Hike Barbados

Prologue and preamble to the FOURTH expedition into the cave labyrinth:

We entered Coles Cave by the usual entrance, and there are photos of this entry point on the pages from my previous expeditions so I did not bother taking any more as the camera was wrapped up in a waterproof bag and for safety kept in my backpack in preparation for going deeper into the cave.... I did not intend to get it out until we passed the point of our last expedition into the cave.... we reached the "swimming pooI with the waterfall" , and I almost did not recognize it, because it was DRY and the ROCK HAS TURNED DARK due to the absence of all living water..... TOO MANY GOLF COURSES.... TOO MUCH DEVELOPMENT.. LOWER RAINFALL each year.... Barbados is DOOMED (sorry to tell you so, but nothing good is coming your way)... anyway, to continue the story, after everybody was hoisted up and over the ledge where the waterfall used to be, we moved into the tunnel beyond and here we encountered water about waist deep (in some places), and this was similar to the last time, except now the flow rate was not as forceful.... finally we reached the cavern which was the end of our last expedition, and it was here that I removed my camera and took our group photo:

Barbados is a limestone island but with traces of other rock strata.... a geologists dream come true.... so here are some samples to encourage them to come to Barbados:

As we waited for the others to catch up, I took these photos.... a general jovial mood prevailed as we distracted the fearful from the horrors of the journey:

Having reached the man-made "waterworks" area, I went down another tunnel with Adrian to inspect the point where the ancients tapped the aquifer.... and while we were marvelling at the humans that accomplished this feat of engineering, the rest got frustrated and moved on:

The 3 of us then returned to the junction, found that the rest had gone and we climbed out of the cavern by the ancient ladder, as shown below:

for further information about caves in Barbados, you may contact hikebarbados@yahoo.com

Photos from my PREVIOUS EXPEDITIONS are below:

FIRST EXPEDITION.... November 30, 1999..... PHOTOS HERE
THIRD EXPEDITION.... May 9, 2002..... PHOTOS HERE

I experienced some camera trouble during my SECOND expedition.. and the photos were not as impressive as I had hoped for (I may still put them up shortly... so you can see for yourself).... on the second expedition, we followed the main right fork to a giant cavern filled with bats.... the bats suggest that there must be an exit close at hand, but we were unable to find it because we were unable to scale the huge rock face... I am thinking of another expedition to attempt to find this exit... and this will be my most challenging because we need to scale those boulders in the enormous "bat cavern" and it is not pleasant in there, I may defer... and instead, explore the tunnel under the "waterworks" well, which will definitely be cleaner.

I would also like to return to the caves at Paragon someday.... right now, I am looking for the photos I took on that expedition.... I remember a crystalline substance on the walls that the geologists would like to see.

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© copyright 2008 Stephen E. Mendes, Barbados.