The Geocache of the Week isn’t always a geocache with tons of finds or Favorite Points—sometimes it’s a cache that’s designed to inspire your next adventure. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, summer is here and visiting a tropical location sounds quite nice. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, you’re in the midst of winter and finding a geocache in a place like the Bahamas probably sounds pretty awesome right about now. At this geocache, you’ll not only see a beautiful location, you’ll also see something you can’t see anywhere else: Dean’s Blue Hole, the deepest salt-water blue hole in the world at 663 ft (200m).
What geocachers have to say:
“Wow! What an amazingly beautiful place. Before I found this cache, I jumped into Dean’s Blue Hole from on top! Surreal! TFTC! :)” – monkey_travels
“Gorgous view! That spot needs a cache! Perfect for snorkeling! Loved it!” – Bobby738
“Awesome place! First time here and won’t be the last! Thanks for the cache!” – rglenn13
My parents live in a little house nearby and we walk down to the Blue Hole just about every day for a snorkel while visiting them. Initially we (husband Jeff and I) wanted to put a cache at the BOTTOM of the hole, 662 feet down, in hopes of it being the longest running undiscovered cache. But we were afraid of the very real possibility that someone might get hurt searching for it and we knew we’d never be able to maintain it at that depth! The name, Deep Blue Something, seemed appropriate and is a nod to a 90s band that was popular in our college days.
We’ve had some great times snorkeling and exploring around Dean’s Blue Hole. I’ve seen Hawksbill sea turtles, upside-down jellyfish and nudibranchs that I included in my obscure animal ABC, P is for Pangolin. There’s a tiny territorial damsel fish that will attack if you swim near his rock at the edge of the cove. Once my husband spotted an adorable baby octopus living in a glass bottle. Swimming across the Blue Hole is a bit eerie. Gazing down into the depths, it is easy to let your imagination run wild, creating fantastic sea monsters, sunken treasure and ghostly forms between shafts of sunlight in the deep blue. Sometimes we visit at night to scare ourselves silly, once we even tied dive lights to a rope and lowered it into the hole to see if we could attract any interesting creatures.
I was surprised that it took over a year for Deep Blue Something to be found! It has been so much fun to read everyone’s logs of adventures at the hole and I love seeing their photos. The location attracts an international crowd. It is a bit of a mecca for the world’s freediving community. The still water and incredible depth make it the perfect place to test human endurance and set world records. I’m a bit surprised that Deep Blue Something is still the only traditional cache on Long Island.
To the Geocaching Community: The place does have a history of tragedies, so swimmers should be cautious and inexperienced swimmers should stick to the shallow parts of the cove. Consider making your visit a CITO visit. Like most islands, Long Island is plagued by plastic rubbish that washes ashore. Locals can point you to the island’s dump which makes an interesting visit in its own right! A note to spearfishers, please target lionfish! This invasive species eats anything that fits in its mouth and is very detrimental to the local ecology. They’re delicious, just watch a YouTube video on safe handling.
Photos:
From above. Photo by geocacher Bobby738The blue hole from the beach. Photo by geocacher wiggerl der BayerAnd then it just drops off… Photo by geocacher Bobby738
What’s the most beautiful place geocaching has ever taken you? Post your photos in the comments.
Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog. If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, just fill out this form. Thanks!
