八重山鍾乳洞

Yaeyama Limestone Cave


Useful Information

Location: 1601 Ishigaki, Ishigaki Island, Okinawa 〒907-0023.
(24.363144, 124.153951)
Open:  
Fee:  
Classification: SpeleologyKarst cave
Light: LightIncandescent Electric Light System
Dimension: L=8,000 m, T=23 °C, H=90 %.
Guided tours: L=300 m, self guided.
Photography: allowed
Accessibility:  
Bibliography:  
Address: Yaeyama Limestone Cave, 1601 Ishigaki, Ishigaki Island, Okinawa 〒907-0023, Tel: +81-980-83-6868.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
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History


Description

八重山鍾乳洞 (Yaeyama Limestone Cave) is located only 150 m north of the most famous cave of the island. We first guessed that Ishigaki Island Limestone Cave was so popular, the neighbour got greedy and tried to earn some money himself. However, this cave exists for several decades, actually this is the first cave which was opened to the public. It seems it is actually the other way round. The famous Ishigaki Island Limestone Cave is the newer cave, and they do anything they can to discredit their competitors including filling web pages with accusations. That's rather funny, as visitors have posted comments with the opposite opinions. They even mention on their website, "not to mix the caves up". We guess the operators of this site are not versed with the internet, they do not have a website, so they actually do not know about the belittling comments. A sort of Cave War going on.

The cave is developed with trails, railings, and electric light. The entrance is a doline which is shallow on one side and has a limestone cliff on the other, with a cave portal at the bottom. There are numerous speleothems, mostly stalactites and stalagmites. There is a trail through the dense rain forest with numerous small caves along the trail, we read about eight caves, which can be visited freely.