El Dudu Caves

Lake Dudu and the Dudu Caves

Just 15 minutes east of Cabrera on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, sits El Dudu. El Dudu is a large, archetypal type cenote sinkhole. It’s nearly 10 meters straight down to the water’s surface and has a set of cement stairs down to the edge of the water for easy access. El Dudu is a wildly popular spot for tourists as well as a local hangout for people to jump, swim, scuba dive, party, or just relax. Along the road on the right you’ll notice a sign that reads “Dudu Lake”. Drive past the sign for approximately 1k and make a stop at the first restaurant you see on the right in order to pay the admission fee.

Once you’re geared up and ready, simply swim along the water’s surface until you spot the opening of a massive tunnel on the far left side. The tunnel reaches approximately 100 meters in and contains a huge air dome at about the 50 meter point that’s a favorite spot for LDS here. You will soon notice an area to the right along the wall consisting of breakdown slabs and a caution sign. Tie yourself into the cavern line and enter the restricted area which will lead you to the mainline of the cave – in the heart of the halocline.

As you enter the first part of the cave, you’ll notice a large, tall main tunnel feature of the cave that contains several dark tannic-stained embellishments. One of the columns soars more than 10 meters in height – the maximum depth of the area is about 20 meters here. Towards the end of the tunnel, sits a rather steep slope that travels upwards close to 6 meters. At this point, the line turns sharply to the left and reveals an air pocket with fresh oxygen just off the right.

Pressing on, the cave starts to drop as you pass through a set of strange-looking dark stalactites just before it opens up once more. The remainder of the dive offers no embellishments and is somewhat shallower – about 6 – 7 meters on average.

After swimming another 45 minutes, you’ll reach the end of the mainline which leads up to another entryway called Cueva de Lilly. There you will discover various wildlife species including snakes, bats and typical cave creatures like tarantulas and whip scorpions. As you’re exiting out, swim towards the left around the cenote and dive into the cavern zone that contains two additional tunnels leading to the third entrance called Poza de los Caballos. The cavern zone is quite impressive and very much worth the effort of exploring due to its unique water colors and amazing shellfish-covered stalactites.

The El Dudu Caverns are positioned approximately 1.5 hours east of Sosua – Cabarete. In Rio San Juan you’ll find an excellent restaurant called La Casona and is definitely worth the trip.

Zipline

And of course we can’t forget the ziplining. I think this video pretty much sums that up.