One of the more fascinating spots in Vava’u is Mariner’s cave.
Tucked into the side of Nuapapu Island, the entrance is a big black hole a couple of metres below the surface of the water (depending on the tide). From there you swim down a short passage and surface in an air pocket inside an incredible cave. The unusual thing about this cave is that when the sea swell comes in it fogs up completely, only to clear a few seconds later when the swell goes out.
The legend behind it is very Romeo and Juliette. It involves a young Tongan chief who fell in love with a princess from a rival village. He hid her in the cave, bringing food to her every day, until it was safe for the pair of them to leave and marry. Once inside the cave, you can see the ledge where she was supposed to have sat.
Under the right conditions a trip to the cave is a quick and easy snorkel but it is a bit of a leap of faith diving in there. You can’t see any light in the tunnel when you take the plunge so, if you haven’t done it before, it feels like you are diving into a deep, dark pit, trusting that there will be something at the end of it before you run out of air.
We and fellow members of the Stragglers’ Club (Phil and Helen from Dolce Vita) decided to take a ‘road trip’ in Wildflower to explore some of Vava’us islands – including the stunning Swallows Cave – which doesn’t actually have any swallows in it – (the birds nesting in there are of a different sort entirely) and Mariner’s Cave.
It took us ages to find the entrance, which is marked by a tiny stripe of green paint on the side of the island. It didn’t help that it was high tide and the water pretty much covered said mark. In the end Phil had to do a drive by in the dinghy, towing Paddy along in his snorkel gear to see if he could spot it under water.
High tide also meant that it was a trickier dive, with the entrance about four metres below the surface. Paddy – who had done it before – went in first and I have to admit it was rather unnerving watching him disappear below the surface and not reappear for quite some time. Afterwards he told me that he went in without enough breath to turn around and come back because he knew the air pocket would be there (good thing he didn’t tell me that until after we got back!)
I tried to snorkel down and made it to the cave entrance before completely chickening out. The thought of diving into a black abyss on only one breath was just too unnerving. I was quite disappointed because I really wanted to do it, so Paddy suggested I use the baby scuba bottle we have on board to breathe. He said he had found it hard snorkelling and wouldn’t recommend it at high tide to someone who hadn’t done it before, so that didn’t make me feel so bad.
Just then a chap from one of the other boats lurking around showed up with a full on scuba rebreather set up and offered to take me down with him. Unfortunately this did not quite go to plan.
He had a weight belt on and was descending feet first while I had to swim down head first. Since I float like a cork all I managed to achieve was to ungracefully flail about and pull him back up, so we had to give up on that idea.
I was starting to get a teensy bit despondent by this time and asked Paddy to get the pony bottle (the baby scuba one) from the boat. He kindly offered to go down with me, with both of us breathing from the bottle, but I still couldn’t get down without pulling him up first. It must have looked hillarious to anyone watching! At this point I was getting quite frustrated and a little upset, but I bloody well wasn’t going to leave until I’d seen the inside of that sodding cave. I did think about giving up and going back to the boat but knew I’d be really brassed off at myself if I didn’t at least give it a decent try. I decided the only way it would work would be if I got down at my own pace, and the only way for that to happen was to do it by myself.
So I grabbed the pony bottle and went down. The first attempt didn’t go so well. I got down to the entrance of the cave and chickened out again. I was livid. But if I am anything, it is pig-headed and stubborn, so I hurled myself back down and this time I got to the entrance and kept on going, swimming into the dark. It was freaky. One of my biggest worries was that I would be unable to sink any further and would crack my head on the rocks above me. That was accompianied by an irrational fear of running out of air when I knew there was heaps in the tank.
Then my eyes accustomed to the dark. Things started getting lighter and I could make out the surface of the water in the cave. It was the most beautiful sight in the world. I surfaced and took a deep breath of fabulous, marvellous air. Once I’d had my fill I looked around – the cave was beautiful. It was light and airy and had amazing staligtites and you could see the ledge where the mythical princess waited. Once inside you can clearly see the way out with the light shining through the water giving it a beautiful blue glow.
The swell wasn’t very big so it didn’t fog up completely. Instead it went dark and then immediately lightened, just as though night and day had been sped up. I could have stayed in there for ages but I thought Paddy might worry since I was a teensy bit flustered when I went down the last time, so I swam towards the beautiful blue light.
Paddy said he secretly didn’t hold out much hope of me getting down under those conditions and that he felt really proud of me when he saw me swimming out smiling, which was quite sweet – and I have to admit, I was a little proud of me too.
Now that I have done it I am pretty sure I could snorkle it with the tide out (which would make it about 2m to the entrance). In the meantime I am practising getting my cork-like self to go downwards. Paddy’s been teaching me to duck dive (which would also be hillarious for anyone watching). He says everyone can do it and it’s all in the technique. At the moment my technique resembles an underwater bellyflop – but I’m sure I’ll get there!
PS – it’s still much easier to post pics on facebook than here – so you can find the facebook photoshere:
The cave sounds amazing; I’m glad you made it! I’ve dived a couple of times but without dive gear weighing me down – just as you described – I bob like a cork.
I think you are having entirely too much fun….
I couldn’t have done it! I would have completely chickened out. Well done!