Dominican Republic
Cueva de Macho
- Max depth17 m (56 ft)
- CertificationFull cave
- Water temperature≈ 24–26 °C (75–79 °F)estimated, no reports yet
- SpecialExperienced divers
Diving and fills
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The dive
Below a dry upper level, 5 to 10 m underground, shafts of about 15 m lead into flooded passages in Pleistocene limestone.
Profile and sections
Below a dry upper level, 5 to 10 m underground, shafts of about 15 m lead into flooded passages in Pleistocene limestone. The water is perfectly clear and has two layers: still water of 26 °C at the top, and below it a layer of 25 °C with a slight current. The ceilings are of brilliant white, crumbly calcarenite, fossil dunes, and the floor lies decimetres deep in bat guano and bones. Tens of thousands of crustaceans live here, sometimes more than a hundred per cubic metre, among them remipedes.
The cave is named after "Macho", the local resident who found it. Oleg Shevchuk and Phillip Lehman dived 200 m into it in 2010; in 2019 DRSS divers found a connection from the nearby Cueva de Rudy, after which exploration moved to Macho itself. On the surveys Oleg's Bat House lies less than 10 m away, but the passage is still blocked by sediment.
Cueva de Macho is one of the richest fossil sites on the island. Since 2018 expeditions with the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural have raised hundreds of bones: sloth skulls, also of juveniles, and possibly a new species, nearly complete skeletons of the Cuban crocodile, and of the extinct monkey Antillothrix what Johns Hopkins calls the richest site yet for primate fossils on Hispaniola.
Practical: known only from research expeditions; anyone who wants to dive it should contact the DRSS.
- Depth and profile
- Average -10 m, deepest point -17 m · 4,250 m surveyed by the end of 2020, already the country's longest flooded cave (Spelunca 2021); a 2026 Facebook post speaks of about 8 km
- Configuration
- No data on configurations; the exploration dives lasted 2 to 4 hours.
Who can dive where
- At least Full cave
- Configurations: Backmount / twinset / Sidemount / CCR / Small cylinders / no-mount (speleo sumps)
- Configuration unknown — research beforehand
- Goes down to 17 m (trimix or deco may be needed)
- Experienced divers only
This is how the planner decides who in your team may dive this cave. Rules your own trip adds (organizer, a mail, the AI) show with your trip.
How to get there
Near the village of El Salado, close to El Macao, a few kilometres from the Bávaro hotels; on private land in 2020–2021. The entrance is a cone-shaped cenote with a small opening at the top and, 25 m below, a lake 15 m wide; the explorers later used a shortcut down a 5 m shaft and an 18 m shaft. A Facebook post (Nov 2026) reports that Domitai Park has now built steps down to the water. Only dives by DRSS and natural history museum expeditions are known; no dive centre offers the cave.
Around Cueva de Macho
FillsNo fill station known nearby
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