Caribbean

Dean's Blue Hole, Long Island, Bahamas

Dean's Blue Hole is the world's deepest known salt water blue hole with an entrance below the sea level. It plunges 203 meters (666 ft) in a bay between Deadman’s Cay and Clarence Town on Long Island, Bahamas.

The cave is roughly circular at the surface, with a diameter ranging from 25 to 35 meters (82–115 ft). After descending 20 meters (66 ft), the hole widens considerably into a cavern with a diameter of 100 meters (330 ft).

Snorkeling Dean’s Blue Hole has been a unique experience: you enter the warm waters of the Caribbean and heading west the water just reaches to your hips. As a matter of fact, you can wade the shallow waters for quite a distance. However, heading north towards the blue hole, after a few steps the water is too deep to stand. The upper part of the cave looks like a giant funnel, made of perfectly white sand. At the “end” of the cone of the funnel the cave converts into a vertical yawning abyss which makes you want to explore even further. Common sense and the lack of air then make you finally turning around...

If you are lucky, you can watch freedivers training at a platform that is mounted in the middle of the blue hole. Attached to the platform vertical ropes support the descent and the reemerge. It is quite impressive to see the freedivers concentrate for minutes at the surface and then quietly disappear in the dark, to reappear after a minute or two…

Dean’s Blue Hole is so ideal for freediving, that the “Vertical Blue” take place at this location, one of the most prestigious freediving championships in the world. Depths way beyond 100 meters are reached at those competitions, without the support of gas tanks!

Dean's Blue HoleDeans Blue HoleBlue holeWorld's deepest salt water blue holeClarence TownLong IslandBahamasSea cavesCavesMarine geologySinkholesUnderwater diving sitesCaribbeanFavorites