Extreme cave diving on now NOVA on PBS

[freedivernd]

Just started Wednesday.. 8:00 pm

[freedivernd]

Pretty interesting.  Based in the blue holes of the Bahamas.  Got me interested in reading on the net about the Lucayans.  Ended up reading a lot about them and Columbus' visit to the Bahamas.  Now I can tell the story of where the hammock came from.

[DetectorGuy]

Thanks for posting, I caught the last half of the show. I think most of the blue holes on Abacos are on the East side (the windward side). 6 months ago Nate and I dove an open water blue hole called Lost Blue Hole about 10 miles East of New Providence, Bahamas (windward Side)... The cenotes near Tulum, Mexico are lined up along the East side. Maybe its a coincidence, or maybe the bigger waves on the East sides broke open the tops of these caves and turned them into 'blue holes'. This theory doesn't hold water (pun intended) for the cave system on the West side of Florida, but maybe there are more caves on the Western sides of these Bahamian islands that haven't been discovered yet because the tops haven't been 'broken off' yet. Just a thought.

About the Columbus visit to the Bahamas... There is a very small herd of wild horses on Abacos that are the direct decendents of the Spanish Barb horses that the Spanish conquistadores left on the island hundreds of years ago. DNA tests show the bloodline is 99% pure Spanish Barb. At one point the herd was up to 200 horses, but in the 1960's, hunters reduced the herd to 32. in 1997 the herd was down to just 3 (2 mares and a stallion). The herd is now up to 16 but the foals are not surviving and it is expected that this herd will become extinct very soon.