Diving Training Pool

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The Blue Hole was used by nomadic tribes as a reliable water source in the arid plains. Cowboys on cattle drives across the Pecos River would also stop by the pool. When Route 66 came through the city in the 1920s, the original alignment brought it right past the property of the Blue Hole, making it a popular stop and tourist attraction for motorists. In 1932, it became a hatchery for the National Fish Hatchery. Afterward it became the Blue Hole Recreation Area in the 1970s, then the Blue Hole Dive and Conference Center. In the current era of the Interstate, the pool continues to be a popular destination with both locals and divers from around the world. The cavern was formed by the dissolution of the limestone bedrock by groundwater, carving caverns into the rock until the roof caved in. At the bottom are large boulders, rubble, bones, masks, a crucifix, and other objects, and the entrance to a labyrinth of cave passages and rooms. The caves extend down to 194 feet (59 m), where they end in a cavern with a rubble-choked floor. One local legend states that the passages may be connected to Carlsbad Caverns, but the surface entrance to that cave system is located over 200 miles to the south.

In Their Own Story

On March 10, 1976, a team of student divers from Oklahoma were training in the pool. Mike Godard (22) and David Gregg (21) became separated from the group and failed to surface. State police rescue divers began a search of the unexplored caves and on the first day, they found David's body in the first chamber. Divers continued searching the passages for the next six weeks until Mike's body was found deep within the cave system. This incident prompted the city to seal the caves from the public. During the recovery operation, rescue divers with the New Mexico State Police crudely mapped part of the unexplored cave system. They reported that the system reached a maximum depth of 225 feet (69 m); the actual depth may be closer to 190 feet (58 m) because their depth gauges were not adjusted for the altitude. At the entrance, they encountered a tight restriction that required removing equipment to access, and the exhaust from their SCUBA equipment dislodged rocks and caused cave-ins. One room was reported at 17 feet (5.2 m) above the cave floor, but the ceiling collapsed as they occupied it; one of the divers was struck and nearly trapped by a falling boulder 3 feet (0.91 m) in diameter. Another room they explored, dubbed the 'Tee-Pee Room', had a ceiling that 'looks as though thousands of ice cream cones were hanging invertly', as noted by diver Tom Hawkins. Hawkins also stated: 'When I went down to the third chamber, I was using a 100,000 candle-power flashlight[...] I could see easily in the chamber, but I couldn’t see to the other side — or the bottom — of the third chamber. Just imagine yourself in Carlsbad Cavern, but filled with water and without light.' After the recovery operation, the city of Santa Rosa sealed the entrance with a 3 foot (0.91 m) diameter duct and grate 'snorkel pipe' to prevent future access to the caverns. Moreover, the Army Corps of Engineers dumped two truckloads of rock and debris into the grate, apparently without the knowledge of city officials. On March 26, 2016, 43-year-old California diver Shane Thompson, a Navy veteran from the ADM Exploration Foundation with over 20 years of diving experience, including search and rescue and recovery operations, was exploring passageways when he became separated from his partner Mike Young after their tether broke. After taking a wrong turn in low visibility, Thompson became trapped in a dead end passage 160 feet (49 m) below the surface. By the time Young had located Thompson, he had already drowned. Young returned the next day to recover the body.

Reader's Guide

Since 1976, the cave passages have been sealed off to the public by a metal grate to prevent access by inexperienced divers. It was only allowed to be unsealed for mapping between 2013 and 2016 by the ADM Exploration Foundation, an experienced cave exploration group. Hazards in the passages include frequent cave-ins, zero visibility due to silt, and extreme restrictions. Since Santa Rosa, New Mexico is at an elevation of 4,616 ft (1,407 m), 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. Fauna present in the Blue Hole include goldfish, koi, carp, and crawdads. At the site are a visitors center, divers' locker rooms, a conference center, picnic tables, restrooms, a diving platform, and a short wall surrounding the pool to prevent surface runoff from fouling the clarity of the water. The pool is open for public use, including picnic, swimming, diving, and snorkeling. In 2013, the ADM Exploration Foundation and the city fielded an expedition to explore and map the cave system. With permission from the city, the expedition team removed the snorkel pipe to gain access to the first cavern. However, they were unaware of the debris dumped into the grate by the army, which prevented further exploration. Although the team was able to remove tons of rock and debris from the cavern floor, significantly increasing the water discharge rate, they were ultimately stopped by a boulder blocking the entrance to the second room. After the expedition, the city installed another grate to prevent access to the exposed cave entrance. Over the next three years, the team worked with state police and APD divers to dredge and remove the remaining debris and open up the passages. In March 2016, the ADM team returned for another expedition to map and explore the entirety of the cave system. The team explored down to a depth of 194 feet (59 m), where the water was found filtering up through tons of rock debris covering the cavern floor. After the expedition, the team announced that all accessible areas of the system have been explored and mapped, and recommended to the city that the entrance remain closed to the public. Once again, the city installed a snorkel pipe to prevent further access. As of March 2021, no one has entered the caves since the expedition. On April 15, 2024, the snorkel pipe was removed and replaced with a grate.

Did You Know?

• The Blue Hole has a constant temperature of 62 °F (17 °C) and a constant inflow of 3,000 US gallons per minute (11 m³/min; 2,500 imp gal/min), cycling out the water every six hours.
• The surface is 80 feet (24 m) in diameter, but expands to 130 feet (40 m) at the bottom, with a depth of more than 80 feet (24 m).
• The water originates deep underground below 200 feet (61 m) from the western edge of the Ogallala Aquifer.
• Three people are reported to have died there: two divers in 1976 and one more 40 years later.
• One local legend states that the cave passages may be connected to Carlsbad Caverns, but the surface entrance to that cave system is located over 200 miles to the south.