Blue holes - how many and where?

maytag · Oct 16, 2006

Hi all,

Would anyone happen to know where I might be able to find a list of all known blue holes in the world, and where they are located (if not evident in the name of the hole)?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts! Cheers,
Maytag

maytag · Oct 18, 2006

Hmm... a bit more Googling accomplished, it appears there's a bit of inconsistency in the application of the term, "Blue Hole." However, I found a few sites that suggest there are but 3 known blue holes in the world (Dahab and the one in Belize being two... there are multiple in the Bahamas, including Dean's Blue Hole... so I'm not really sure what makes a blue hole a Blue Hole). In addition, Malta, Palau, and even New Mexico claim blue holes.

I did a search on Scuba Board and came across a number of interesting reports on diving the Dahab and Belizean Blue Holes. Seems many think the Belizean Blue Hole is a marketing-made marvel. As for Dahab... I am interested in cave diving and diving the arch sounds really neat. However, someone posted a video of the dive and while I didn't wait to download the thing, another post-er pointed out how creepy the whole thing was with the dead bodies on the bottom.

I don't think I would be too good with dead bodies at depth...

If I dive a blue hole, I think I will aim to take Will's course at Dean's Blue Hole...

That said, I am still curious about the Blue Hole thing. Rob Palmer wrote a "classic" titled, Deep into Blue Holes. However, it's a bit of a rarity (hardcovers are going for $200+ USD), and I can't find it in any of the libraries near me. Has anyone read this book? Steffi Schwabe et al. did write sort of a taxonomic paper but my curiosity is not yet sated.

Anyway, sorry to ramble. Best cheers to all! Regards, Blue Maytag

island_sands · Oct 18, 2006

Great ramble. Will did a whole thread on Dean's Blue Hole.

You have me interested now, what other names do they give "blue holes"?

eckaflx · Oct 18, 2006

I've seen some beautiful pictures recently of a blue hole in Palau called 'Virgin Blue Hole'. Not massive but very pretty.
For those who don't know, a blue hole is just an underwater cavern where the roof has collapsed in. So anywhere where there is a Limestone sea bed there is the potential for blue holes.
I live near the Peak District in Sheffield, UK where there are heaps of cave systems because of the limestone hills. I've belayed into a couple of land-based 'blue holes' and they are rather magnificent! I'd LOVE to dive an undersea one.
I reckon there must be thousands of them around the globe.

eckaflx · Oct 18, 2006

Just done a quick google and found this awsome image of Belize's blue hole.

eckaflx · Oct 18, 2006

island_sands said:
what other names do they give "blue holes"?

They are sometimes known as 'sinkholes' although I'm not sure if that just applies to ones found on land.

lizardland · Oct 19, 2006

I've seen some beautiful pictures recently of a blue hole in Palau called 'Virgin Blue Hole'. Not massive but very pretty.
For those who don't know, a blue hole is just an underwater cavern where the roof has collapsed in. So anywhere where there is a Limestone sea bed there is the potential for blue holes.
I live near the Peak District in Sheffield, UK where there are heaps of cave systems because of the limestone hills. I've belayed into a couple of land-based 'blue holes' and they are rather magnificent! I'd LOVE to dive an undersea one.
I reckon there must be thousands of them around the globe.

I'm a member of the Derbyshire Cave Diving Group, though generally i dive in the caves of Yorkshire which are bigger and longer. In the UK we don't really have blue holes like they do in other parts of the world, though there are green holes off the west coast of Ireland. In the UK visibility tends to be poor, <3m and the water muddy. In places like France there are hundreds of flooded caves with the name of blue hole, blue spring, blue cave, etc. because the water is so clear it is bright blue.

You're right, there are thousands around the world. The Yucatan in Mexico as hundreds of km of passages, the entrances there are called cenotes (sacred water in Mayan).

Cheers,

Stuart

Typical of French conditions:

AltSaint · Oct 19, 2006

Actually, Rob Palmer wrote a couple of books about Blue Holes - I have the one maytag mentioned ( Didn't realise it was worth $200 though! ), plus 'The Blue Holes of The Bahamas'.

The Bahamian Blue Holes are fascinating - some are offshore, some inland, and sometimes the two are linked. I used to visit them quite a lot in my boyhood ( used to live on Grand Bahama ). A school friend lost his father in one at Hawksbill Creek whilst out spearing lobster. One or two of the Bahamian Blue Holes still have dead bodies in them - mostly divers, although the Arawaks used to use them as burial sites as well.

Topographically, I believe the Dahab blue hole is somewhat different - the blue holes / cenotes in FLorida / Mexico / Bahamas are limestone caverns whose rooves have collapsed after sea levels have risen and fallen.

maytag · Oct 19, 2006

Hi All,

Thanks so much for your interesting and informative replies!

To confirm, cenotes are the same things as Blue Holes? I saw the most amazing pictures of Chac Mool (sp?) - it's what got me so interested in cave diving in the first place. The water was so clear, the diver in the picture looked like he was suspended in air. I'll look further into the differentiation between cenotes and spring/cave systems and Blue Holes. Then, I saw some awesome videos of the Ginnie Springs system in FL (socaltecdivers dot com) and of course, got sucked into the GUE site...

AltSaint, yes - do hold on to your Palmer book - especially if it's hardback. It is "extremely scarce."

Here is a really wild urban legend about the NM Blue Hole: http://www.divester.com/2006/10/10/divers-body-suggests-underground-passageway-connecting-new-mexic/

Anyway, thanks again for sharing your thoughts. Cheers and to all,
maytag

eckaflx · Oct 19, 2006

maytag said:
To confirm, cenotes are the same things as Blue Holes?

I think Cenotes are flooded sinkholes where the opening is at ground level, whereas blue holes can be at ground level or submerged below sea level.
The attached picture demonstrates the different stages of the formation of a Cenote......

eckaflx · Oct 19, 2006

lizardland said:
I'm a member of the Derbyshire Cave Diving Group, though generally i dive in the caves of Yorkshire which are bigger and longer.

No way! I'd love to work up to diving some of our local cave systems.
Do you live near Sheffield then? Have you been diving down Peak Cavern? Just that someone mentioned it was being dived quite heavily at the moment......
Does the Derbyshire Cave Diving Group run courses in cavern/cave diving?
Sorry to bombard you with questions, but I've never met a local cave diver before!
Cheers,
Ed

lizardland · Oct 20, 2006

o confirm, cenotes are the same things as Blue Holes? I saw the most amazing pictures of Chac Mool (sp?) - it's what got me so interested in cave diving in the first place. The water was so clear, the diver in the picture looked like he was suspended in air.

I don't think "blue hole" is really a geological term but just a descriptive term so you probably won't pin down a definitive explanation.

I dived Chac Mool a few years ago as well as a few other Mexican systems. It was absolutely amazing. The water really is as clear as air and you get really weird visual effects. You get a layer of salt water forming in the caves (which are fresh water) and if you don't disturb it then it looks like a mirror. If someone swims through it then it looks like they disappear. On the other side it is so weird to see someone coming out the other side from nowhere. The clarity of the water really plays games with your head, you forget you are underwater. It's only when you exhale and see bubbles that you remember.

Here is a really wild urban legend about the NM Blue Hole: http://www.divester.com/2006/10/10/d...ing-new-mexic/

There is a grain of truth to the legend. It actually led to the discovery that there could be rivers underwater. In the 1800's in France a little girl fell into a deep pool in the Jura mountains. Her body was never found. Six months later it turned up in a spring a few km away in the Source du Lison. That's when geologists realised that there was a river running underground between the two sites.

eckaflx said:
No way! I'd love to work up to diving some of our local cave systems.
Do you live near Sheffield then? Have you been diving down Peak Cavern? Just that someone mentioned it was being dived quite heavily at the moment......

I live in Manchester (I go freediving in Dorothea Quarry in Wales now and again). I know a few of the guys who have been doing the diving in Peak Cavern but I tend to dive in the Yorkshire Dales.

Does the Derbyshire Cave Diving Group run courses in cavern/cave diving?
Sorry to bombard you with questions, but I've never met a local cave diver before!

The CDG don't really do formal courses. Usually what happens when you join is that a few of the more experienced divers will train you slowly and quite informally.

Alternatively, you can pay to do a course with an instructor. I trained with these guys: www.aquaspeleo.com

There are a few instructors in the UK but only one of them, Martyn Farr www.farrworld.co.uk, actually trains in British caves. All the others train abroad, usually France or Florida. Martyn is a really nice guy, he wrote [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Darkness-Beckons-History-Development-Yourself/dp/0906371872/sr=8-2/qid=1161298811/ref=sr_1_2/202-6331537-0985425?ie=UTF8&s=books"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Darkness-Beckons-History-Development-Yourself/dp/0906371872/sr=8-2/qid=1161298811/ref=sr_1_2/202-6331537-0985425?ie=UTF8&s=books[/ame] which is a brilliant book on cave diving history.

Cheers,

Stuart

fcallagy · Oct 20, 2006

Hi Lizardland,
Regarding the green holes in Ireland, I herad of Martyn Farr exploring some in the west in counties Galways Mayo and Clare I think, are these the same green holes or do you know of others and if so where ?
Cheers for any info you may have.

Regards Feargus.

lizardland · Oct 29, 2006

Hi Feargus,

I was thinking of the Green Holes of Doolin Bay. Most of them have their entrances beneath the sea, similar to the Bahamas Blue Holes. I'm hoping to dive there in the next couple of months.

Cheers,

Stuart

surfinsd · Nov 19, 2006

The cenotes in the Yucatan were actually formed by an incredibly large meteor (I think the dinosaur killer?). There was a fantastic National Geographic program on it a while back.

mortenkv · Nov 26, 2008

Really interesting thread. Sorry to dig it up...

But Im curious about Blue Holes Suitable for Freediving (descent depth and possible to use a rope). As far as I see we are only talking about These Blue Holes?

Dahab
Dean
Belize

Or have I missed some? (I hope so...

Thanks,
Morten

jay cluskey · Nov 26, 2008

the holes on the yucatan have recently been explored by a team of cave divers
many are linked together

there is a round part of the yucatan peninsular which scientists belive is the site where the meteor struck and killed off the dinosaurs and started the last big ice age
ive seen many documentaries about this too

cdavis · Nov 28, 2008

There are quite a number of blue holes in and around Andros, Bahamas with enough depth and low enough current to be great for freediving. A book has been written about them, Blue Holes of Andros, or something like that. There is a big one in the north end of the Berry Islands, Bahamas that would work. I've shot snapper in that one, but the vis was not good enough for me to want to go deep with no line. It's deep, but not sure how much. Long Island, Bahamas has a number of blue holes besides Dean's but all the ones I know of are not deep enough straight down for freediving real depth. There is a beauty in the Exumas whose location shall remain secret, but it has a lot of current.

Connor

mortenkv · Nov 28, 2008

Sounds cool with all these Blue holes around Bahamas... But I understand that they (ofcourse) are somewhat shadowed out by Deans Blue Hole

So its:

Dahab
Belize
Deans
+ some others (shallower) at Bahamas (Andros).

Yucatan holes suitable for vertical freediving?

Thanks,
Morten

jay cluskey · Nov 28, 2008

there was one on tv last night called the black hole in the bahamas it is undivable though as it has a layer of sulphur hydroxide at 18m and gets hotter as you get deeper .
they said it gave a snapshot of what the oceans were like 3 billion years ago it also showed a burial ground of a tribe from south america who explored the bahamas who were all capable freedivers cool show oceans it was called

Blue holes - how many and where?

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