Jamaican Caving Notes

Adam's Cave

April 6, 2005 - 15:00-16:00 EST

District: Elderslie

Parish: St Elizabeth

WGS84 L/L: 18 14 23.6; 77 47 28.5

JAD69: 166205 E, 176441 N

JAD2001: 666316 E, 676730 N

Altitude: 450m WGS84

Accuracy: +/- 10m horizontal; +/- 15m vertical

Type: Stream passage

Accessibility: Swim

Depth: 0m

Length: >200m

Explorers: JCC - 1976

Survey: JCC - 1976

JU Ref: Text - pg 76; Map - pg 76

Entrance size: 3m W x 3m H

Entrance aspect: 90 deg true

Vegetation in general locale: Farm

Vegetation at entrance: Farm

Rock type: Yellow - White Limestone junction

Bedding: Moderate

Jointing: Moderate

Speleothems: Stals, flowstone

Palaeo resources: None

Archaeo resources: None

Hydrology: Wet

Siltation: Moderate

Sink: N/A

Rising: Active

Stream passage with surface activity: Moderate flow

Stream passage without surface activity: N/A

Dark zone: >95%.

Climate: Cool, humid.

Bats: None

Bat guano: N/A

Guano mining: N/A

Guano condition: N/A

Eleutherodactylus cundalli: Undetermined

Neoditomyia farri: Undetermined

Amblypygids: Undetermined

Periplaneta americana: Undetermined

Cave crickets: Undetermined

Sesarma: Undetermined

Other species: Undetermined

Visitation: None

Speleothem damage: None

Graffiti: None

Garbage: None

Ownership: Private

Protection: None

Vulnerability: Medium. Siltation is occurring from cultivation in the catchment area.

Adam's Cave

April 6, 2005

Team: Stewart, Conolley, Roggy, Slack.

Notes: RS Stewart

Adam's Cave is a long active stream passage that is a tributary of the Maiden Valley River. It passes almost directly under Wondrous Cave, and the two caves can be considered as being separate parts of the same system, with the higher dry levels of Wondrous reflecting older development, now shifted down to Adam's. It is named after Adam Fincham, who explored it at the age of ten on a caving trip with his father, Alan Fincham.

It is developed in an isolated hill of White Limestone, in the transition area to Yellow Limestone below.

We weren't able to do much more than find and georeference the site, unfortunately. It had been slated for right after Wondrous, but problems encountered prevented us from devoting any time to it. The nature of these are explained in the notes for Wondrous  (by this point, Ivor was guarding the car from a very real threat of it being robbed, and he was alone). The other three of us tried to get Adam's Cave done, but we were concerned for Ivor's safety. Very direct threats, involving the bashing in of heads, etc, had been made. The JCO has a zero-casualty policy, and we weren't about to sacrifice Ivor for the sake of the cave.

I was able to calm things down afterwards, by again touching bases with the actual owner of the land, an older lady, so we have hopes of revisiting this site in the future. In particular, we want to know if it has any stygobites. Bats and trogs are unlikely, considering the amount of water, and the smallish passages, but we need to have a look to know for sure.