North Coast
CUEVA EL ARBOL (Tree Cave)
Read the Cueva El Arbole exploration article


This cave is on the opposite side of the road of El Dudu, about 1km west and is on a private farm land, the sink is quite big but impossible to see from the road unless you know were it is, the clue is the only big tree in the middle of a grassy field opposite to the only row of houses.
Access is very easy and after ducking a barbed wire fence and a 40 meter walk you go down the sink and get to the edge of the water in about ten minutes. The cave goes down to about 8 meters at which point a tight restriction through a collapse leads to the main passage, the cave is very weird and has yellow and very crumbly rock, the average depth is 12 meters.
This cave looks very different to the other caves in the area, there are no decorations and the rock has a very "spongelike" appearance and the tunnels are very contorted. After swimming through the various tunnels the cave eventually gets to a wide but low bedding plane, the ceiling gets a bit higher again and then dips down to a few feet and then appears to choke out, there may be a way on but the viz at this point is zero so each attempt only reveals a little at a time.
keep in mind that if you dive to or close to the end it is a guaranteed zero viz exit and a very gnarly one at that, so be prepared for a total blackout, the silt toward the end is super fine and very deep.

First explored by Thomas Riffaud and Phillip Lehman in 2008.

A very cool dive, the cave can be seen using two 80cu, due to the tight entrance restriction and the low ceilings toward the back, it is best suited to a SM configuration. Also bear in mind that zero viz silt outs are guaranteed, so make sure you are comfortable in these conditions before attempting this dive.

Cars are safe if parked in front of landowner's house, pay landowner or buy lemons (seriously) to dive and park the car, if you get him a bottle of rum will remember you forever.

Please check the links section for this area's dive shops, hotels and filling stations.

click for large Cueva El Arbole map