In the area of Roche Noire there are many interconnected lava tubes that appear on the surface as caves or freshwater springs. The lava tubes are a unique and amazing place to explore as they contain flowing water in places, complex sculpted rock formations, and many small off-shoots and rooms to explore. Here you can find cool air, solitude, and complete darkness on any given day. The sections of Princess Margaret Cave shown here are do not contain, as far as I have discovered, any very complicated, dangerous, or physically challenging sections. They will require some effort to even find though, and exploring them still demands caution and attention to your whereabouts. There are a few sections here that provide a couple hundred meters of wandering before they resurface.

The lava tubes connect to the sea along the coast and the flowing freshwater meets the sea. These areas provide cool freshwater swimming, unique plants, and incredibly clear water teeming with fish that makes for great snorkeling.

How to get there:

You have to navigate the sidestreets and paths in Roche Noire to reach these areas, so I would suggest taking a guide, printing out a map, or that you carry a GPS.

There is a great local guide named Nitin who runs a local environmental organization called Roche Noire Eco-Marine. Contact him through Facebook or I can get you his information.

The main entrance, with the wooden fence just off the health track, to Princess Margaret Cave has an easy section to the left when you enter the main opening (see photos) that is easy accessible and safe. It will take you to another opening a few hundred feet away. It will take you five minutes or so.

Further down the health track there is a break in the stone wall (see photos) where a trail heads towards a few other openings. The trail leads right to the opening, but it is nonetheless shrouded in brush. It will take some exploring to find it. The map can give you a pretty good idea of its location. This section of cave is possibly a few hundred meters in total length.

This cave surfaces and there are other openings nearby, then this cave surfaces and there are other openings nearby. Repeat. I cannot give a full description of the numerous openings and lava tubes as the tubes are extensive and worth exploring, but only with caution or a local guide.

About lava tubes in general:

They are often referred to as caves, but they differ from a traditional limestone cave in many ways. The tubes are formed by lava flows that continue for a substantial amount of time, permitting the lava on the sides on top of the flow to harden and form a casing in which molten lava continues to flow. As the flow of lava stops, the molten lava continues to flow and leaves the tube empty. The tubes often collapse in some areas to create cave-like openings and occasionally fill with groundwater. They serve as important habitats for many different creatures – be careful and respectful when exploring these areas.

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