Explore the Wonder of Cave Vacations

by Robin Nobles
a professional freelance writer and the Director of
Training of the Academy of Web Specialists.

Did you know that the longest cave in the world, Mammoth Cave,
has more than 350 miles of mapped passages, with more being
mapped each year? A cave in France is almost a mile deep!
Tennessee has the most caves in the U.S., with over 8,350 caves
registered so far.

No doubt about it: caves are fascinating. Even the names of items found in caves are rather unique: stalactites, stalagmites, cave popcorn, cave bacon, and cave draperies, to name a few. Did you know that in cave systems, water goes underground in a sinkhole, then moves through the cave and re-emerges as surface water in a spring somewhere? Click HERE for more facts about caves.

Click HERE for more remarkable pictures of caves, offered by Shot in the Dark Cave Photography.

Typical of the true educational value of the Internet, you can take virtual tours of caves and never leave your home. The Virtual Cave actually offers four tours: Solution Caves (the "typical" cave with over 40 rooms to explore); Lava Tube Caves (formed by flowing lava); Sea Caves (carved out by oceans); and Erosional Caves (formed by the action of water and wind). These spectacular pictures will keep you occupied for hours.

At the Journey into Amazing Caves site, you'll learn about the IMAX movie currently being shown in giant screen theatres around the world. Watch expert cavers as they explore ice caves in Greenland, underwater caves in Mexico, and more, "looking for important clues about the Earth's past and microorganisms that inhabit its most extreme environments." The site offers a listing of theatres that are currently showing the movie as well as a fascinating educational section on cave ecology, how caves are formed, and information for teachers.

Sea Island Caves is "the world's largest sea cave" and is the home of wild sea lions and sea birds off the coast of Oregon. Click on Webcam to see a live picture of the outside of the cave, or click on "Visit the Cave" to go on a virtual tour of the cave, which is the height of a 12-story building and the length of a football field.

With all of this talk about caves, where can we go to actually visit one? The National Caves Associates offers a Caves Directory, complete with contact information and even links to regional caves.

Finally, the Learn More About Caves page, sponsored by the National Speleological Society, is an educational page offering information on cave animals, virtual cave tours, educational information divided by age level, and much more, all designed to help you learn about caves in a fun and exciting way.

This article was written
by Robin Nobles

Robin is a professional freelance writer and the Director of Training of the Academy of Web Specialists. Over the past few years, she has trained several thousand people in her online and onsite courses in search engine positioning strategies and has written three books that can be ordered through Amazon.

Visit the Academy's Web site to learn more about their online courses and products: http://www.academywebspecialists.com/more_info.
Or, visit Robin's personal Web site at http://www.robinsnest.com.

Robin has another article here, The Majesty of Alaska.

Visit the Cave Art of Chauvet too.
Where are the deepest caves in the world?

Visit Robbers Cave in Oklahoma, home for Jesse James and Gang.

Russell Cave National Monument is an archeological treasure containing evidence as to how prehistoric Indians lived in the Southeast for almost 10,000 years. Virtually, no other place in the region holds such a rich record offering clues to how prehistoric Indians fed, clothed and protected themselves.

Caves honeycomb Missouri hills and valleys and challenge even experienced spelunkers. Missouri has more than 5,000 caves and often is called "The Cave State." Out of 114 counties in Missouri, 78 counties have caves for adventurers to explore.

Editor's Note:

Caves are part of the inside track: Caves aren't places the average human loves to live in, but some of them are wonderful places to visit. The Inner Earth Film Project is documenting the most spectacular, unusual and remote caves in the world for the rest of us. Public, private and government caves around the world are being explored. The video will show how caves form and why they are a precious resource for all nations.

Every two weeks the locale shifts and we get to share in a visit to include the massive underwater cave systems in the Yucatan, the world's largest salt caves in Israel and caves in the remote jungle in Africa.

"Because it's a tough subject to shoot most films about this subject focus on just one cave. We are deliberately going out to the ends of the earth to shoot the best and most impressive caves on the planet." said team lead Greg Passmore. "The intensity, dedication and resources put into this project are unprecedented. We're shooting caves in dozens of locations that are not only tough to shoot, but tough to reach and tough to work in. We're going into war zones in Israel, jungles in Madagascar, and to the caves too tough to shoot."

A new film expedition departs every two weeks for about the next 24 months, Passmore said. Upcoming locations include Zimbabwe, Uganda, Madagascar and Borneo. Locations already filmed include:

- Deep-water cenotes with extensive underwater systems in the Yucatan
- Caves in the central highlands of Mexico
- Remote jungle caves in Belize
- Massive salt caves in Israel, plus archaeologically significant caves by the Sea of Galilee in the area where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, and hand-dug aqueducts from Roman times under modern-day Jerusalem
- U.S. caves in Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, Sound Dakota, Texas and the Virgin Islands, including tropical karst, pseudokarst and classis carbonate caves

The result will be a fast-paced video aimed at the MTV generation, with edgy digital photography and original music, said Passmore. On a scientific level, the film is designed to instruct college and university geology students about the process of cave and karst formation, plus the relationship of this discipline to hydrogeology, urban planning and resource conservation.

On a more personal level, the project is designed to show college students that "geology fieldwork can be cool," Passmore said.
A location scout is currently traveling the globe to find additional caves near 14 major cities, Passmore said. The video also is being filmed in 3-D for viewing with appropriate eyewear.
To view clips of recent expeditions in QuickTime, visit http://innerearth.tv/media/Cavinghighlightshdweb001.mov *