Blue hole
Dan's Cave
The main entrance to the Dan's Cave System, an inland blue hole in Abaco's pine forest leading to richly decorated rooms such as the Cascade Room. Diving is guide-only within the South Abaco Blue Holes Conservation Area.
Dan's Cave is an inland blue hole in the pine forest of south Great Abaco and the principal entrance to the Dan's Cave System. Large tunnels near the entrance lead to the Cascade Room, a chamber well over 100 m long and more than 50 m wide filled with columns and crystal formations, which Divernet places within about 300 m of the entrance.
Further in, named areas include the Fangorn Forest, reached through a deeper tunnel, and the Badlands, where formations are so dense that a misplaced fin can break them. Most of the cave lies around 24 m or deeper, so dives normally involve decompression stops.
The cave is inside the South Abaco Blue Holes Conservation Area. Visits are run as small guided dives, and the local operator expects sidemount equipment in most of the cave to reduce contact with the formations.
The environment
Clear fresh water over salt water, with a halocline at about 17 m reported by the operator; large tunnels and rooms densely decorated with speleothems; water about 24 °C.
Conditions
Divernet (2019) describes much of the complex at about 24 m, with the Crystal Palace near 35 m and longer penetrations approaching 50 m. The operator reports a halocline at about 17 m and constant 24 °C water in the inland caves.
Typical ranges from published sources, not current conditions.
Other entrances to Dan's Cave System
Every fact on this page, with its source (8)
| Fact | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| The Cascade Room lies no more than about 300 m from the entrance and is well over 100 m long and more than 50 m wide.National Geographic (2010) puts the Cascade Room at about 80 ft (24 m) depth. | Reported | [1] |
| Named areas include the Cascade Room, Fangorn Forest and the Badlands, where a misplaced fin kick can break ancient formations. | Verified | [3] |
| Much of the cave lies at about 24 m, so decompression is needed on every dive.Operator lists passage levels of 24 m, 34 m and 45 m. | Reported | [1] [2] |
| Inland cave water on Abaco is about 24 °C year-round.Operator statement. | Reported | [2] |
| Cave diving in the conservation area must be directly supervised by an approved guide, with parties of up to three including the guide.2019 report. | Reported | [1] |
| The operator no longer supports back-mount open-circuit diving and dives only on nitrox with oxygen decompression.Provider claim. | Reported | [2] |
| Dan's Cave is one of the four principal sites of the South Abaco Blue Holes Conservation Area. | Reported | [1] |
| Dan's Cave lies about 3.6 km northeast of Sawmill Sink in south-central Great Abaco.Numeric coordinates withheld for a restricted, guide-only site. | Verified | [5] |
Verified: stated by an official or primary source we opened. Reported: from a secondary source only. Sources conflict: the note gives both versions. May be out of date: the newest source we found is old.
Written in our own words from the sources above. Report a correction