Swimming Towards the Bowel of the Earth

Caving is a very exciting sport. It also keeps you focused in any situation and you respect every potential danger. You wouldn’t also really know what is beyond the reach of your hand and your light. What if the rock that I was about to hold would harbor a tarantula? What if a python would be sleeping in a crevice near my face? What if I stepped on guano? And what if you have to swim towards the interior of the cave?

We call this one Calabidongan Cave in Camalig, Albay. The sounds of the great volumes of water rushing out of the cave’s mouth were already ominous and frightening. My guide, Bambi, said that we had had to feel our way through the water and swim if it gets too deep. Stalactites overhead were also within our reach that we can do a Tarzan-like swing holding on to stalactites when the water gets deep. Although excited, I was also weary of the sounds created by the water even in shallow portions. As we swim or even walk, the water was like deep bass instruments that sounded like “Dom! Dom!” (or was it Doom?). I kept thinking of tarantulas and flashfloods and the total darkness, and the water.

But after all the uneasiness, I got out of the cave very satisfied. In fact, I even brought some friends on three different occasions and they too, had great adventures