Cave diving on Abaco

• Protection and rules: Dan's, Ralph's and Nancy's Cave lie in the South Abaco Blue Holes Conservation Area — 34,000 acres of government pine forest, 'conservation forest' since 2015, protecting >19 km of caves. According to Brian Kakuk, diving there is guide-only; caves on private land need the landowner's permission. All blue holes and caves fall under the Antiquities, Monuments and Museum Corporation (AMMC): research needs a Bahamian research permit plus AMMC approval. Never touch bones or fossils. • Operator: Bahamas Underground (Brian Kakuk, Marsh Harbour; +1 242 359 6128, also via WhatsApp): guided cave dives for groups of max. 3, cavern tours, courses, deep mixed-gas dives, van-supported 'bush diving' and boat cave dives; also trips to Andros, Eleuthera, Long Island, Great Exuma and Grand Bahama. Kakuk assesses every diver; the most delicate sections require work-up dives first. • Configuration: sidemount OC or sidemount CCR; backmount is no longer guided in the delicate sections. Deco on O₂ at -6 m, nitrox by depth. • Water: very clear, 19–22 °C (Scuba Diving) to 24 °C (InDepth). Fresh water over salt water: the halocline blurs your view and in the rainy season can sit right over the crystal pools. • Hurricane Dorian: made landfall on Great Abaco as a Category 5 on 1 September 2019; most of Marsh Harbour was severely damaged. With Dorian and then COVID, Kakuk had no paying clients for over nine months, but diving resumed by 2021 (Scuba Diving) and he still guides in 2026 (InDepth). • Getting around: Marsh Harbour International Airport. Local ferries: G&L Ferries from Marsh Harbour to Hope Town, Guana Cay and Man-O-War Cay; Green Turtle Cay ferry from Treasure Cay (+1 242 475 3841). Pinder's Ferry Crown Haven (Little Abaco) ↔ McLean's Town (Grand Bahama): from Crown Haven 7:00 and 14:30, from McLean's Town 8:30 and 16:00 (+1 242 822 8026 / +1 242 353 3062; Abaco Sun, July 2026). • Emergency: 911 or 919; ambulance also +1 242 323 2586; BASRA sea rescue +1 242 325 8864 / 727 4888 / 359 4888; air ambulance AAS Life-flight +1 242 377 1606. Hyperbaric chamber: Bahamas Hyperbaric Centre, Western Road, Lyford Cay, Nassau (New Providence) — +1 242 362 5765 or +1 242 422 2434 (government list; a business directory lists 24-hour emergency service). In 2006 the centre stopped accepting DAN America insurance — check your cover. Call DAN America first: +1-919-684-9111. • Rest day: swim at Sawmill Sink (wooden steps and platform; logging-era rails and saw blades around it). • Accidents: blue holes and caves are overhead environments. On Abaco three divers without cavern or cave certification drowned in Big Boil Blue Hole in April 1994, on Grand Bahama two divers without cave certification drowned in a blue hole in May 1994, and in January 2003 two divers went missing in King Kong's Cavern on Andros. Go only with cave training and a local guide.