Hatchet Bay Cave

The cave at Hatchet Bay, sometimes called the Hatchet Bay Plantation Cave, runs several hundred metres into the limestone and is entered through a hole in the ground with a metal ladder bolted into it. There is no lighting, no walkway and no supervision. Inside are chambers with stalactites, bats, and walls covered in graffiti going back well over a century, some of it from the 1800s, which has become part of what people come to see. A rope has been strung along the main route by locals. Beyond a certain point the passage narrows and drops, and the deeper sections are for people who know what they are doing.

What you actually see

• The ladder entrance - a metal ladder down through a hole in the ground.
• The graffiti - names and dates on the walls going back to the 1800s.
• The formations - stalactites and columns in the main chambers.
• The bat colony - resident through the system.

When to go

December to May is drier. Go in daylight hours so the entrance is easy to find and to leave. Take at least two torches per person and shoes with grip. Local guides can be arranged in Hatchet Bay and are worth taking.

Honest expectations

This is an undeveloped cave with no lighting, no railings, no staff and no rescue: people have been lost and injured in it. Do not go alone, do not rely on a phone torch, and turn back at the narrow section unless you have caving experience. Bat guano and dust carry a small histoplasmosis risk. The entrance is unmarked from the road.

Nearby

Gregory Town is fifteen minutes south; Governor's Harbour is half an hour further.