Sac Actun - Largest Submerged Cave System

[L Roebuck]

Divers discover huge underground river

Briton says 95-mile system is longest in the world
Search of Mexican caves took explorers four years

A British diver and his German partner have discovered what they claim is the world's largest submerged cave system - effectively an underground river - beneath Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.
Stephen Bogaerts and Robbie Schmittner had spent four years exploring whether the Sac Actun system links to other cave networks before they made the final connection that revealed a single system that is 95 miles long.

The two divers entered the system separately on January 23 and worked their way through huge chambers and tiny tunnels to meet up at the connection point they had always believed they would find. Mr Schmittner was carrying a bottle of champagne, which they left secured to the spot.

Full Article

[Sharon Faulkner]

The article doesn't mention it, but this is part of the Quintano Roo Speleological Survey. Here is a thread with more on the QRSS exploration and discoveries: Quintana Roo Speleological Survey News!

[chac]

There's a bit of media hype here I'm afraid. The 95 miles quoted for Sistema Sac Actun is correct (95.4 miles). This cave is the longest cave in Mexico, ranks 9th within the long (known and surveyed) caves of the world, and is also the longest underwater cave (survey verified) in the world.

A connection to Sistema Dos Ojos, as mentioned by the Guardian News, would indeed be a wonderful accomplishment. Every country and cave region has their own collection of "holy grails" when considering cave connections. I'm sure TAG can come up with a hefty list!

The Dos Ojos connection to the Nohoch Nah Chich cave area is one such chalice. Explorers have tried to connect both caves since the early 1990's. I'm glad there's some new vigor in looking into this (current equipment configurations help too)!

But I'm afraid that the adding another 36 miles of surveyed cave through a Dos Ojos/Sac Actun connection, should both caves be connected, would fall quite short of being longest cave in the world. It could surpass Wind Cave's length with such a connection. But another 230+ miles of cave is needed in Sac Actun to even approach Mammoth Cave System's length.

Jim

[L Roebuck]

Thanks for the clarifications Jim! National Geographic News also has the following article.

World's Longest Underground River Discovered in Mexico, Divers Say

Divers exploring a maze of underwater caves on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula have identified what may be the longest underground river in the world.

The waterway twists and turns for 95 miles (153 kilometers) through the region's limestone caverns, said British diver Stephen Bogaerts, who made the discovery with German colleague Robbie Schmittner.

Full Article

[chac]

Thanks Lynn for posting the NGeo link. I've not seen that one. I always like seeing the conservation message, and NG did make good use of space to spread the word. Thanks!

Jim

[L Roebuck]

There seems to be a lot of excitement over the " Longest Cave in Mexico " right now! The story is in numerous online news articles. I agree that was a great conservation message by National Geographic News. It was good that conservation was included in some of the articles.

[chac]

There is an update on the QRSS web site:

www.caves.org/project/qrss/

Sistema Ox Bel Ha has regained the status as the longest cave in Mexico, and the longest underwater cave in the world (164.4 km presently). A connection was made from the Yax Chen East cave to Ox Bel Ha. It was connected through a tunnel explored in 2001(?). Gary Walten and Dan Lins explored the passage, yet it went unreported for various reasons. This is great news, and I congratulate the explorers!

No doubt there will be a second response from the Sac Actun exploration team. Their first response was a fine note of congratulations to the OBH team! QRoo cavers rock!