CAVE DATABASE

Catanamatias Cave is the deepest known cave in the Dominican Republic. The cave was first entered by three Italians in the 1990s, who left an incomplete map and told villagers they turned around at a rushing river deep underground that they couldn't cross. In 2023, a team from Costa Rica, the US and Mexico returned. Over two weeks, they rigged, mapped and dove the cave. They found that the enormous entrance chamber becomes a network of small tubes trending downwards. There are four short sumps at the bottom, filled with debris that gets washed in from the entrance. The sumps generally smell filthy, but go to dry passage. All dry passages past the sumps have bad air - likely high CO2 from decomposing organic matter. At least one sump has leptospirosis, as one member ended up in the hospital after the trip with this infection. In the rainy season, the cave floods. Trees, livestock, and other objects get washed in. As such, the cave can only be safely entered in the dry season, ideally January. Entry requires over 500 feet of rope and four rebelays just to reach the bottom of the first pitch. There are many, many rappels after this. Two high leads in the entrance chamber were not checked on this expedition, as each is a bolt climb of around 20 meters. These leads would make an excellent objective for future teams, and bad air will not be encountered in these leads. There is also a pit in the cave with bad air, called Ceth's Gas Crevasse, that was not checked. The final passage reached was enormous borehole continuing indefinitely, but again with unbreathable air. We suspect the passages continue for many miles until emerging at a resurgence lower in Catanamatias Valley, near Los Copeyes. The rushing river as described by the Italians was not found, although it's possible that air quality in the cave varies, and the Italians reached a point farther than the 2023 expedition. However, until a team is willing to enter with full respirators, exploration may never be completed of this significant and dangerous cave. The 2023 expedition team consisted of Lukas Eddy, Suhei Eddy, Jamie Goodwin, Ceth Parker, Adam Haydock, Steve Lambert, Jefferson Marchand, Rachel Crawford, Zeb Lilly and Gustavo Quesado. They measured a depth of -195 meters, although the cave certainly goes much, much deeper.

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For more information on Catamatias Cave, visit https://www.lukaseddy.com/catanamatias-caving-expedition