The Magical Blue Cave of Biševo

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The Magical Blue Cave of Biševo

  • access_time20 January 2021
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The Magical Blue Cave of Biševo

If there are only 3 places everyone visiting Croatia knows about, I can almost guarantee that one of those, apart from Dubrovnik and Hvar island, is the Blue Cave.

The Blue Cave is a grotto on the small island of Biševo south-west of Vis island. Only accessible by small boats, it’s known for the stunning, almost unreal blue light which illuminates the cave from the Sea bed.

The cave was discovered in 1884., by the painter Baron Eugen von Ransonet. He was told of the existence of a hidden cave above the water by the local fishermen. They warned him that it is only a hole in the wall with nothing of note inside, but curiosity got the better of the Baron and he set out to find it. He did indeed find only a hole in the cliffs, and once he painstakingly made his way inside by crawling through the sharp rocks, he was struck by the sight of an almost neon blue light shinning light and creating images of dancing light on the stone walls. He came inside this way a few more times before deciding a better way in had to be created. He thought about it for some time and decided the only way would be a radical one: he elected to strap some dynamite to the rocks, light it on fire and see what happens. Thus, an entrance still used to this day, large enough for a small ship to go through, was created.

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But where does the blue colour come from? You see, there is one more “entrance” inside the cave, and it is located below the surface od the water. It is through there that the light from the Sun enters the cave, refracts from the sandy bottom of the Sea and illuminates the Blue Cave. Depending on the season, the ideal time to visit the cave is between 11 AM and noon. At this time, the angle of the Sunlight is ideal and the effect is the most intense. A cool thing to try while visiting is to put your hand in the crystal-clear water and observe it become almost a silver colour.

The cave itself was formed by countless years of waves slowly chipping away at the lime-based rock. It is 24 metres long, approximately 12 metres deep and up to 15 metres tall, while the entrance to it measures only 1.5 metres tall and 2.5 metres wide. Very much visible through the clear water is also a stone “bridge, connecting two walls of the cave, and this bridge is actually the only thing supporting one of those walls. If this bridge was ever to collapse, the whole Blue Cave would crumble!

I can already hear your most burning question: can you swim in there? Unfortunately, the answer to this is no. There are small boats with curious visitors in there all the time and it would be a very dangerous thing to do. So why visit? Well, trust me when I say, pictures really don’t do justice to how insanely beautiful the blue light bouncing from the water is to experience in person. If you are nearby, it’s definitely worth it to commit a morning to visiting this phenomenon of nature, and then proceed to the island of Vis for more adventures.