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Jamaican Caving Notes |
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Ewart Town Bat Cave February 6, 2010 |
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District: Ewart Town |
Parish: St Ann |
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WGS84 L/L: 18 22 49.3, 77 10 17.9 |
JAD2001: 731862 E, 692108 N |
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JAD69: 231751 E, 191819 N |
Altitude: 375m WGS84 |
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Accuracy: +/- 5m horizontal; +/- 25m vertical |
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Type: Dry passage |
Accessibility: Walk-in/Vertigear |
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Depth: 10m (?) |
Length: 30m+ |
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Explorers: Univ of Munich, 1995 |
Survey: Sketch map - Stewart, 2010 |
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JU Ref: pg 169 |
JU Map: N/A |
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Entrance size: 10m W, 5m H |
Entrance aspect: 85 |
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Vegetation in general locale: Scrub/farm |
Vegetation at entrance: Scrub |
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Geology: White limestone |
Bedding: Poor |
Jointing: Poor |
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Speleothems: Stals |
Palaeo resources: None seen |
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Archaeo resources: None seen |
Hydrology: Dry |
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Dark zone: 50%. |
Climate: 25 deg C, dry. |
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Bats: >500 |
Bat guano: Some |
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Guano mining: Occasional |
Guano condition: fresh/fluff |
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Visitation: Occasional |
Speleothem damage: None |
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Graffiti: (?) |
Trash: Some (fert bags) |
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Ownership: Private |
Protection: None |
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Vulnerability: Medium. |
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Ewart Town Bat Cave was visited on Feb 6, 2010, by Stewart, to serve as a replacement on NEPA's St Ann bat netting list for Rock Ramble Cave, which was determined earlier in the day to be the same site as McClean Cave. We are posting exact coordinates, but advise ratbat dung miners who may be interested in exploiting the cave that the guano is limited, and that it is on private property owned by someone who will not allow its extraction. So forget about it, and find a way to make a living instead that doesn't include the destruction of important bat roosts. The assessment of the site was somewhat limited due to the author of this report being on his own, with no back-up. Nevertheless, the cave was determined to hold a roost numbering in the high hundreds, possibly 1000+. Location of the site was by way of our standard technique, that is, getting as close as possible to the listed coordinates, and asking helpful people if they know of a cave in the area. I found someone very quickly who directed me to Claudette Palmer, the owner of the land where it is located. She hadn't been there in some time, and told me it was pretty bushed up, but was able to point me in the right direction and supply a few details. Machete in hand, I headed that way, and after about 20 minutes of searching came across a large entrance in a low hill. GPS coords were recorded, then a brief foray into the cave revealed a large dry passage extending inwards for about 30m with bats roosting in the dark section. I did not find the undescended pit mentioned in Jamaica Underground, but did not look very thoroughly. I also did not search for inverts - it is on the to-do list for a second visit when a proper assessment will take place.  |
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