Guilty pleasures - visiting showcaves when abroad....

[Pegasus]

We went on a lovely holiday to Kefalonia, Greece earlier this year. Couldn't help but visit two of the showcaves: Drogarati and Melissani.

Drogarati showcased a lot of broken stal once you'd fought your way past the tourist buses and tat shops...

Entrance - reminded me in a smaller way of Carlsbad

Being underground make you happy 😁

That's pretty much it - in, round, out....

However Melissani, despite hoards of tourists (and yes we were tourists too) was rather beautiful. A queue down a tunnel to a boat, a 20min trip round with a guide rattling off lots of info then back.

The view up from the boat

Mist rising

Our guide and oarsman

A rubbish photo of a large eel.

Where have you visited??

 

[Blueberry]

Visited the caves of Nerja, Spain. Outstanding show cave. Discovered around 1950’s by students bunking off lessons. Contains the largest stalagmite in the world. Downloadable audio guide.

Inicio - Cueva de Nerja

Tu entrada online a mejor precio y evita colas Comprar entradas UNA EXPERIENCIA DIFERENTE Descubre con nosotros la cueva de nerja La Cueva de Nerja: una de las cuevas más espectaculares de España. Declarada Bien de Interés Cultural en 2006, maravilla natural donde siempre volver. Descubre la...

www.cuevadenerja.es

 

[FabianE]

I can highly recommend the "Cueva del Viento" (cave of winds) in northern Tenerife.
Some very interesting examples of volcanic lava tubes. The guides were incredibly knowledge and took into account our hobby (caving) and adapted the trip to us being a lot more in depth with geology than you'd expect an on your standard trip.

Home - La Cueva del Viento

cuevadelviento.net

 

[andybrooks]

Some nautical adventures abroad:
Tubing in Caves Branch, Belize
Barton Creek Cave, Belize
St Paul's Underground River, Philippines

 

[wildsurf]

Some nautical adventures abroad:
Tubing in Caves Branch, Belize
Barton Creek Cave, Belize
St Paul's Underground River, Philippines

St Pauls is good. I was lucky enough to get on an extended tour there where we did almost the full navigable length. Lovely walk back through the rain forest as well. Only issue I had was I picked up the wrong rucksack and carried a bag full of nappies and baby milk instead of water and snacks for me 😂

 

[A_Northerner]

Personal recommendation for the famous Gouffre de Padirac in The Lot in France. Plenty of others in the Dordogne as well (Grotte de Villars). Grotte de Choranche in Vercors is excellent too. If you get in there early you can fit a proper trip into the Gournier afterwards.

 

[mikem]

Milodon cave in Patagonia (although only if you're passing! 😉)

 

[cap n chris]

Pretty sure cavers don't actually visit showcaves. It cost more than a pound. Per person.

 

[mrodoc]

My French is not that good but there was always an 'oxide de fer' moment in any guides talk in any cave we visited - you could tell when it was going to happen as it was invariably by some brightly coloured stal.

 

[mrodoc]

One entertaining trip was blackwater tubing in New Zealand, one of the highlights being a drift down a lowish tube the roof of which was covered in glow worms.

 

[Pitlamp]

Pretty sure cavers don't actually visit showcaves. It cost more than a pound. Per person.

Quite a lot of folk become cavers following a visit to a show cave.

 

[mrodoc]

Just after I started caving my late aunt gave me a copy of National Geographic that had a feature on US caving (this was 1966). There was spectacular photograph of the butterfly formation in the Caverns of Sonora. I never imagined I would visit them but lo and behold I did at the International Congress in 2009. It was really disappointing to see that a tourist had snapped off one of the wings. The photo shows that there wasn't one butterfly, but the one vandalised was the largest, most symmetrical and best.

 

[afraidofthedank]

One entertaining trip was blackwater tubing in New Zealand, one of the highlights being a drift down a lowish tube the roof of which was covered in glow worms.

Would that be Waitomo? I think we did a similar thing. I also found a local guide who had kit for hire to take us on a through trip in one of the easier routes round there (my wife isn’t a caver) which was excellent fun. New Zealand seems like an absolute goldmine for cavers.

 

[AlanClark]

Cueva de los Verdes on Lanzarote is with a visit, another example of a lava tube passage.

 

[cap n chris]

Cueva de los Verdes on Lanzarote is with a visit, another example of a lava tube passage.View attachment 14402

Jesus Soto did a lot of the lighting design there and it's a fabulous example of how to illuminate a cave unobtrusively; the Cave of Wonders in Spain is also a great example in that regard. In Lanzarote CdlV does have a litany of H&S issues but generally it's a good visitor experience. I like the narrative soundscape (especially the hellish voices at the start and the "fake echoes" later on).

 

[cap n chris]

Jesus Soto did a lot of the lighting design there and it's a fabulous example of how to illuminate a cave unobtrusively; the Cave of Wonders in Spain is also a great example in that regard. In Lanzarote CdlV does have a litany of H&S issues but generally it's a good visitor experience. I like the narrative soundscape (especially the hellish voices at the start and the "fake echoes" later on).

Cave of Wonders footage here, for those who are interested:

And if you've never been there you absolutely have to visit Slovenia. There are many showcaves there, all awesome. Postonja has a fabulous teaser video:

 

[paul]

Cave of Wonders footage here, for those who are interested:

And if you've never been there you absolutely have to visit Slovenia. There are many showcaves there, all awesome. Postonja has a fabulous teaser video:

Yes, Postonja is amazing. Even the section riding on the "train" to get to the start of the showcave is better than most showcaves. And members of caving clubs get a discount on the entrance fee.

 

[Mrs Trellis]

We visited Koutouki Cave near Paiania/Peania (birthplace of Sokrates) in Attiki in the 1960's - our only problem was finding an Athenian taxi driver who knew where it was.
We've also done an "eco" trip in Harrison's Cave, Barbados, Drogarati & Melissani in Kefalonia, Petralona in Halkidiki, Dhirou in the Mani, Cueva de los Verdes and Jameos del Agua in Lanzarote, Caves of Ham & Drach Mallorca, Green Grotto & Roaring River Cave Jamaica, and many Cenotes in Mexico including a "wild" one involving diving a short sump - and also Dos Ojos which links to the huge Ox Bel Ha system and the nearby Aktun-Chen show cave.

Here's Koutouki/Paiania as most won't have heard of it:-

and Harrison's Barbados Eco trip

 

[Whale]

Yes, Postonja is amazing. Even the section riding on the "train" to get to the start of the showcave is better than most showcaves. And members of caving clubs get a discount on the entrance fee.

Totally agree - Postojna IS amazing - it was still Yugoslavia when we visited ...

 

[andybrooks]

Not too far from Postojna is Skocjan Jama. And, in Trieste, Grotta Gigante which contains a remarkable dual-pendulum tilt-meter.