On the east of Santa Rosa, there’s
bell-shaped pool called Blue Hole located off Route 66 in New Mexico. Like several
other natural pools of its similar types, the Santa Rosa Blue Hole is a small
body of water that seems to fill a surprisingly deep hole in the ground with
shockingly clear waters. The circular blue hole is one of most popular dive
destination in the US for SCUBA diving and training session. The arid climes is
a natural swimming hole that has a hidden system of underwater caves which were
unexplored until 2013. The famous Blue Hole is an artesian well that was once
used as a fish hatchery. The blue hole has clear water with a persistent 62 °F temperature
and persistent inflow of 3,000 US gallons per minute.
Though the surface is only 80
feet in diameter, it expands to a diameter of 130 feet at the bottom. The site
elevation is 4,616 ft, it is necessary for divers to use high-altitude dive
tables to compute the dive profile and decompression stops when diving in the
Blue Hole. The Santa Rosa deep hole was an ideal spot for scuba divers until
two young divers became trapped in the pool’s tight underwater caves. After
their deaths in 1976, the entrance to the caves was covered with a metal grate
and all but forgotten.
In 2013, a group of adventurous
divers were allowed to past the grate with the intention of mapping the system
of unexplored caves. Therefore, their early probing was stymied by decades of
debris and too tight passages but the excavation continues with a watchful eye
towards safety lest further deaths close off the secretive caverns for decades
to come. It’s still unclear how far back the caves go. The pool is open for
public use with no lifeguards on duty, however another sad incident took place
on March 26, 2016 when 43 year old California diver was exploring passageways
where he became trapped and drowned.
In fact Santa Rosa Blue hole is a
wonderful stop, where divers can jump off the rock or enter via the stairs
across from the jumping rock. Santa Rosa is known as the "City of Natural
Lakes," is overflowing with pristine bodies of water that provide an
invigorating blue splash in an otherwise arid landscape. The Blue Hole, fed from
an underwater aquifer, about 8,000 diving permits are issued per year from
around the world. A super place particularly in a hot day, as water is cold and
refreshing and if you get there earlier in the day before it gets churned up it
is crystal clear. It is like a slice of the Caribbean in the middle of New
Mexico.