Crofts River Cave Two - Jamaica

Jamaican Caving Notes

Jamaican Caves Organisation

Crofts River Cave Two

August 15, 2010

District: Crofts River	Parish: Clarendon
WGS84 L/L: By request only	JAD2001: By request only
JAD69: By request only	Altitude: 470m WGS84
Accuracy: +/- 5m horizontal; +/- 10m vertical
Type: Complex river passage	Accessibility: Scramble
Depth: >30m	Length: >275m
Explorers: JCC, 1976; JCO, 2010	Survey: JCC (incomplete)
Vegetation in general locale: Scrub/farm	Vegetation at entrance: Scrub
Geology: White limestone	Bedding: Poor	Jointing: Poor
Speleothems: Stals, flowstone	Palaeo resources: None seen
Archaeo resources: None	Hydrology: Wet
Dark zone: >99%	Climate: ~22, Humid
Bats: ~1000	Bat guano: Some
Guano mining: None	Guano condition: Wet
Visitation: Rare	Speleothem damage: None
Graffiti: None	Trash: None
Ownership: Private	Protection: None
Vulnerability: High

Crofts River Cave One
August 15, 2010
Team: RS Stewart, J Pauel, Kingman, IC Conolley, A Hyde
Notes: RS Stewart

Video: Crofts River Caves (70 MB WMV)

The personnel for the visit were the same as Cave-1. The entrance had been found by Stewart in 2006, but not entered.

First, it must be noted that the map in Jamaica Underground (JCC 1976) is very inaccurate, as is the description, and there is much more to the cave than is indicated. A mapping survey of the site is high on the JCO to-do list.

The entrance consists of a south facing collapse pit, with a scramble down over boulders leading to two routes further into the cave. Kingman and Stewart took the eastern branch, and the others went west. We met up again lower down, after Kingman and Stewart had gone through a complex series of small chambers on the east, in a lower river passage that had standing water during the time of our visit. This was followed, and beyond about 50 metres, a couple of small passages on the east side fed water into the main collector; we were then in flowing water.

After a couple of hundred metres, the passage opens up into a chamber where there is a bat roost of moderate size (apx 1000). It then narrows again somewhat, and starts to descend in a series of steps. There was a good flow of water down this. At the bottom, it levelled out again, but because time was growing short, and there had been storms outside when we entered, we decided to stop there (flood risk). Adam Hyde went somewhat further than the rest of us, and reported that the passage seemed to continue.

Cave-2, with regard to the bat inventory, has higher priority than Cave-1. The roost seemed to be mixed-species, and is entirely in the dark zone. Catch and release can take place with a mist net just outside the entrance collapse.

The invertebrate inventory was neglected by Stewart due to the exploratory nature of the visit, and is also on the to-do list.

N.B: Caution. The water in the cave seems to be very polluted with bacteria. Stewart had several small cuts on his right foot and leg that subsequently became badly infected, and needed two courses of antibiotics to clear up. This caused him to lose ten days of fieldwork afterward in the session.

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