North Coast
Cueva de los Murcielagos (Bat Cave)

After driving up the road and passing through the Calleron de la Loma basically Cabarete's ghetto, the scenery changes instantly. It goes from rough shanty town to deep, lush tropical rainforest within 100 meters, literally. This is the El Choco national park and there are numerous caves in the area, all have difficult access some need a few hours on horse back and they all involve some sort of dry caving to access the water.

To gain access to the bat cave you need to climb down a dry cave, there are two tight restrictions each with metal ladders and once these are passed the cave opens up and is fairly big and decorated and comes fully stocked with bats, tarantulas and big whip scorpions, if you don't like bugs you will hate these.

first lader, second one is really tight

There are two sumps, but the one with going cave is on the right side and easily missed. You must climb down a near vertical rock pile 6-7 meters down and then you are at the edge of the small sump.

It goes down below water vertically, to a very decorated room, and at 8 meters the line Tees off right. Following the line straight, takes you through a restriction made up of collapsed stalactites, and then to a tunnel that gradually gets bigger. After swimming this you eventually get to a very large highly decorated room, the ceiling is full of eroded "potholes" and the stalactites look like weird African sculptures.

The line makes a large loop around the room, at the far end there is a breakdown tunnel that through a few restrictions goes up to an air pocket and has yet to be explored. Swimming around the room and closing the loop takes about 20 mins and the depth is fairly constant at 14 meters. Taking the T right from the exit, the cave is very different, it turns into a big breakdown cave with numerous boulders and slabs just waiting to fall, it looks very unstable.

This leads to a big room and at the far end through a series of twisting restrictions you surface into a massive dry cave. Taking off your gear and climbing out to get a feel for the place is a must, the dry cave is a huge bell shaped room, the ceilings are about 25 meters high and the room is the size of a big supermarket, tree roots hang from the ceiling and pile up in the center and are the only reminder of an existing outside world. There are numerous sumps and one in particular has decorations that look like they are made of chocolate, this alone is worth the trip just to see. The dry cave is highly decorated around the edges with crystal flow stones and cave bacon that is truly awesome, there is no exit through the dry cave. At the far end there is a big pool of crystal clear water, under this at the far side at - 10 meters there is a tight SM only restriction, this leads to a submerged room about the same size as the dry cave and goes down to -14 meters, this area is gnarly and very unstable and great care should be taken if you decide to dive here.

The" tooth" stalactite in the main room

the second sump

The dry cave

First dove by Thomas Riffaud and Phillip Lehman in 2008

This cave offers the full exotic jungle dry cave experience as a bonus. It has two completely different sides and a very weird vibe, and really crazy looking decorations, the big dry cave at the far end of the line is alone worth the trip just to see. The cave entire system can be seen using two 80cf tanks.
you need landowner permission to dive, the dry cave has a gate that is locked but if you ask around you will gain access. The local people in the area are very friendly and you will always find kids who will carry gear and tanks down for about 200 pesos each and believe me it is well worth it.
Keep in mind that due to the two tight dry cave entrance restriction carrying doubles down, although possible, is a real hassle and SM is definitely the way to go.

Cars and belongings will be safe, we have never had any problems.

This is obviously right next to Cabarete, a cool tourist town that boast world class Kiteboarding and Surfing. There are numerous hotels and restaurants and the area is safe.

Nearby Sosua also has numerous hotels and restaurants and the ocean diving is pretty good, check out Airport Reef and especially Pyramids.

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

click for large Cueva de los Murcielagos map

click for Cueva de los Murcielagos picture gallery