Bahamas Blue Holes Are A Unique Experience for Divers

Our first experience with Bahamas Blue Holes was on Long Island, Bahamas in 2006. We went looking for land and our realtor, (Charlie is truly wonderful help to those who want to own a piece of heaven), who showed us around threw a bunch of fins, masks, and snorkels into his car and took us to Dean's Blue Hole for some fun before we looked at property.

When I saw this beautiful crescent beach called Turtle Cove and the gin clear water over a shallow sandy bottom I knew I was going in. As my eyes drank in the scene before me, I realized the clear water abruptly gave way to a deeper blue area below the cliffs that separate Turtle Cove from the open ocean. There was an almost perfect circle of sparkling cerulean blue. This was the world's deepest blue hole, 663 feet deep (over 202 meters) and 250 feet in diameter (over 76 meters).

We donned our gear and swam out over the abyss... and WOW! I was looking down into a bottomless pit of beautiful, clear blue water. I felt like I was swimming and floating through outer space.



Our friend, William Trubridge is a world record holder in freediving in the catagory of constant weight no fins (the purest form of freediving involving a completely unassisted descent and ascent). Dean's Blue Hole is his training ground. William makes history every year at the annual Freediving Competition held there. We were there in 2007 to witness his incredible 83 meter (over 272 feet) record breaking dive. His most recent record is 86 meters, but he is literally taking this sport further and further every day.



Here is William doing his thing...



To Find Out More About William Trubridge, Visit His Site, Vertical Blue, By Clicking Here or The Photo Above

All of the Bahamas Islands have blue holes. Andros has the most with 178 on land, and at least 50 in the sea. The most well known blue holes are in the Abacos, Andros, Long Island, and Cat Island. They can be landlocked or found in the seafloor. Here is a landlocked blue hole in Andros.



There is much myth and folklore that surrounds these Bahamas Blue Holes. The most popular is the legend of the Lusca, half squid and half shark, that lives in the blue holes and will suck a person, or even a boat, down to certain death in the watery depths. This legend is based on the tendency for a blue hole to "suck" or "blow," which is actually the natural action of the tidal currents. Also, Bahamians on some islands would throw dead animals into the holes and because these animals never surfaced or washed back up on shore, they assumed the Lusca ate them. However, the animals probably were sucked into the tunnels by the tides.

Is this a Bahamas Blue Hole? No! It is a boat ramp carved from the limestone. It looks cool though, doesn't it? Always be on the lookout for blue holes when you visit the Bahamas. You never know for sure what you'll find!

Native Lucayan used to worship blue holes. They cared for them, but today many blue holes are being used as trash dumps. In Andros, cave divers discovered a cave system that had long been used as the town sewer. These diver required antibiotics to fight septicaemia, which they contracted within 24 hours of the dive. Even one of the most famous blue holes, Stargate on Andros, is not immune to this threat.

In 1998, the vegetation surrounding Stargate was bulldozed and the refuse shoved into the cave system. The entrance to Stargate was so beautiful before this incident, it had been called by divers, "the entrance of a thousand lights." The incident resulted in emergency action by the Blue Hole Foundation and an international ban on diving there. We don't want to lose these natural wonders that have been here since the ice ages.