Houq’s cave

I am up and out of the tent minutes after sunrise. The first night camping out is always the worst as th body acclimatises to the hard ground. While I did need to turn around every few hours I managed a deep and restful sleep. Morning packing in the tent and my ablutions flow smoothly despite my absence from the camping scene for more than a decade. I decide that it is like riding a bicycle you never forget. I am up and ready for the 6:30 am breakfast.

A short drive takes us to the beginning of the trail leading up to Houq’s cave. It is an hour steep scrambling walk straight up. Despite it being early morning the heat is still enervating. The cave entrance is obvious from the very beginning like a wide open mouth high up the cliff face. Massive boulders litter the flat patches.

On arrival at the cave I am amazed by the limestone formations. It is a dry cave but in the distant past this was a massive vibrant beautifully decorated limestone cave. Massive stalagmites, columns and shawls abound as we walk deep into the darkness. There is no infrastructure here, lighting is from our headlights and there is no formal demarcated path. I feel like a spelunker “discovering” a cave in the raw. It takes an hour to reach the end point of the cave and we are rewarded with the sight of a beautiful fluted column reflected in rockpools below.

Snorkelling was on offer this afternoon. I did not have high expectations. We arrive at the beach and the snorkelling equipment was well maintained. I flap into the shallow water and the shallows look uninspiring and rocky. Initial impressions were misleading, first there are a few tropical fish then the numbers increased. Still minimal poor quality coral but it was not long before that changed also. A beautiful coral wonderlandon show with amazing fish and large numbers of them colourful and surprisingly large. Sadly, I have no underwater camera to capture the vista and I did multiple circuits of the beach to immerse myself in the experience.