Exploring the world's grossest caves

By The Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on 03.14.22

Word Count 675
Level 840L

Natalie Gibb photographed diving partner Vincent Rouquette-Cathala in an underwater cave they found off the coast of Mexico. Diving in
caves can be dangerous and gross. They have explored ones filled with a poisonous, smelly substance. Photo: Natalie Gibb Photo: Natalie
Gibb

When Natalie Gibb emerges from one of her dives, you might easily mistake her for a swamp
monster. That's because she's dripping with goo and smells like rotten eggs. Her scuba gear that
helps her breathe underwater just adds to the effect.

But, Gibb said, "I'm grinning ear to ear." Why the smile? Because she's just visited somewhere no
one else has ever seen before.

"When I was 5, I would say I wanted to be an explorer," Gibb said. "People kept telling me the
entire world has already been explored. Turns out, that's not true."

Gibb is a cave diver. Since 2014, Gibb and her dive partner, Vincent Rouquette-Cathala, have
found more than 55 miles (89 kilometers) of underwater caves near the border of Mexico and

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Belize.

Danger

Scuba diving in any cave is extremely dangerous. It requires years of special training. But the caves
Gibb explores are both scary and gross. The water in these caves is often full of hydrogen sulfide.
This is a poisonous gas. It can burn the skin and cause headaches, dizziness, and nausea. Not only
that, but it makes you smell like rotten eggs, too.

Gibb often comes out from her cave dives covered in black slime. The slime is the remains of
microbes, which are very small living things such as bacteria and algae. These particular microbes
don't need oxygen to live and grow. In fact, they can die if they're exposed to oxygen.

And that's what happens to microbes that hitch a ride on Gibb's body. As soon as she starts
swimming in water with more oxygen in it, the microbes die. "For them, oxygen is poison, and
hydrogen sulfide is just fine," she said.

Peepholes

Gibb's biggest cave discovery came in 2014. She got a

tip from a fisherman, who said there was a hole deep
in a mangrove swamp. Mangroves are trees or bushes
that grow in thick clusters along seashores.

Gibb and her partner Rouquette-Cathala rented a

little boat. They found the hole and discovered a cave
at the bottom. The entrance, however, was only about
a foot (30 centimeters) wide, much too small for
either of them to swim through.

Gibb had a hunch there were other caves in the area.

She looked at Google Maps and noticed that the water
above the hole had a yellowy color.

She then searched the map for water that had the
same color nearby and began checking those spots
out. For years, Gibb kept finding tiny peepholes into
what looked like a large, connected system of caves.
Then in early 2019, she finally found an entrance she
could wriggle through. For part of the dive, she
couldn't see at all. Then she nosedived down into a
hole. She eventually found herself in a big chamber
completely covered by bright orange sponges.

Gibb and Rouquette-Cathala had to swim backward to get out of the cave. Rouquette-Cathala
refused to go back in. But Gibb did two more dives alone, pushing farther into the cave each time.

She eventually discovered an anaerobic ecosystem. An ecosystem is a biological community made

up of plants, animals, and other tiny living things. Anaerobic means without oxygen. Instead of

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oxygen, the area was full of hydrogen sulfide and had surfaces covered in layers of microbes. Gibb
collected some of them and sent them to scientists to study.

Never Seen Before

When she's not looking for caves, Gibb runs a diving center in Tulum, Mexico. Tulum has
beautiful, crystal-clear cenotes, which are natural holes in the Earth filled with water. Some look
like pools, some are water-filled caves, and some are a combination. They are relatively safe for
beginner cave divers.

Cenotes are pretty, Gibb said, but she much prefers the stinky, dangerous caves that she's
discovered herself.

"I get to see places that no human on Earth has ever seen before," she said. "How cool is that?"

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Quiz

1 Read the Introduction [paragraphs 1-4]. Which selection from the Introduction supports the conclusion that cave exploration is
sometimes disgusting?

(A) When Natalie Gibb emerges from one of her dives, you might easily mistake her for a swamp monster.
That’s because she’s dripping with goo and smells like rotten eggs.

(B) But, Gibb said, “I'm grinning ear to ear.” Why the smile? Because she's just visited somewhere no one
else has ever seen before.

(C) "When I was 5, I would say I wanted to be an explorer,” Gibb said. “People kept telling me the entire
world has already been explored. Turns out, that's not true."

(D) Gibb is a cave diver. Since 2014, Gibb and her dive partner, Vincent Rouquette-Cathala, have found
more than 55 miles (89 kilometers) of underwater caves near the border of Mexico and Belize.

2 Read the section “Peepholes.” Which sentence from the section shows WHY Natalie Gibb and her partner had trouble getting
into the cave around the mangrove swamp?

(A) She got a tip from a fisherman, who said there was a hole deep in a mangrove swamp.

(B) Mangroves are trees or bushes that grow in thick clusters along seashores.

(C) The entrance, however, was only about a foot (30 centimeters) wide, much too small for either of them
to swim through.

(D) She then searched the map for water that had the same color nearby and began checking those spots
out.

3 What effect does hydrogen sulfide have on the microbes in the cave?

(A) It burns the skin off the microbes and makes them smell like rotten eggs.

(B) It is like poison for the microbes and many of them die because of it.

(C) It does not cause any problems for the microbes that are surrounded by it.

(D) It turns the microbes into a black slime and helps them to breathe oxygen.

4 How did Natalie Gibb find the tiny peepholes that were connected to a large system of caves?

(A) She saw a bunch of bright orange sponges in the area before diving down.

(B) She explored areas on Google Maps that had a yellow color above them.

(C) She followed her partner into an anaerobic ecosystem and saw them there.

(D) She asked the scientists studying microbes to tell her where to look for them.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.