It was about 530 am when we arrived at the airport in Chicago to catch a direct flight to San Juan Puerto Rico for what turned out to be one of the most intense adventures of my life!  I was thinking about how amazing this trip was going to be as we are going to go to some world class caves, an Island off of Puerto Rico, a cloud forest in the el yunque, and an attempt to summit some amazing waterfall river canyon systems deep in the south district of the El Yunque. What a way to kick off this 10 day than to start with one of the best caves I have ever heard about on the very next day, Cueva Zumbo!

Canyon Passage Queva Zumbo

We get to San Juan, get the rental car, head to the grocery store to get supplies, and make our way over to pipos house in Florida Puerto Rico. We came to a closed road continuing down into the jungle surrounded by mogote mountains and thick vegetation, so I got out of my car and I heard Pipo calling my name in the backround. Carlos contacted him before I showed up and After talking with pipo an Carlos over the phone, I was surprised to hear that he is willing to allow us to stay in his backyard instead of us having to drive into the jungle on the broken up mossy road at night. Pipo and his family offered us drinks and full immersion into puerto rician culture which included my half ass Spanish speaking ability, a biased Spanish translation book, and hand signs. We got lost in translations a few times like subtitles in a late night bravo movie special, but we were able to understand each other about 80-85 percent of the time which worked out fine  given some people that speak perfect English, I understand a lot less.  Pipo has inspired me to learn Spanish that much more, so now when I come back next year I can make sure we can have a conversation and I should know Spanish if I am going to be coming to any destination south of the United States. 

I got over it and spared the it from becoming a chicken dinner as Carlos shows up to greet us and get ready for Zumbo.  It has been a year since I saw Carlos so it was good to see him and finally catch up on projects he is working on along with some amazing things he has been doing to help Puerto Rico.  Jeff, Julie, and Flora showed up shortly after so we jumped into Bro's car (Carlos) and headed for the trailhead to Zumbo.  We passed a few caves along with way to Zumbo but after about a mile on this road we parked our cars and headed out for an hour hike through the jungle to the 80ft drop into Zumbo.  We made it to the entrance drop and it looked more like a climb down with difficultly but we had the gear and it was a pit so we set up a rope to rap down. We all make it down and we could hear the water roaring through the passage below us.  "We are finally here"!!

Its been a long time in the making to get to Zumbo but here we are.  We proceed to drop down the breakdown pile avoiding the expedition rope as it had core shots and appeared to suffer from a lot of abuse. As we entered the cave passage, Immediately we noticed the terrain, Jeff's wife Katrina likes to describe it as Dr. Susse land and I have to agree with her.  The rock in this cave is sculpted and scalloped in a way I have never ever seen anywhere on this planet.  Not even in pictures.

Water cut rock Cueva Zumbo

The water has carved a passage that left talons of perfectly sculpted rock to climb over and swim around.  The water dug semi circular contours deep within the rock have created a geological mix between Arizona's antelope slot canyon and a water park equipped with warm conditions and waterfalls encapsulated in a decorated water cave full of active flowstone and formations. The passages had more dynamic and definition than any passage I have ever been through in Utah's slot canyons or in any cave system.   

 The water itself has about 10 ft of viz and a blue tint to it, the temp of the water is around 72-75 degrees, the air is around 75 and humid, it was a cavers delight!!

Cave passage coming into canyon passage in Cueva Zumbo

Continuing down the canyon walls became more dynamic where we had to climb up multiple levels to be able to continue into the cave.

Julie in the mid level Section of Queva Zumbo

So now we are in the middle and on top of these massive fluted stone structures with raging water below us cutting circular vortexes in the rock creating more of this structure. 

Looking under my feet in Cueva Zumbo

Looking below me in Cueva Zumbo

Its difficult to explain how this cave looks so I hope these pictures can grasp just a little but of what this place really looks like.

After crossing some shady ropes and exposed climbs, we made it to the sump section where its more of a long duck under than a sump.

Expedition traverse line in Cueva Zumbo

 I peeked my head through the sump and the cave continues on to Cueva Esclara I know where I am going next year!!