Exploration and Conservation of the world’s most beautifully decorated and scientifically significant underwater caves

By Brian Kakuk

Beneath a beautiful, pine-forested island in the Northern Bahamas lies over 10 miles of nature’s most exquisite and time wrought underwater caves. Known as the Crystal Caves of Abaco, these systems have been explored by a handful of explorers beginning in the mid 1990’s. At first a very well-kept secret, the location of these caves was kept close to the vest by those who were lucky enough to experience their densely decorated crystal passages.

Over the last 10 years, local group of explorers, researchers and environmentalists saw the inevitable danger of a rapidly developing island encroaching on these caves and set out to convince the Bahamian government that the caves below the pine forest were much more valuable as tourist destinations and cultural heritage sites, then they were as development sites for logging, quarrying and resorts.

The group drew up a lengthy proposal, solicited help from the local community with meetings up and down the island and berated the government with scientific data, stunning images and videos, books and presentations. National Geographic magazine and television was brought in to cover the efforts of the explorers and scientists and requests for international assistance were sent out.

Through several iterations of the proposal, drastic changing of requested borders and meetings with different ministries of the Bahamian government, there were many times where the goal seemed unattainable in the mire of red tape and apathy. However, in August of 2015, a brief window of broad -sweeping, government mandated conservation would ultimately allow for the team’s original proposal to be granted and 34,000 acres of pineland, mangroves, shallow flats and shoreline would be declared a nationally protected area.

The presentation by Brian Kakuk will show the journey of the conservation process with stunning images of the Crystal Caves of Abaco, the scientific significance of these sites and the culmination of a long, hard battle to prove their worth as a world heritage site.