A cave dive playing in the halocline, meeting with remipedes
This cave is just amazing, dark with a very well defined halocline. Recommended to dive with Nitrox and with stage side mount or stage back mount configuration as it is fairly deep and you will want to stay as long as posible.
Halocline: from Greek hals, halo- ‘salt’ and klinein ‘to slope’
The halocline is the area within a body of water that marks a drastic change in salinity.
Haloclines are common in underwater caves near the ocean. The fresh water, less dense, forms a layer above the salt water from the ocean. For cave divers, it causes the optical illusion of air space in caverns. Passing through stirs up the layers and blurs the vision.
The halocline itself is responsible for the formation of the cave systems. The mixing of the saltwater and freshwater results in reactive brackish water that dissolves the limestone, eroding the rock and enlarging a cave’s passageways.
Because different water densities meet at the halocline and both organic and inorganic particulates accumulate there, it is chemically speaking an intriguing place.
Contact us for private guided dive in hidden side passages.