Saturday February 7 — Tiki Tour and Zimovia were also in the anchorage. Diane from Tiki organized a family outing to Dean’s Blue Hole. Diane arranged for us to rent minivans. The people renting out the vehicles met the group at Tiny’s to collect the money and hand over the keys. Tiki and Zimovia shared a minivan, and Kosmos shared one with Blue Heeler.

Kosmos and Blue Heeler took full advantage of the vehicle to do some shopping and sightseeing. The first stop was a farmer’s market, which was not far from the anchorage by car, but too far to walk. The market wasn’t all that big, with a small selection of produce, eggs, and some artisan goods. Eric wasn’t sure if it was normally small or if they’d just come too late and the majority of goods were already sold.

Next was the Hamilton Cave Tour, which was a privately owned limestone cave in Clarencetown. The owner had a small storefront on the road. Eric called a number listed on No Foreign Land, and thankfully the owner said there was a tour starting in a few minutes. They went to the store, then followed the owner about 1/4 mile or so to his property (which would have been hard to find on their own). There was a fee for the tour, but Eric couldn’t remember what it cost. They joined some other tourists, and the group went down a staircase to the mouth of the cave.

Each person was given a flashlight. The entrance to the cave was dark but, not pitch black because farther in the ahead there were overhead openings that let light in. This little video was taken near the entrance, where he pointed out the stalagmite and stalactite formations.

This was a side cavern near the entrance that they didn’t enter into.

Moving forward through the cave.

The first overhead openings were about 1/3 of the way through the cave.

The owner/tour guide said he was the second generation in his family to own the property with the cave.

The guide said that the cave had been used by the locals for a long time as a hurricane shelter and storage area.

After stopping at the lit area, they continued on deeper into the cave.

The stalagmite and stalactite formations were bigger and more unique.

About another 1/3 of the way through was another set of openings in the cave that allowed light in. Bats lived in the holes in the ceiling.

There was a small natural spring where water bubbled up.

The guide had said that some geologists had come and done some excavating.

After stopping at the illuminated spot, they ventured even further into the cave.

If you look closely, you can see there are a lot of bats in this hole in the ceiling.

These little frogs lived in the cave.

End of the cave.

A couple shots of the cave on the way back out, which looked different in a lot of ways than it had on the way in.

Eric and Keith found the cave tour very interesting, though sadly, they didn’t remember many of the details given on the tour.

After they left the cave, the next stop on the itinerary was… to be continued…