- Ian AllenTour guide Atton Scarlett shows off one of the cave's rock pillars.
Claude Mills, Staff Reporter
REMEMBER THE scene from the 1973 James Bond movie, 'Live and Let Die' where Roger Moore emerges from the murky depths of some awful pool in a submarine?
Did you know that it was filmed at the Green Grotto caves?
Arguably the best caves in Jamaica, the Green Grotto caves (Discovery Bay, St. Ann) is full of great rock formations, animal and plant life, romance and history.
A tour of the caves is 45 minutes of sheer magic, plus it comes with a complimentary fruit punch at the end to help you digest all you have just experienced.
The caves feature a series of interconnected passageways, chambers, light holes and stalactites and stalagmites, and a small 'grotto' lake at the innermost cavern.
The first thing you see is a beautifully landscaped entrance where a courtesy guide explains the nature of the tour.
The tour begins at a concreted area with a stage and DJ booth which was a part of the Pirate's Hideaway, a nightclub started by one of the original owners. The club, however, impeded the growth of several limestone formations in the area.
Still, there's much to see, like 10,000- year-old rock pillars, deep sinkholes (one of which is called Hell's Hole and could swallow a human body easily), guano lakes, curious formations and bats. Lots of them.
"The bats cluster together to keep the young ones warm and also for protection. They believe that a predator who wants to attack them might be scared if they see them as one collective body," Phillip Lynch, tour guide said.
The bats look like a roiling mass of vermin and disease.
Some of the most notable ones include the Virgin Mary, the Limbo drum (a free flow limestone formation), one which has the chiselled features of a Caucasian male (dubbed the Spanish Man's Ghost) and an empty space that resembles an 18th century crude map of the island.
As you progress deeper into the caves, algae appears on the rocks, and you see plants pop up their heads.
"The fruit-eating bats bring seedlings back to the cave, and they fall to the earth, and begin to grow. However, they die after a time because of the lack of sunlight," the guide said.
The only vegetation that seems to thrive are the roots of the Banyan fig trees which criss-cross the three-quarter mile stretch that comprises the tour.
"It is believed that if you follow the roots of the Banyan Fig, you will always find water," the tour guide explained.
Eventually, we descended 63 steps to the a small grotto 120 feet to the level of the sea. The waters of the grotto are clear, and the lights from flashlights pick out tiny fish.
"Normally, the fish would take cover when they feel the vibrations coming down the steps, but not today, I guess. We used to allow tourists to swim in the grotto but the guano has bacteria in it that could lead to histoplasmosis which creates symptoms similar to an asthma attack," another tour guide Alton Scarlett explains.
The cavern is deadly quiet, the only noises being the click of the camera and dripping water.
"This is the area where the submarine scene from 'Live and Let Die' was filmed," Mr. Scarlett explained.
There are several other grottoes in the caves which reportedly cover about seven miles. One is reportedly as large as a football field, and is 27 feet deep, while another dubbed the 'Wishing Well Lake' is 75 feet deep. The water in the grotto is brackish a combination of fresh and salt water. The nearby Pear Tree River also runs through the network of caves.
There are two other lakes to the west of the cave.
AN UNDERGROUND THEATRE OVER THE CENTURIES
The caves were reportedly used as an escape route by Don Cristoval de Ysassi, the Spanish Jamaican who led the resistance against the English invasion of Jamaica in 1655. The caves have been given several names over the years, one of which are the Runaway Caves and served as places of hiding to runaway slaves and others seeking refuge from pursuers.
At one time, they were even dubbed the 'Rum Caves' because the government reportedly stored rum in large wooden kegs there during World War II.
There is an Arawak Indian graveyard where the cassiques (chieftains) were buried, and an area dubbed 'The Cathedral' where the Africans honed their witchcraft and Obeah skills.
One can imagine the sort of theatre that these caves must have experienced over the centuries the pirates using bottle torches to navigate the subterranean levels with stolen bounty; Arawaks huddling, some dying of chicken pox, driven from their homes by the oppression of the Spaniards; or Africans howling and chanting as they conjured up magical spells.
When you enter Green Grotto, the locks fall off the cage of the imagination.
The Green Grotto caves were first opened to the public as 'show caves' in December 1959 and was once owned by the Kirland family before changing hands to the Lazarus family. However, the husband and wife team of 45-year-old businessman, Clive Lazarus of Cardiff Hall Runaway Bay, and his wife 46-year-old Helene, died in an accident along the Llandovery main road in St. Ann's Bay, St. Ann in 1997.
After acquiring the 64-acre property in October 1999, the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) temporarily closed the facility for a few months in order to refurbish the existing facilities. It reopened to the public on April 17, 2000.
"Last year, a whole new cave was discovered by Guy Van Rentergen, and a team including three members of the Jamaica Caving Club. They dubbed the cave the 'Wild Cave'. They made recommendations as to how we could improve the existing product, and in the long term, open up other areas for exploration. We plan to also put in special effect lighting to highlight some of the formations," Fabia Lamm, manager of the Green Grotto Caves and Attractions, said.
"As part of our eco-tourism thrust, we plan to open up hiking trails, and have supervised fishing areas at nearby lakes, so that the entire family can have a day-long adventure experience," she said.
The UDC has plans to develop the attraction into a nature park, and reserve to include hiking, fishing, canoeing and recreational areas for group and family picnicking.
As of last November, 26, 795 local and overseas visitors had been to the caves.
COSTS
Entrance fees
JAMAICAN RESIDENTS
Adult - $500
Child (4 to 12 years) - $200
NON-RESIDENTS
Adult - US$20
Child (4 to 12 years) - us$10
HOW TO GET THERE: The Green Grotto Caves are located just off the main North Coast road some 3.2 km east of Discovery Bay, St. Ann, or 4 km west of Runaway Bay.
GEAR NEEDED: Comfortable shoes, preferably sneakers.
