Down and Dirty in an Underground River in Puerto Rico

[Dwight Livingston]

Alex Quesada for The New York Times:

SWINGING far above the forest floor on a zip line was a thrill and over way too soon. And rappelling down a 200-foot cliff? I liked the odds. If others survived, why not me? The scorpions, dinner-plate-size spiders and bats? I wanted to see them all. Even the two-foot-long predatory freshwater shrimp.

Rappelling into a sink hole entrance of the Rio Camuy.
But what gave me pause was floating on my back through a cavern so tight that I’d have to tilt my head back so that my nose was nearly against the ceiling so I could breathe. The thought of lying in a cold, dark river with rock closing in: that seemed a bit too much like shutting the coffin lid. And the image of those shrimp didn’t help.

More at http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/tr ... nture.html

[Sean Ryan]

I really wanted to do a float trip like this when I was in Puerto Rico. Water levels were too low, though.