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We are PADI Dive Center S-6121, Dive Right-Coron. Web Pages at: http://www2.mozcom.com/~diving E-mail: diveright@mo*.co* We would like an investigation of a serious cave in Barracuda Lake which connects out to the ocean. A geologist who was in Coron to evaluate the environmental impact of a government project says that Coron Island (containing Cayangan Lake and Barracuda Lake) and Busuanga Island (town of Coron) though separated only by a couple of kilometers of water are different geological formations and are on different tectonic plates. The topography certainly looks different. The hot water in Cayangan and Barracuda Lake and the hot water in the Hot Springs on Busuanga Island comes from cracks extending down to where pressure makes the ground really hot. On Barracuda Lake imagine a bowl of broth (the lake) sitting in a large pot (the ocean). The bowl of broth is rainwater for the first four meters. In rainy season (now) this fresh water is cool (26 to 28 degrees). In dry season this fresh water warms up from the hot salt water below it. The first layer of hot salt water starts at 4 meters and goes down to 13 meters. Its' temperature is about 33 degrees. The second layer is at 38 degrees. YOU HEAT UP ON THIS DIVE INSTEAD OF GETTING CHILLED. You can actually see fingers of REALLY HOT water coming out of cracks in the rock just like the swirls off of the bottom of a pot before it boils. The bowl (ring of mountains) that holds the broth has a V shaped crack down to within four meters above sea level at the place where we climb over the lip of the bowl. (Picture of climbing on the web page.) When you climb into the lake you go to the left side and swim in away from the ocean before you descend to the mouth of the cave. The cave heads back towards the ocean and the current in the cave changes direction with the tide. 30 meters is where we quit and turned around. No one has gone to the end. No one here is tech trained for Caving. I've been diving since 1973 after an 8 week YMCA class taken as a college PE. In my first 10 dives I made two cave dives and two nighttime cave dives in Vortex and Ginnie Springs in North Florida. I've made more than 4,000 dives. I know that untrained cavers can die. Everyone in the shop is a PADI Instructor and also a Wreck and Nitrox Instructor. We would like to map out a dive which starts in the ocean and winds up in the lake. YOU WON'T BELIEVE THE SCENERY IN THE LAKE (TREES POKING OUT OF THE ROCKY SIDES OF THE BOWL, OR THE ECHOES IT REVERBRATES! To do this we have to find the cave outlet in the ocean and then see if it can be penetrated from the ocean side. What we would like to do is to pop a dye marker in the cave in Barracuda Lake on falling tide and try to find where it outlets into the ocean on the outside of the bowl. We can supply a lot of divers to be on the outside, in the ocean, when the falling tide would bring the dye out into the ocean. Here are the write ups from the web pages for Barracuda Lake and the Cave in Barracuda Lake: BARRACUDA LAKE: "The craziest dive site in the Philippines." Location: North end of Coron Island. This spectacular dive starts with some challenging mountain climbing in full diving equipment over sharp limestone cliffs. We do wear tennis shoes or sandals and carry our fins strapped to our tank. We use 53 cubic foot tanks for this dive as they are more than 4 kilograms lighter than the usual aluminum 80. The climb only takes 10-15 minutes and the exertion is worth it. The scenery around the lake is spectacular and the under water terrain has been likened to flying over the surface of the moon. The top 4 meters is warm fresh water. Below 4 meters the water is salt. There are dynamic changes of water temperature in the lake with temperatures ranging from 28 to 38 Celsius. You can even see the thermoclines at 4 and 14 meters. At 34 to 35 meters the water changes from crystal clear to tea brown due to the tannic acid in the leaves that fell into the lake. After cooking and boiling, you will meet the "king of the lake." It is a barracuda approximately 1.5m long that likes to guide divers around his domain. It is a good chance for underwater photographers to get a close-up of the big barracuda. A dive that you should not miss! Max depth: 35 meters. Recommended certification level: Open Water Diver, Mountain Climbing Diver Specialty. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- The Cave in Barracuda Lake: A very deep and serious cave in Barracuda lake entered from Barracuda Lake at 33 meters depth which allows a penetration of 30+ meters. Location: North Wall of Barracuda Lake starting at 33 meters deep. The cave has been marked with a fixed line on the right side as you enter. The cave is just large enough to allow two divers to swim in and turn around. The silt and sediment on the bottom is packed and should remain down with reasonable care by the diver. This cave is dark and the sediment is dark and gives an eerie sensation. Proper equipment would be a light with backup and at least an octopus with a 7-foot hose or redundant alternate air source. The current in the cave tells you that it is connecting Barracuda Lake to the ocean. This is a dive that you should not miss if you are prepared. The combination of mild nitrogen narcosis at depth and the dark confined surroundings on this dive will tell you if you are claustrophobic for continued cave diving. Max depth: Please do not descend below 40 meters! Recommended certification level: If you limit your penetration to a maximum of 40 meters total distance from the surface (a 6 meter penetration) then Advanced Open Water Diver with Deep Diver Specialty and Cavern Diver Specialty is sufficient. If you wish to penetrate beyond 40 total meters from the surface then you should be Cave Diver trained and carry the necessary redundant equipment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ This is the write up for the much easier Cathederal Cave which is at the southeast tip of Coron Island. Cathederal Cave A cave under Coron Island, Palawan directly connected to the sea. Location: South end of Coron Island on the East side. Cathedral Cave is a beautiful dive spot. It starts 4 meters deep at a hole in the bottom of the sea next to the sheer rock wall of Coron Island. You enter a tunnel and descend to 6 meters. If you take the time to look, you see the antenna of juvenile lobsters waving from holes in the tunnel above and out from under the rocks below and cowry shells clinging to the ceiling of the tunnel. Then you pass out of the tunnel and see a shaft of daylight penetrates the interior of a cave. The roof of the cave has collapsed sending down a full sized tree. The skeletal trunk and main branches of the tree rest on top of the sand mound in the middle of the cave. You follow the light and surface inside a big underground cathedral. You pass over the sand dune and continue ahead and left to another passage that leads to a COMPLETELY DARK chamber with an air pocket above ocean level. Back through the tunnel into the open sea and you dive among beautiful corals with 20 to 30 meter visibility. A dive you should not miss! Maximum depth: 10 meters inside the cave. Recommended certification level: Advanced Open Water Diver, Cavern Diver Specialty. RECOMMENDED CERTIFICATION LEVEL FOR THE SECOND CAVE: Cave Diver! Treat this second smaller cave with great respect. You can go inside, silt it EASILY, and not be able to find your way out. Line off from the first cave and everyone have at least one light. Weather Advisory: Cathederal Cave MUST ONLY BE ATTEMPTED in calm weather with slight waves. It would be physically dangerous to attempt to enter the tunnel in the surge generated from large waves.
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