Cueva Juan Nieves

Useful Information

Location:	Manati (18.335168, -66.504579)
Open:	no restrictions. [2021]
Fee:	free. [2021]
Classification:	Karst cave River Cave
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:	L=16,910 m, VR=250 m.
Guided tours:
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1974	first explored by Basco, Garrison, and Quires, 2,500 m of the cave explored.
1977	explored by Basco, Miller, Herceg, extended to 5,000 m./td>
1983	Basco, Troester and McMaster total 7,060 m.
1983	exploration of the cueva Juan Nieves, connected to Aguas Frias.
1984	Cueva del Rio Encantado and Cueva Escalera, total length 9,100 m.
1984	Cueva Juan Nieves explored to 3500 m.
1985	Vidrios, 9332 m.
1985	Cueva Juan Nieves explored to 5357 m.
FEB-1986	connection Juan Nieves-Encantado, total length 16910 m.

Description

Cueva Juan Nieves is one of currently five entrance to the sistema del Rio Encantado. They are called Rio Encantado (175 m asl), Escalera (200 m asl), Vidrios (200 m asl), Cueva Juan Nieves or Tito, and Manantial de las Aguas Frias. The caves were explored during the 1980 by different caving groups, and finally one after the other connect to the system. With the connection of Juan Nieves to Encantado, the cave system reached a total length of 16,910 m, which makes it currently the longest cave of the island.

The cave has numerous sumps and vertical sections, and it is definitely not a cave for tourist visits. Nevertheless, it seems the cave is guided on cave trekking tours, at least a more harmles section.