Leamington Caves

Useful Information

Location:	46 Harrington Sound Rd, FL 04, Bermuda. Off Harrington Sound Road at the end of Leamington Lane. (32.342122, -64.708592)
Open:	All year daily. [2024]
Fee:	Mansion and Guesthouse € 18,359 for three days, 2h cave visit included. Guesthouse € 5,598 for three days, 2h cave visit included. [2024]
Classification:	Karst cave The Most Expensive Show Cave Show Caves in Hotels
Light:	LED
Dimension:	A=23 m asl.
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	Robert Andrew Jamieson (2016): Trace element geochemistry of Belizean and Bermudan stalagmites: new tools, proxies and applications, Thesis, Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University. researchgate Nurit Shtober-Zisu, Henry Schwarcz, Tom Chow, Christopher Omelon, Gordon Southam (2014): Caves in caves: Evolution of post-depositional macroholes in stalagmites International Journal of Speleology. 43. 323-334. DOI digitalcommons researchgate Jonathan Lewis Stoffer (2013): A Hydrological Model Of Harrington Sound, Bermuda And Its Surrounding Cave Systems, Thesis, Texas A&M University, May 2013. pdf
Address:	Leamington Caves, 46 Harrington Sound Rd, FL 04, Hamilton Parish, Bermuda E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1914	cave discovered.
1960s	cave developed and opened to the public, boat tours.
1986	surveyed by members of the Bermuda Cave Diving Association, plan drawn by Robert Power.
1990s	operated as a restaurant, the cave is open to the public.
2000	restaurant and cave closed.
2004	purchased by a Trust and converted into a residential property.
2021	transformed into VRBO and AirBNB, cave renovated and opened as a swimming pool.

Description

Leamington Caves is known for beautiful formations, one is called Statue of Liberty. The cave consists of a huge chamber with a sloping floor, the eastern half of which is higher and dry, while the western part is lower and underwater. Only the central part of the chamber has air above the water and allows swimming, almost half of the chamber is water-filled and only accessible for cave divers. Like all other caves of the island, it is connected with the sea, in this case Harrington Sound, and the water in the cave is brackish. The same applies to the smaller pools along the eastern wall of the chamber. The tides are clearly visible in the cave. The short trail leads to a jetty or platform at the cave lake, then continues north to the end of the chamber, where it allows a glimpse into a small passage towards north. Those Northern Passages are only about 20 m long and not entered on the tour. Many guidebooks mention the cave together with nearby Crystal Cave, which is still operated as a show cave with paths and electric light. Although it has been closed since 2000, it is still listed in guidebooks and on webpages as a show cave.

The cave was discovered in 1914. At first, it was a popular wild cave, then it was developed with trails, probably in the 1960s, and opened as a show cave. There must have been underground boat trips once, as there was an underground jetty. The cave was surveyed by members of the Bermuda Cave Diving Association, plan drawn by Robert Power in 1986. In the late 20th century, the house became a restaurant called Plantation Restaurant. The cave was open to the public, and restaurant guests had free entrance to the cave. But the restaurant closed around 2000, and the cave was closed subsequently.

The cave is located off Harrington Sound Rd at Leamington Lane on a private property with a huge mansion and a guest house. The property was purchased by a Trust in 2004, the buildings renovated and then rented to international executives on work permits in Bermuda. The cave remained closed, it was not even accessible to the tenants, except with special permission by the owners. But it seems it was accessible to some scientists as there were several scientific researches during the 2010s. Most were related to climate data through speleothems, the others were about the local cave life.

During Covid, the rental market collapsed, and the house was now offered on VRBO and AirBNB. At the same time the cave was renovated, there are new wooden platforms and LED light. People who rent the house are allowed to not only visit the cave but also to use it for swimming. It is advertised on their website as "private swimming cave" and they declare these are "Bermuda’s largest private natural caves" However, there are some restrictions: it is necessary to sign a waiver, and be accompanied by the property manager. So it's obviously necessary to schedule the visit with him. The first visit, up to two hours, is included in the rental fee, but for further visits the manager's hourly rate must be paid additionally.

Nevertheless, the cave is now fully developed, and there are at least theoretically ways to visit the cave, so we classified it as a show cave. And if you don't care to spend € 18,359 (we checked on VRBO), just book the mansion for three days to have a look at the cave. That's so far the highest entrance fee for a cave on our website, congrats! We even decided to make a new page called Explain The Most Expensive Show Cave where this cave has the first rank. There are actually three different listings for this property on VRBO, mansion, guesthouse, and both. And if you select the cheapest, only the guest house, the price is only € 5,598 for one person and three days, a real bargain! Caves which are part of a hotel or another kind of accommodation are rare, we have listed half a dozen all over the world. Quite exceptional is that Bermuda has five show caves, and three of them are of this rare type. In other words, this seems to be a local specialty.

Another weird story concerning the cave is titled Ethos Bermudas. A guy named Mo Hamsa was given permission to live in the guest house before it was renovated in exchange for work. Then he started to offer cave tours and joga courses in the cave without permission, and told the local newspaper that he bought the site and was transforming it into a hotel. They published an article without checking any of his lies. His website of this scam company is now down, but the newspaper still publishes the article with all the fake infos. But unlike the official website, this guy had many details about the cave and its history. Unfortunately, they were all untrue.